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Linguistics

Notes ‘prominent’ than the other(s). If there is only one such ‘prominent’ sound, the sequence is said to
consist of a single syllable”. Schane (1973, 9) argues that “the vowels... are more capable of being
heard than consonants...”.
1. On the other hand, discuss the syllable from the phonological point of view. In this respect, Crystal
(2003: 374) observes that “the phonological approach the of Hyman (1975: 188) illustrates that “the
most discussed suprasegmental features is the syllable”. Katambas’ (1989: 153) words are worth
quoting where he believes that “The syllable is at the heart of the phonological representation. It is
the unit in terms of which phonological systems are organized”.
Some writers believe that there is still no sufficient or adequate definition to the term ‘syllable’. In
this regard, Abercrombie (1976: 34) expresses that “It is believed that a syllable is unit which can be
apprehended but cannot be easily defined”.
12.4.1 The Structure of the English Syllable

It is worth noting that in a particular language, or in languages generally, the requirements and
constraints which determine the shapes of possible syllables, usually formulated in terms of sequences
of consonants and vowels, and also in terms of onset plus rhyme, or onset plus nucleus plus coda
(Trask, 1996: 346). In this regard, Kreidler (2003: 74) asserts that when discussing syllables, two kinds
of facts are important:
1. the structure of the syllable, and
2. the relative prominence of the syllable.
Every syllable has a structure that can be divided into two parts. Consider the following figure which
diagrammatically illustrates the division:

Syllable

Onset Rhyme

Consonant(s) Nucleus Coda

Vowel Consonant(s)

Figure 12.2: Typical Syllable Structure

It is significant to point out that not all syllables have all these parts; the smallest syllable may contain
a nucleus only. Simply, onset means the beginning sound(s) of the syllable; the one(s) preceding the
nucleus. These are always consonants in English (Roca & Johnson, 2000: 239).
The term ‘Rhyme’ consists of “the vowel that is treated as the nucleus, as well as any following
consonant(s) treated as the coda” (Hogg & McCully, 1989: 369). The essential part of the syllable is
called ‘the nucleus’. The term ‘peak’ is used interchangeably (Kreidler, 2003: 74). Similarly, Rogers
(2000: 88) points out that “the vowel is a syllable, and any following semivowel, is regarded as the
nucleus or center of the syllable. Coda is the closing segment of a syllable.

12.5 Syllable Structure Analysis

The internal structure of a simple syllable, for example: ‘read’ is analysed phonologically as follows:
read: one syllable
onset: [r]

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