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Unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds

A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word. In phonology and studies of languages, syllables are often considered the "building blocks" of words.[1] A syllable usually consists of a nucleus (most often a vowel), which may be preceded by an onset and followed by a coda (collectively margins, which are most often consonants). Syllables may bear properties such as stress and tone and be subject to operations such as reduplication.[2] Speech can usually be divided up into a whole number of syllables: for example, the word ignite is made of two syllables: ig and nite. Most languages of the world use relatively simple syllable structures that often alternate between vowels and consonants.[3]

Despite being present in virtually all human languages, syllables still have no precise definition that is valid for all known languages. A common criterion for finding syllable boundaries is native-speaker intuition, but individuals sometimes disagree on them.[4]

The earliest attested instances of syllabic writing are on tablets written around 2800 BC in the Sumerian city of Ur, which predate the earliest instances of alphabetic writing by several centuries. The shift from pictographic writing to syllabic writing has been called "the most important advance in the history of writing".[5]

A word that consists of a single syllable (like English dog) is called a monosyllable (and is said to be monosyllabic). Similar terms include disyllable (and disyllabic; also bisyllable and bisyllabic) for a word of two syllables; trisyllable (and trisyllabic) for a word of three syllables; and polysyllable (and polysyllabic), which may refer to any word of more than one syllable.

Etymology

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Syllable is an Anglo-Norman variation of Old French sillabe, from Latin syllaba, from Koine Greek συλλαβή syllabḗ (Ancient Greek pronunciation: [sylːabɛ̌ː]). συλλαβή means "the taken together", referring to letters that are taken together to make a single sound.[6]

συλλαβή is a verbal noun from the verb συλλαμβάνω syllambánō, a compound of the preposition σύν sýn "with" and the verb λαμβάνω lambánō "take".[7] The noun uses the root λαβ-, which appears in the aorist tense; the present tense stem λαμβάν- is formed by adding a nasal infix ⟨μ⟩ ⟨m⟩ before the β b and a suffix -αν -an at the end.[8]

Transcription

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In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), the full stop ⟨.⟩ marks syllable breaks, as in the word "astronomical" ⟨/ˌæs.trə.ˈnɒm.ɪk.əl/⟩.

In practice, however, IPA transcription is typically divided into words by spaces, and often these spaces are also understood to be syllable breaks. In addition, the stress mark ⟨ˈ⟩ is placed immediately before a stressed syllable, and when the stressed syllable is in the middle of a word, in practice, the stress mark also marks a syllable break, for example in the word "understood" ⟨/ʌndərˈstʊd/⟩ (though the syllable boundary may still be explicitly marked with a full stop,[9] e.g. ⟨/ʌn.dər.ˈstʊd/⟩).

When a word space comes in the middle of a syllable (that is, when a syllable spans words), a tie bar ⟨‿⟩ can be used for liaison, as in the French combination les amis ⟨/lɛ.z‿a.mi/⟩. The liaison tie is also used to join lexical words into phonological words, for example hot dog ⟨/ˈhɒt‿dɒɡ/⟩.

A Greek sigma, ⟨σ⟩, is used as a wild card for 'syllable', and a dollar/peso sign, ⟨$⟩, marks a syllable boundary where the usual fullstop might be misunderstood. For example, ⟨σσ⟩ is a pair of syllables, and ⟨V$⟩ is a syllable-final vowel.

Components

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Syllable components as a directed graph. Syllable structure as tree diagram according to several phonologic traditions and theories. syllable (σ), rime (ρ), onset (ω), nucleus (ν), coda (κ), tone (τ), initial (ι), medial (μ), final (φ).
Segmentation for cat and sing

Onset–nucleus–rime segmentation

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In this framework, the general structure of a syllable (σ) consists of three segments grouped into two components:

  • Onset (ω): A consonant or consonant cluster, obligatory in some languages, optional or even restricted in others
  • Rime (ρ): Right branch, contrasts with onset, splits into nucleus and coda
    • Nucleus (ν): A vowel or syllabic consonant, obligatory in most languages
    • Coda (κ): A consonant or consonant cluster, optional in some languages, highly restricted or prohibited in others

The syllable is usually considered right-branching, i.e. nucleus and coda are grouped together as a "rime" and are only distinguished at the second level.

