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Unit 12: Transcription of English Speech Sounds: From Words to Sentences, Syllables: Monosyllabic...

12.3 Phonotactics Notes

Looking at syllables from the phonological point of view, i.e., “the possible combinations of English
phonemes of a language are called phonotactics”.
Fromkin and Rodman (1988: 83) indicate that “speakers know more about the phonological system
of their language”. While Carr (1993: 193) stresses that “the phonotactics of a language... are enforced
by the phonological rules”. It is generally agreed that the syllable is a central unit in phonotactic
description. “In describing the phonotactics (pattering of phonemes) of English syllables, linguists
focus on absolute restrictions concerning which phonemes may occupy which slots of the syllable”.
Consonant Cluster

With respect to the definition of the term ‘consonant cluster’, Roach (2000, 71) defines that “a consonant
cluster is a combination of two or more consonants without the interference of a vowel”. Consonant
clusters in English fall into different categories. They are:
Initial Three Consonant Clusters

This type of initial cluster usually begins with s e.g. ‘split, ‘stream’ /stri:m/, ‘square’ /skwe /. The
s is the pre-initial consonant, the p, t, k, follow s in the three words are the initial consonants, and the
e
I, r, w are post -initials as shown in table 2:
Final Three Consonant Clusters

As far as final three consonant clusters are concerned, there are two types as illustrated in the tables
3,4 and 5.
12.4 The Syllable: Definitions

In its broadest sense, the term ‘syllable’ is looked at from the phonetic and phonological point of
view. In his turn, Crystal defines the syllable as: “A unit of pronunciation typically larger than a
single sound and smaller than a word.”
“It should be born in mind that the syllable is found in languages all over the world and can be put
into units, i.e., syllables. Humans seem to need syllables as a “way of segmenting the stream of
speech...”.
To recapitulate, two different approaches are used in dealing with the syllable, i.e., the phonetic
approach and the phonological approach.
The first and for the while the most popular, phonetic definition of the syllable was given by “Stetson
(1928) who argued that each syllable corresponds to an increase in air pressure... the pulse or motor
theory of syllable production”. A number of phoneticians like among others, look at the syllable from
articulatory, acoustic and auditory points of view) i.e., the phonetic approach. Abercrombie (1967:
39) points out that:
The basis of the syllable is a sudden brief contraction of the respiratory
muscles and this construction expels a small amount of air from the lungs.
This air so expelled needs for its escape to the outer air a relatively free
and unrestricted passage through the vocal tract, and it is this movement
of lead restriction in the sequence of movements that makes up the
syllable.
Gimson (1989: 52) takes the same view when he states that the syllable is a “Unit that is defined by
counting peaks of activity of the breathing muscles”. Viewing the ‘syllable’ acoustically, O’Connor &
Arnold (1973: 200) mention that “the highly inter-related acoustic activity within short stretches of
syllable length...” The syllable is also defined auditorily. Jones (1972: 134), for instance, explains that
“in every word made up from more than a single sound; at least one of the sounds is heard to be more

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