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Linguistics

Notes Much present-day work in phonology makes use of a rather more refind analysis of the syllable in
which the vowel and the coda (if there is one) are known as the rhyme; if you think of rhyming
English verse yu will see that the rhyming works by matching just that part of the last syllable of a
line. The rhyme is divided into the peak (normally the vowel) and the coda (but note that this is
optional: the rhyme may have no coda, as in a word like ‘me’). As we have seen, the syllable may also
have an onset, but this is not obligatory. The structure is thus the following

syllable

rhyme

onset peak coda

9.2.3 Syllable Division

There are still problems with the description of the syllable: an unanswered question is how we
decide on the division between syllables when we find a connected sequence of them as we usually
do in normal speech. It often happens that one or more consonants from the end of one word combine
with one or more at the beginning of the following word, resulting in a consonant sequence that
could not occur in a single syllable. For example, ‘walked through’ w :kt θru: gives us the consonant
sequence ktθr.
We will begin by looking at two words that are simple examples of the problem of dividing adjoining
syllables. Most English speakers feel that the word ‘morning’ m :nwŋ consists of two syllables, but
we need a way of deciding whether the division into syllables should be m : and nwŋ and wŋ. A
more difficult case is the word ‘extra’ exstr . One problem is that by some definitions the s in the
middle, between k and t, could be counted as syllable, which most English speakers would reject.
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They feel that the word has two syllables. However, the more controversial issue relates to where the
two syllables are to be divided; the possibilities are (using the symbol . to signify a syllable boundary):
1. e.kstr e 2. ek.str e 3. eks.tr e 4. ekst.r e 5. ekstr. e
How can we decide on the division? No single rule will tell us what to do without bringing up problems.
One of the most widely accepted guidelines is what is known as the maximal onsets principle. This
states that where two syllabes are to be divided, any consonants between them should be attached to
the right-hand syllable, not the left, as far as possible. In our first example above, ‘morning’ would
thus be divided as m :.n1ŋ. If we just followed this rule, we would have to divide ‘extra’ as
(i) e.kstr , but we know that an English syllable cannot begin with kstr. Our rule must therefore state
that consonants are assigned to the right-hand syllable as far as possible within the restrictions
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governing syllable onsets and codas. This means that we must reject (i) e.kstr because of its impossible
onset, and (v) ekstr. because of its impossible coda. We then have to choose between (ii), (iii) and
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(iv). The maximal onsets rule makes us choose (ii). there are, though, many problems still remaining.
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How should we divide words like ‘better’ bet . The maximum onsets principle tells us to put the t on
the right-hand syllable, giving be. t , but that means that the first syllable is analysed as be. However,
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we never find isolated syllables ending with one of the vowels I, e, æ, ∧ , Z , Ω , so this division is not
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possible. The maximal onsets principle must therefore also be modified to allow a consonant to be
assigned to the left syllable if that prevents one of the vowels I, e, æ, ∧ , Z , Ω from occurring at the
end of a syllable. We can then analyse the word as bet. , which seems more satisfactory. There are
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