Listening and Speaking 3 Week 4 Feb.16.2013 Chapter 8 (Part One)

Lesson Outline Course Introduction. Chapter 8, The Syllable 8.1 The Nature of the Syllable, 56-57 Conversation

Course Info Email mrs.lujain@live.com Webpage www.schoolrack.com/ms_lujain Course title Listening and Speaking 3 ENGL 2137 Units 2 Text book Roach, Peter. (Fourth edition) English Phonetics and Phonology.

Evaluation Applied part: presentations + participation 5 Applied part: listening quiz 10 Theoretical part: phonetics quiz Theoretical part: 2 midterm exams 30 Applied part: final oral exam 20 Applied part: final project Total 100

8.1 The Nature of the Syllable What is a Syllable? The syllable is a basic unit of speech studied on both the phonetic and phonological levels of analysis. Words can be cut up into units called syllables. Humans seem to need syllables as a way of segmenting the stream of speech and giving it a rhythm of strong and weak beats. A word contains at least one syllable.

Defining the Syllable Phonetically Phonetically means in relation to production and how it sounds. Phonetically syllables are usually described as consisting of a center which has little or no obstruction to airflow and which sounds comparatively loud; before and after that center there will be greater obstruction to airflow and/or less loud sound.

Defining the Syllable Phonologically Phonological syllable is “a complex unit made up of nuclear and marginal elements”. Laver (1994: 114) Nuclear elements are the vowels, marginal elements are consonants.

Syllable Structure 1. Minimum Syllable: a single vowel in isolation. Example: ‘are’ , ‘or’ , ‘err’ . These are preceded and followed by silence. Onset: one or more consonant preceding the center of the syllable. Example: ‘bar’ , ‘key’ Coda: the syllable ends with one or more consonants. Example: ‘am’ , ‘ought’ Some syllables have both onset and coda. Example: ‘ran’ , ‘sat’

Conversation