The sounds occupying these positions may also be denoted with the following notation:

possibly with the following notation to indicate occurrence count:

  • "Exactly one" (no exponent)
  • "Zero or one" (surrounding parentheses or, more rarely, ? after the letter)
  • "Zero or more" (* after the letter)
  • "One or more" (+ after the letter)

The nucleus is usually the vowel in the middle of a syllable.[10] The onset is the sound or sounds occurring before the nucleus, and the coda (literally 'tail') is the sound or sounds that follow the nucleus. They are sometimes collectively known as the shell. The term rime covers the nucleus plus coda. In the one-syllable English word cat, the nucleus is a (the sound that can be shouted or sung on its own), the onset c, the coda t, and the rime at. This syllable can be abstracted as a consonant-vowel-consonant syllable, abbreviated CVC. Languages vary greatly in the restrictions on the sounds making up the onset, nucleus and coda of a syllable, according to what is termed a language's phonotactics.

Although every syllable has supra-segmental features, these are usually ignored if not semantically relevant, e.g. in tonal languages.

Chinese segmentation

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Traditional Chinese syllable structure

In the syllable structure of Sinitic languages, the onset is replaced with an initial, and a semivowel or liquid forms another segment, called the medial. These four segments are grouped into two slightly different components:[example needed]

  • Initial ⟨ι⟩: Optional onset, excluding semivowels
  • Final ⟨φ⟩: Medial, nucleus, and final consonant grouped together[11]
    • Medial ⟨μ⟩: Optional semivowel or liquid[12]
    • Nucleus ⟨ν⟩: A vowel or syllabic consonant
    • Coda ⟨κ⟩: Optional final consonant
  • Tone ⟨τ⟩: May be carried by the syllable as a whole or by the rime

In many languages of the Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area, such as Chinese, the syllable structure is expanded to include an additional, optional medial segment located between the onset (often termed the initial in this context) and the rime. The medial is normally a semivowel, but reconstructions of Old Chinese generally include liquid medials (/r/ in modern reconstructions, /l/ in older versions), and many reconstructions of Middle Chinese include a medial contrast between /i/ and /j/, where the /i/ functions phonologically as a glide rather than as part of the nucleus. In addition, many reconstructions of both Old and Middle Chinese include complex medials such as /rj/, /ji/, /jw/ and /jwi/. The medial groups phonologically with the rime rather than the onset, and the combination of medial and rime is collectively known as the final.

Some linguists, especially when discussing the modern Chinese varieties, use the terms "final" and "rime" interchangeably. In historical Chinese phonology, however, the distinction between "final" (including the medial) and "rime" (not including the medial) is important in understanding the rime dictionaries and rime tables that form the primary sources for Middle Chinese, and as a result most authors distinguish the two according to the above definition.

Grouping of components

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Hierarchical model for cat and sing

In some theories of phonology, syllable structures are displayed as tree diagrams (similar to the trees found in some types of syntax). Not all phonologists agree that syllables have internal structure; in fact, some phonologists doubt the existence of the syllable as a theoretical entity.[13]

There are many arguments for a hierarchical relationship, rather than a linear one, between the syllable constituents. One hierarchical model groups the syllable nucleus and coda into an intermediate level, the rime. The hierarchical model accounts for the role that the nucleus+coda constituent plays in verse (i.e., rhyming words such as cat and bat are formed by matching both the nucleus and coda, or the entire rime), and for the distinction between heavy and light syllables, which plays a role in phonological processes such as, for example, sound change in Old English scipu and wordu, where in a process called high vowel deletion (HVD), the nominative/accusative plural of single light-syllable roots (like "*scip-") got a "u" ending in OE, whereas heavy syllable roots (like "*word-") would not, giving "scip-u" but "word-∅".[14][15][16]

Body

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Left-branching hierarchical model

In some traditional descriptions of certain languages such as Cree and Ojibwe, the syllable is considered left-branching, i.e. onset and nucleus group below a higher-level unit, called a "body" or "core". This contrasts with the coda.

