Syllable. Functional characteristics of the syllable

The syllable as a phonological unit performs three functions: constitutive, distinctive, identificatory. They are closely connected.

1. Constitutive Function

Syllables constitute words, phrases and sentences through the com­bination of their prosodic features: loudness — stress, pitch — tone, duration — length and tempo. Syllables may be stressed, unstressed,, high, mid, low, rising, falling, long, short. All these prosodic fea­tures constitute the stress pattern of words, tonal and rhythmic struc­ture of an utterance, help to perform distinctive variations on the syllabic level.

2. Distinctive and Differentiator^ Function

If we compare the words: lightening освещение and lightning молния, we may observe that their syllabicity is the only min­imal, distinctive feature: /Uaitfltn vs. Uaitnm/.

It is an example of the word-distinctive function of the syllab­icity of /n/.

There are rather many combinations in English distinguished from each other by means of the difference in the place ol the syllabic boundary: a name—an aim, ice cream —/ scream, we loan — we'll own: /ataeim/—/an leim/, /iais'kri:m/—/ai iskrhm/, /wi- Uaun/—,/wil isun/.

The distinctive, differentiator function of the syllabic boundary makes it possible to introduce the term "juncture". Close juncture or conjuncture occurs between sounds within one syllable, e.g. a name, I scream: in the first example the close juncture is between In! and /ei/, in the second — between /s/ and /k/. Open juncture, disjuncture, or internal open juncture occurs between two syllables. If we mark open juncture with /-f / then in our examples it will occur between a +mme, I + scream. American scientists H. A. Gleason, L. S. Harris and K. Pike consider the open juncture a separate segmental phoneme. They include /+/ into the inventory of phonemes as a separate differentiatory unit.

3. Identificatory Function

This function is conditioned by the pronunciation of the speaker. The listener can understand the exact meaning of the utterance only if he perceives the correct syllabic boundary — "syllabodisjuncture", e.g. pea stalks стеблу гороха — peace talks мирные переговоры; my train мой поезд — might rain возможен дождь.

The existence of such pairs demands special attention to teaching not only the correct pronunciation of sounds but also the observation of the correct place for syllabodisjuncture.

Не нашли, что искали? Воспользуйтесь поиском: