Pecularities of the syllable

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 444.

What are the drawbacks of the relative sonority theory?

What main theories of syllable do you know?

The prominence theory

The muscular tension theory There is evidence that both the temporal pattern and the level of upper trapezius activity are relevant risk indicators for neck/shoulder disorders. Quantification should therefore focus on four factors: (1) the level of work load, (2) the repetitiveness of the work cycles, (3) the duration of the work (Winkel and Westgaard, 1992) and (4) the possibilities for rest and recovery. Any factor that provokes sustained muscle activity may increase the risk of contracting work-related muscle pain. Thus, it is relevant to explore the extent to which mental aspects of a work task contribute to sustained muscle activity, in sedentary work with low physical demands as well as in more physically demanding jobs.

The syllabic structure of English has certain peculiarities. They are as follows:

1. Syllabic structure in English is not only vowels, but also sonants / m, n, l / when they are preceded by a noise consonant. E.g. / teibl / “table”, / ga:dn / “garden”.

2. As to the type of sounds constituting the syllable (V, C) there exist 23 syllable structures in English. Depending on the position of vowels, which is the peak of the syllable, and that of the consonant (C), which form margins of the syllable, we distinguish the following 4 types of syllables in English.

a) Open syllables, when there is no consonant after the vocalic peak, (CV) e.g. far, sea, tie.

b) Closed syllables, when the vocalic peak is followed by a consonant, (VC) e.g. art, sit.

c) Covered syllables, (CV(c)), when the peak is preceded by a consonant, e.g. long, shore.

d) Uncovered syllables, (VC(c)), when there is no consonant before the peak, e.g. apt, eat.

The fundamental syllable type in English is closed syll., the most frequent type in English is CVC.

3. Consonant clusters are very characteristic of the syll. structure of English, 19 structures out of 23 consonant clusters.

4. English checked vowels (i.e. short vowels) occur only in a closed syll. Checked vowels are always followed by initially strong consonants. E.g. bed, Sunday, put. English free vowels (long monophthongs, diphthongs & unstressed short monophthongs) can occur both in the open & in the closed syll., bec. the end of free vowels is weaker than the beginning. E.g. car, tie, (s n) di, / dvais /.