Rime

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The rime or rhyme of a syllable consists of a nucleus and an optional coda. It is the part of the syllable used in most poetic rhymes, and the part that is lengthened or stressed when a person elongates or stresses a word in speech.

The rime is usually the portion of a syllable from the first vowel to the end. For example, /æt/ is the rime of all of the words at, sat, and flat. However, the nucleus does not necessarily need to be a vowel in some languages, such as English. For instance, the rime of the second syllables of the words bottle and fiddle is just /l/, a liquid consonant.

Just as the rime branches into the nucleus and coda, the nucleus and coda may each branch into multiple phonemes. The limit for the number of phonemes which may be contained in each varies by language. For example, Japanese and most Sino-Tibetan languages do not have consonant clusters at the beginning or end of syllables, whereas many Eastern European languages can have more than two consonants at the beginning or end of the syllable. In English, the onset may have up to three consonants, and the coda four.[17]

Rime and rhyme are variants of the same word, but the rarer form rime is sometimes used to mean specifically syllable rime to differentiate it from the concept of poetic rhyme. This distinction is not made by some linguists and does not appear in most dictionaries.

Examples
C = consonant, V = vowel, optional components are in parentheses.
structure:syllable =onset+ rhyme
C+V+C*: C1(C2)V1(V2)(C3)(C4) = C1(C2) + V1(V2)(C3)(C4)
V+C*: V1(V2)(C3)(C4) = ∅ + V1(V2)(C3)(C4)

Weight

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Branching nucleus for pout and branching coda for pond

A heavy syllable is generally one with a branching rime, i.e. it is either a closed syllable that ends in a consonant, or a syllable with a branching nucleus, i.e. a long vowel or diphthong. The name is a metaphor, based on the nucleus or coda having lines that branch in a tree diagram.

In some languages, heavy syllables include both VV (branching nucleus) and VC (branching rime) syllables, contrasted with V, which is a light syllable. In other languages, only VV syllables are considered heavy, while both VC and V syllables are light. Some languages distinguish a third type of superheavy syllable, which consists of VVC syllables (with both a branching nucleus and rime) or VCC syllables (with a coda consisting of two or more consonants) or both.

In , heavy syllables are said to have two moras, while light syllables are said to have one and superheavy syllables are said to have three. is generally described this way.

Suprasegmental features

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The domain of suprasegmental features is a syllable (or some larger unit), but not a specific sound. That is to say, these features may affect more than a single segment, and possibly all segments of a syllable:

Sometimes syllable length is also counted as a suprasegmental feature; for example, in some Germanic languages, long vowels may only exist with short consonants and vice versa. However, syllables can be analyzed as compositions of long and short phonemes, as in Finnish and Japanese, where consonant gemination and vowel length are independent.

Tone

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In most languages, the pitch or pitch contour in which a syllable is pronounced conveys shades of meaning such as emphasis or surprise, or distinguishes a statement from a question. In tonal languages, however, the pitch affects the basic lexical meaning (e.g. "cat" vs. "dog") or grammatical meaning (e.g. past vs. present). In some languages, only the pitch itself (e.g. high vs. low) has this effect, while in others, especially East Asian languages such as Chinese, Thai or Vietnamese, the shape or contour (e.g. level vs. rising vs. falling) also needs to be distinguished.

Accent

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Syllable structure often interacts with stress or pitch accent. In Latin, for example, stress is regularly determined by syllable weight, a syllable counting as heavy if it has at least one of the following:

In each case, the syllable is considered to have two morae.

