Page 182 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Linguistics

Notes 12.13 Summary

• This study aims at finding out whether there are significant differences in the frequency of
occurrence of the different consonants depending on whether they are in the onset or coda. The
researcher analyzed 2001 mono morphemic CVC words found in the Random House Dictionary
(Elexner 1987)
• Grammars coefficient is used to find out the association between consonant type and syllable
position which is found to be a strong association in this study.
• The findings of this study are:
(i) Glides (/h/,/j/,/w/,) can only occur in the onset.
(ii) /z/,/t/,/l/and/k/ show a significant preference for the coda.
(iii) /b/,/s/and/r/ show a significant preference for the onset
(i) A strong syllable is a stressed syllable.
Roach (200:20-1) argues that: simple syllables are of the following categories:
(ii) A minimum syllable would be a single vowel in isolation, e.g. the words ‘are’ (strong
form) a::, ‘or’ o: , ‘err’ 3: these are preceded and followed by silence. Isolated sounds such
as m, which is some times produced to indicate agreement, or ∫ to ask for silence, must
also be regarded as syllables.
(iii) Some syllables have an onset (i.e., they have more than just silence preceding the centre of
the syllable (CV) e.g.:
‘bar’ ba: ‘key’ ki: ‘more’ mo:.
(iv) Syllables may have no onset but have a coda (VC) e.g.: ‘ æ m’ am ‘ought’ o:t ‘ease’ i:z.
(v) Some syllables have onset and coda (CVC) e. g.: ‘run’ r ∧ n ‘sat’ ‘fill’ fil(lbid.).
12.14 Key-Words

1. Phonotactics : The possible combinations of English Phonemes of a lenguage are called Phonotactics.
2. Monosyllabic : A word consisting of a single syllable. For examples, cat, dog.
12.15 Review Questions

1. Mark the stress on the following words:
(i) Verbs
(a) protect (b) clamber (c) festoon (d) detest
(e) bellow (f) menace (g) disconnect (h) enter
(ii) Nouns
(a) lanugage (b) captain (c) career (d) paper
(e) event (f) jonquil (g) injury (h) connection
(Native speakers of English should transcribe the words phonemically as well as marking stress.)
12.16 Further Readings

1. Verma, S.K., V.N. Krishnaswamy. Modern Linguistics: An Introduction.
2. An Introduction to Linguistics, John Lyon.
3. Peter Roach: English phonetics and phonology. Cambridge University Press.
4. Encyclopedia of Linguistic Science Edited By V. Prakasam, Allied Pub.,
New Delhi.

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