Page 59 - DENG504_LINGUISTICS

Unit 5: Classification of Speech Sounds: Vowels, Consonants-General Introduction

It is on the basis of the number of syllables that the words are classified into monosyllabic, Notes
disyllabic and polysyllabic words. We have also seen that English permit initial consonant clusters
of more than one C element in words such as sky/skai/ (CCV), and of three consonants in words
such as script/skript (CCCVCC). English also permits consonant clusters in the final position.
Looks/luks/CVCC) has a cluster of two consonants; sixth/siks sθ / (CVCCC) has a consonant
cluster of three consonants, and sixths/siks sθ / (CVCCCC) has a cluster of four consonants in the
final position. In the monosyllabic word comb—koum/, the structure of the syllable is CVC,
because the final /b/ is silent and therefore it does not exist in the structure of the syllable.
Sometimes two syllables in a word may be fused into one by suppressing a vowel sound in
pronunciation, e.g. wa—t (e) ry, lit (e) ral. This process is known as Elison or Slurring.
5.1.2 Consonants

Definition: The word consonant has been derived from the Greek word consonautem which
means the sound produced with the help of some other sound (vowel). Both the ancient Greeks
and Indians defined the consonant as a sound produced with the help of a vowel. But such a
definition is faulty and incomplete. First, there are sibilant consonants such as /s, ∫ ,z, dz / and
some laterals and nasals which can be pronounced without the help of any vowel. Secondly, there
are some languages which have words without any vowel. For example, an African language Ibo
has words as /η / and /gη /. Similarly, strc prst skrz krk (‘Don’t put a finger in your mouth’) is
a sentence in the Czech language which has no vowel at all. Hence a consonant has been defined
by most modern phoneticians and linguists as a sound which is produced by a stoppage or partial
stoppage of the breath, that is to say, in the production of a consonant the movement of air from
the lungs is partially or fully obstructed as a result of narrowing or a complete closure of the air
passage.
5.1.3 Contoids and Vocoids
The classification of sounds into vowels and consonants is customary irrespective of phonetic,
phonological, or orthographic references. The current classification following Pike divides the
sounds into vocoids (vowel sounds), contoids (consonant sounds), and semi-vocoids or semi-
contoids (for example /w/ and /j/ in English). The terms contoids and vocoids refer to phonetic
form only, without any reference to phonological function. A vocoid, according to Pike, is a
segment formed with an open approximation of the articulators, with or without a velic closure,
and with central passage or air stream. All other segments are contoids. The terms vowel and
consonant are then reserved for phonological function./w/ and /j/ are vocoids phonetically, that
is, they are produced as the vocoids (vowel sounds) are produced, but they do not form the
nucleus of a syllable in English; hence their function is like that of other consonants. In other
words, these are the sounds which in form are like vowels but in their function they are like
consonants. Hence these are called nonsyllabic vocoids. /n/ and /l/ are phonetically contoids
(since in the production of /n/ there is a stricture of complete oral closure and in the production
of /l/ there is a stricture of complete closure in the centre and the air passes through the sides
only), but when they form syllabic nuclei, they are called syllabic contoids, e.g. in bottle and
button.
Two Kinds of Contoids and Vocoids
In English, there can be syllabic vocoids, non-syllabic vocoids, syllabic contoids and non-syllabic
contoids. Syllabic vocoids are all vowel sounds; they function as syllable nuclei. Phonetically the
vocoids are vowels and their phonological function is that of a syllabic vocoid. The first-segment
in the word inn/in/is a syllabic vocoid. Non-syllabic vocoids are the sounds which are phonetically
vocoids (are produced like vowels), but phonologically are contoids (function like ordinary contoids
and do not form a nucleus in a syllable, and represent the C element in the syllable.) The first
segment in wet/wet,/is a non-syllabic vocoids. So is the first segment in /yet/jet/a non-syllabic

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 53