The first syllable of a word is the initial syllable and the last syllable is the final syllable.

In languages accented on one of the last three syllables, the last syllable is called the ultima, the next-to-last is called the penult, and the third syllable from the end is called the antepenult. These terms come from Latin ultima "last", paenultima "almost last", and antepaenultima "before almost last".

In Ancient Greek, there are three accent marks (acute, circumflex, and grave), and terms were used to describe words based on the position and type of accent. Some of these terms are used in the description of other languages.

Placement of accent
AntepenultPenultUltima
Type
of
accent		Circumflex —properispomenonperispomenon
Acute proparoxytoneparoxytoneoxytone
Any barytone—

History

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Guilhem Molinier, a member of the Consistori del Gay Saber, which was the first literary academy in the world and held the Floral Games to award the best troubadour with the violeta d'aur top prize, gave a definition of the syllable in his Leys d'amor (1328–1337), a book aimed at regulating then-flourishing Occitan poetry:

Sillaba votz es literals.
Segon los ditz gramaticals.
En un accen pronunciada.
Et en un trag: d'una alenada.

A syllable is the sound of several letters,
According to those called grammarians,
Pronounced in one accent
And uninterruptedly: in one breath.

Crosslinguistic patterns

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CV is purported to be the universal syllable type that is found in all languages of the world, although two Australian languages, Arrernte and the Oykangand dialect of Kunjen, are possible exceptions.[32] CV is the first syllable type to be acquired by children, and if a language has only one type of a syllable, it is always CV (e.g. Hawaiian and Hua).[33]

Several asymmetries in onset and coda have been identified. All languages have syllables with onsets, but about 12.6% of languages in WALS do not allow codas.[34] The list of consonants allowed in the coda is usually smaller than the ones allowed in the onset (e.g. in Northern Germany, there is no contrast between voiceless and voiced consonants in codas).[34] All combinations of onset and nucleus are usually allowed, but the coda consonant is sometimes restricted by the nucleus.[34]

Consonant clusters are more typical in onsets than in codas.[35]

Antepenult, penult, and ultima

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Penult is a linguistics term for the second-to-last syllable of a word. It is an abbreviation of penultimate, which describes the next-to-last item in a series. The penult follows the antepenult (third-to-last syllable) and precedes the ultima (last syllable). For example, the main stress falls on the penult in such English words as banána, and Mississíppi, and just about all words ending in -ic such as músic, frántic, and phonétic. Occasionally, "penult" refers to the last word but one of a sentence.

The terms are often used in reference to languages like Latin and Ancient Greek, whose position of the pitch accent or stress of a word falls only on one of the last three syllables, and sometimes in discussing poetic meter. In certain languages, such as Welsh[36] and Polish, stress is always on the penult.[37]

Morphology

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Complex syllables often occur as a result of morphological processes (e.g. the English word "texts" has an uncommon coda /kst-s/ after pluralisation).[25] Some models of the syllable even exclude morphologically complex syllables from their analysis.[25] At the same time, these clusters are acquired earlier by L1 speakers than the ones arising within a single morpheme, and are less reduced.[38]

