{"id":1212,"date":"2021-02-22T15:07:12","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T15:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/psyclanguage\/chapter\/syllables\/"},"modified":"2023-05-09T20:54:07","modified_gmt":"2023-05-09T20:54:07","slug":"syllables","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbc.ca\/psyclanguage\/chapter\/syllables\/","title":{"raw":"2.5 Syllables","rendered":"2.5 Syllables"},"content":{"raw":"While phonemes are the smallest units of sound, we don\u2019t actually speak in phonemes. If I say the word \u2018cat\u2019 \/k\u00e6t\/ and record it, I won\u2019t be able to break it into three units of \/k\/, \/\u00e6\/ and \/t\/. Therefore, the smallest unit of articulation is not the phoneme but rather the [pb_glossary id=\"447\"]syllable[\/pb_glossary]. Most native speakers of a language will know how many syllables are in a word in their language. You can try this in English by saying a word slowly. For example, the word \u2018elephant\u2019 has three syllables: e-li-phant. As seen in Figure 2.3, all syllables must have a mandatory [pb_glossary id=\"469\"]nucleus[\/pb_glossary] or [pb_glossary id=\"470\"]peak[\/pb_glossary]. This is usually a vowel. Some languages can also have a syllabic consonant as a nucleus of a syllable as in the English word \u2018button\u2019 [b\u028ctn\u0329] where there are two syllables [b\u028c] and [tn\u0329]. You can see that the second syllable has no vowels but a syllabic [n\u0329] as the nucleus.\r\n\r\nConsonants that come before the nucleus of a syllable are know as [pb_glossary id=\"471\"]onsets[\/pb_glossary] and those that come after it are called [pb_glossary id=\"472\"]codas[\/pb_glossary]. The nucleus and coda of a syllable form a group called a [pb_glossary id=\"473\"]rime[\/pb_glossary]. These onsets and codas can be complicated or simple depending on what is allowed in a language. English allows up to three consonants in the onset and at least as much in the coda. Consider the word \u2018twelfths\u2019 \/tw\u025blf\u03b8s\/. It has two consonants in the onset and four consonants in the coda. Generally, the onset is more restricted in what is consonants are allowed.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1211\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"400\"]\"A Figure 2.3 Syllable Structure[\/caption]\r\n\r\nIn English, you can have almost all consonants other than the velar nasal \/\u014b\/ as an onset. If there are two consonants in the onset and the first one isn\u2019t \/s\/ then the second has to be either \/l\/, \/r\/, \/w\/, or \/j\/. if there are three consonants in the onset, then the first has to be an \/s\/, the second has to be either \/p\/, \/t\/ or \/k\/, and the third has to be either \/l\/, \/r\/ or \/w\/.\r\n
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Living Language<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n

\r\n\r\nConsider some words in your language and try to syllabify them. Think of what phonemes occur in the onset, nucleus and coda of these syllables. Can you come up with long onsets and codas in your language? Ask a friend who speaks another language to do the same. Are there any differences between your languages\u2019 syllable structure?\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nAs we saw earlier, what is allowed in the onset, nucleus and coda of a language can be different across languages. While a sequence such as \/pl\/ is allowed in English, \/ps\/ would not be allowed. However, \/ps\/ is a legal sequence in Greek which is why we still spell \u2018psychology\u2019 with the \u2018ps\u2019 sequence even though English speakers don\u2019t pronounce the \u2018p\u2019. Similar examples of Greek onsets include \/mn\/ as in \u2018mnemonic\u2019. Figure 2.4 illustrates the syllable structure of the word Tk\u2019eml\u00faps<\/em> \u2018Kamloops\u2019 in Secwepemc. As we can see, Secwepemc allows the sequence of an unvoiced dental stop and a glottalized velar stop \/tk\u02c0\/ in the onset of its syllable. The sequence \/ml\/ is not a legal onset in Secwepemc, so it gets separated between two syllables, the \/m\/ becoming the coda of the first syllable and the \/l\/ becoming the onset of the second.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1211\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"600\"]\"A Figure 2.4 Syllable Structure of the word Tk\u2019eml\u00faps[\/caption]\r\n\r\nAs syllables are the smallest units of articulation, they provide the rhythmic patterns of a language. In languages such as English, syllables carry features such as stress. This determines which syllable in a word receives emphasis. Try saying \u2018I am recording a song.\u2019 You will stress the second syllable in the word \u2018recording.\u2019 Now say \u2018That was a record.\u2019 You will find yourself placing more stress on the first syllable of the word \u2018record.\u2019 Languages that place equal time periods for stressed syllables are called stress-timed languages. English is a stress-timed language and we can see how this is employed in Shakespeare\u2019s sonnets with iambic pentameters. Each line consists of five iambs and each iamb consists of two syllables with the second one more stressed that the first. As we see in Figure 2.5, this creates a beautiful pattern of unstressed and stressed syllables that may even go across word boundaries. Read the sonnet out loud and you will notice the stress patterns.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1211\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"700\"]\"each Figure 2.5 Stress Patterns in a Shakespearian Sonnet[\/caption]\r\n\r\nUnlike English, other languages may produce each syllable with equal time. These are called syllable-timed languages. French is a good example of such a syllable-timed language. Poetry in syllable-timed languages will make less use of stress and will take into account what consonants appear in the coda of the syllable to determine the structure of their poems.\r\n

Syllables in Poetry (Shakespeare)<\/h2>\r\n[h5p id=\"18\"]\r\n
\r\n\r\nIdentify the two-syllable words in this poem.\r\n
Shall I compare thee to a summer\u2019s day?\r\n\r\nThou art more lovely and more temperate:\r\n\r\nRough winds do shake the darling buds of May,\r\n\r\nAnd summer\u2019s lease hath all too short a date;\r\n\r\nSometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,\r\n\r\nAnd often is his gold complexion dimm'd;\r\n\r\nAnd every fair from fair sometime declines,\r\n\r\nBy chance or nature\u2019s changing course untrimm'd;\r\n\r\nBut thy eternal summer shall not fade,\r\n\r\nNor lose possession of that fair thou ow\u2019st;\r\n\r\nNor shall death brag thou wander\u2019st in his shade,\r\n\r\nWhen in eternal lines to time thou grow\u2019st:\r\n\r\nSo long as men can breathe or eyes can see,\r\n\r\nSo long lives this, and this gives life to thee.<\/blockquote>\r\nTo check your answers, navigate to the above link to view the interactive version of this activity.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Syllables in Poetry 2<\/h2>\r\n[h5p id=\"19\"]\r\n
Identify the three-syllable words in this poem.\r\n
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,\r\n\r\nOver many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore\u2014\r\n\r\nWhile I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,\r\n\r\nAs of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.\r\n\r\n\u201c\u2019Tis some visitor,\u201d I muttered, \u201ctapping at my chamber door\u2014\r\n\r\nOnly this and nothing more.\u201d<\/blockquote>\r\n
 \r\n\r\nAh, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;\r\n\r\nAnd each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.\r\n\r\nEagerly I wished the morrow;\u2014vainly I had sought to borrow\r\n\r\nFrom my books surcease of sorrow\u2014sorrow for the lost Lenore\u2014\r\n\r\nFor the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore\u2014\r\n\r\nNameless here for evermore.<\/blockquote>\r\nTo check your answers, navigate to the above link to view the interactive version of this activity.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Media Attributions<\/h3>\r\n