A syllable is a phonological unit that is composed of one or more morphemes. It is a single, unbroken sound of a spoken or written word. It is a unit of pronunciation that contains one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants.
Phonologically, a syllable is defined by how vowels and
consonants combine to construct various sequences. That is, the structure of a
syllable is “consonant (s) plus vowel (s) plus consonant (s). A vowel is a compulsory
element that can alone form a syllable, whereas a consonant is an optional
element.
Typically, a syllable contains: a
vowel sound (central element) and optional consonants before (called onset) and
/or after (coda).
Structure
of a Syllable:
A syllable has three main parts:
|
Part |
Description |
Example (in
‘bed’) |
|
Onset |
The initial
consonant (s) sound (if any) |
“b” |
|
Nucleus |
The core
vowel sound (always present) |
“e” |
|
coda |
The ending
consonant (s) sound (if any) |
“d” |
|
Word |
Syllables |
Breakdown |
|
dog |
1 |
Dog |
|
apple |
2 |
Ap-ple |
|
banana |
3 |
Ba-na-na |
|
elephant |
3 |
El-e-phant |
Are [a:]
Or [ɔ:]
Err [ ʒ:]
Some other English syllables could have no onset but a
termination:
Am [ æ m]
Ought [ ɔ:t]
Ease [ i: z]
Finally, some English syllables could have both onset and
termination:
Run [ r Λ n]
Sat [ s æ t]
Fill [ f I l]
Importance of Syllable:
1. Syllables help in correctly pronouncing
words.
2. Dividing words into syllables can help in spelling.
3. Syllables are key to understanding stress and intonation.
Rules of stress placement within the word
One-syllable or single-syllable words, especially nouns, adjectives,
verbs and adverbs, receive primary stress if they are pronounced in isolation.
But the question of placing stress on the first or the second syllable or so
arises when a learner of English as a second/foreign language has to pronounce
a word having more than one syllable. Roach (2000) propounds the following criteria
to be considered so as to decide on stress placement within the word:
a) Whether the word is morphologically simple.
b) Whether the word is complex as a result of containing one
or more affixes.
c) Whether the word is compound as a result of combining two
independent words.
d) The grammatical category to which the word belongs (noun,
adjective, verb, adverb, etc.)
e) The number of syllables in the word.
f) The phonological structure of the syllables in the word.
Simple words:
Simple words are those that are not composed of more than one grammatical unit and are usually either disyllabic or trisyllabic. While in the case of a two-syllable word the primary stress is on either the first or the second syllable and the other syllable remains unstressed, in the case of a three-syllable word the primary stress is either on the first, the second, or the third syllable,
If the second syllable of a 'two-syllable verb' has a long vowel or diphthong or if it has more than one ending consonant, the second syllable receives stress:
Re’move a’pply
a'rrive a’ttract
If the second syllable of a 'two-syllable verb' has a short vowel and one or no ending consonant, the first syllable receives stress:
'open ‘enter
'equal envy
If the second syllable of a 'two-syllable verb' contains the diphthong / au /, the first syllable receives stress:
'follow ‘borrow
'mellow ‘hollow
These rules also apply to 'two-syllable adjectives", excepting a few of them such as 'honest' and 'perfect':
di'vine co’rrect
'lovely ‘even
'hollow ‘mellow
'Two-syllable adverbs' and 'prepositions' are found to behave like verbs and adjectives. However, 'two-syllable nouns' require a different rule. If the second syllable has a short vowel, the first syllable receives the stress. Otherwise, the second syllable is stressed:
'money ‘product
ba'llon de’sign
If the last syllable of a 'three-syllable verb' contains a short vowel and not more than one ending consonant, the second syllable is stressed:
de'termine en’counter
If the last syllable of a 'three-syllable verb' contains a long vowel or diphthong or more than one consonant, the last syllable receives primary stress and the first syllable secondary:
enter'tain resu’rrect
If the last syllable of the 'three-syllable noun' contains a short vowel or the diphthong / au/, it receives no stress. If the second syllable has a long vowel or diphthong or more than one ending, consonant, it is stressed:
mi'mosa di'saster
po'tato sy'nopsis
If the last syllable of the 'three-syllable noun' has a short vowel and the second syllable a short and not more than one the consonant, the first syllable receives stress:
‘custody 'quantity
‘Emperor ‘cinema
If the last syllable of a 'three-syllable noun' contains a long vowel or diphthong and/or more than one ending consonant, it receives secondary stress and the first syllable receives primary stress:
'inte, llect 'alka, li
'mari,gold 'stalac,tite
This rule also applies to 'three-syllable adjectives':
'oppor,tune 'dere,lict
'inso,lent anthrou,poid
The rules discussed and exemplified above do not cover all the simple words of the English language. They are only related to major categories of two- and three- syllable lexical words. However, these rules are supposed to help ESL/EFL learners substantially to place stress on the appropriate syllables of a large number of commonly used simple words.
Complex words:
Here complex words include those words which are made from a basic stem word with the addition of an affix, that is, a prefix coming before the stem, e. g. 'in-'+'complete'-> 'incomplete', or a suffix coming after the stem, e.g. 'care' + '-less' ->'careless'. Affixes can have one of three possible effects on words stress:
First, affixes themselves receive primary stress:
Second, affixes have no impact on stress placement within the word:
Third, affixes influence stress, which is shifted to a different syllable of the stem:
We have here dealt with those prefixes and suffixes which are common and productive, and are supposed to help ESI learners to a considerable extent.
Compound words are those ones which are constituted of at least two independent words, for example. ‘sun’+ ‘rise' 'sunrise', 'fruit' +'cake' "fruit-cake', 'battery" + ‘charger’ 'battery charger', etc. The compound that combines two nouns receives primary stress on its first element:’
‘sunrise 'typewriter
‘tea-cup'desk lamp, etc.
The compound that is made up of an adjectival first element and the '-ed' morpheme at the end permits primary stress on the second element:
bad -'tempered
heavy -'handed
black -' coloured
half -'timbered, etc.
The compound which has a number in some form as its first element permits primary stress on the second element:
four -'wheeler
second -'class
third -'party, etc.
The compound that functions as an adverb receives primary stress on its second part:
east -'west
down -'stream
head -'first, etc.
Lastly, the compound that contains an adverbial first element and functions as a verb permits stress on the final part:
ill -'treat
down -'grade
back -'pedal, etc.
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