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ de Jong, Kenneth (2003). "Temporal constraints and characterising syllable structuring". In Local, John; Ogden, Richard; Temple, Rosalind (eds.). Phonetic Interpretation: Papers in Laboratory Phonology VI. Cambridge University Press. p. 254. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511486425.015. ISBN 978-0-521-82402-6.
  2. ↑ Easterday 2019, p. 3.
  3. ↑ Easterday 2019, p. 1.
  4. ↑ Easterday 2019, p. 3-4.
  5. ↑ Hooker, J. T. (1990). "Introduction". Reading the Past: Ancient Writing from Cuneiform to the Alphabet. University of California Press; British Museum. p. 8. ISBN 0-520-07431-9.
  6. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "syllable". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2015-01-05.
  7. ↑ λαμβάνω. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project
  8. ↑ Smyth 1920, §523: present stems formed by suffixes containing ν
  9. ↑ International Phonetic Association (December 1989). "Report on the 1989 Kiel Convention: International Phonetic Association". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 19 (2). Cambridge University Press: 75–76. doi:10.1017/S0025100300003868. S2CID 249412330.
  10. 1 2 3 Easterday 2019, p. 10.
  11. ↑ More generally, the letter φ indicates a prosodic foot of two syllables
  12. ↑ More generally, the letter μ indicates a mora
  13. ↑ For discussion of the theoretical existence of the syllable see "CUNY Conference on the Syllable". CUNY Phonology Forum. CUNY Graduate Center. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  14. ↑ Bermúdez-Otero, Ricardo (2015). "The life cycle of High Vowel Deletion in Old English: from prosody to stratification and loss" (PDF). p. 2.
  15. ↑ Fikkert, Paula; Dresher, Elan; Lahiri, Aditi (2006). "Chapter 6, Prosodic Preferences: From Old English to Early Modern English". The Handbook of the History of English (PDF). pp. 134–135. ISBN 9780470757048.
  16. ↑ Feng, Shengli (2003). A Prosodic Grammar of Chinese. University of Kansas. p. 3.
  17. 1 2 Hultzén, Lee S. (1965). "Consonant Clusters in English". American Speech. 40 (1): 5–19. doi:10.2307/454173. ISSN 0003-1283. JSTOR 454173.
  18. ↑ Shibatani, Masayoshi (1987). "Japanese". In Bernard Comrie (ed.). The World's Major Languages. Oxford University Press. pp. 855–80. ISBN 0-19-520521-9.
  19. ↑ Sihler, Andrew L (2000). Language History. Current Issues in Linguistic Theory. Vol. 191. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing. p. 277. ISBN 90-272-3698-4.
  20. ↑ Wells, John C. (1990). "Syllabification and allophony". In Ramsaran, Susan (ed.). Studies in the pronunciation of English : a commemorative volume in honour of A.C. Gimson. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. pp. 76–86. ISBN 9781138918658.
  21. ↑ Easterday 2019, p. 9.
  22. ↑ Breen, Gavan; Pensalfini, Rob (1999). "Arrernte: A Language with No Syllable Onsets" (PDF). Linguistic Inquiry. 30 (1): 1–25. doi:10.1162/002438999553940. JSTOR 4179048. S2CID 57564955.
  23. ↑ Wiese, Richard (2000). Phonology of German. Oxford University Press. pp. 58–61. ISBN 9780198299509.
  24. ↑ Easterday 2019, pp. 10−11.
  25. 1 2 3 4 Easterday 2019, p. 11.
  26. ↑ Bagemihl 1991, pp. 589, 593, 627
  27. ↑ Pellard, Thomas (2010). "Ōgami (Miyako Ryukyuan)". In Shimoji, Michinori (ed.). An introduction to Ryukyuan languages (PDF). Fuchū, Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. pp. 113–166. ISBN 978-4-86337-072-2. Retrieved 21 June 2022. HAL hal-00529598
  28. ↑ Dell & Elmedlaoui 1985
  29. ↑ Dell & Elmedlaoui 1988
  30. ↑ Sloan 1988
  31. ↑ Harrington, Jonathan; Cox, Felicity (August 2014). "Syllable and foot: The syllable and phonotactic constraints". Department of Linguistics. Macquarie University. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
  32. ↑ Easterday 2019, pp. 4−5.
  33. ↑ Easterday 2019, p. 5.
  34. 1 2 3 Easterday 2019, p. 6.
  35. ↑ Easterday 2019, p. 6–7.
  36. ↑ Welsh Archived 2015-12-08 at the Wayback Machine in the World Atlas of Language Structures
  37. ↑ Chapter 14: Fixed Stress Locations Archived 2015-12-07 at the Wayback Machine in the World Atlas of Language Structures
  38. ↑ Easterday 2019, p. 12.
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