Toward an understanding of English syllabification (original) (raw)

Syllabification of American English Evidence from a large scale experiment Part II

4990 bi-syllabic English words were syllabified by about 22 native speakers who choose between different slash divisions (e.g. photon: FOW / TAHN, FOWT / AHN). Results for test items with one medial consonant are reported in Eddington, Treiman, & Elzinga (2013). In the present paper, the regression analysis of words with two, three, and four medial consonants are discussed. A model in which syllables are made to be as word-like as possible is supported; syllables are made that begin and end in the same phonemes and graphemes that are legal word-initially and finally. Syllabifications also coincide with morphological boundaries. In words with two medial consonants, stressed syllables attract consonants, and a sonorant first consonant is more likely to be placed in the coda than an obstruent. Clusters comprised of /s/C differ from other two consonant clusters that are legal word-initially; the former tend to be divided between syllables while the latter are placed in the onset.

Syllabification of American English Evidence from a large scale experiment part 1

4990 bi-syllabic English words were syllabified by about 22 native speakers who choose between different slash divisions (e.g. photon: FOW/TAHN, FOWT/AHN). Results of the regression analyses of the items with one medial consonant are discussed. Consistent with previous studies, consonants were drawn to stressed syllables, and more sonorant consonants were more often placed in the coda. A model in which syllables are made to be as word-like as possible is supported; syllables were often created that begin and end in the same pho-nemes that are legal word-initially and finally, and syllabifications tended to follow morphological boundaries. Orthographic conventions, such as not placing ck or ll syllable-initially were also followed.

The Influence of Experimental Method on English Syllabification

A number of experimental methods have been used to elicit metalinguistic judgments about syllable division, a good deal of which deals with the syllabification of English words. However the syllabification literature is largely silent on the issue of intratask reliability, that is, whether the tasks all yield the same kinds of intuitions from speakers. Côté and Kharlamov (2011) gathered data from Russian speakers who syllabified nonce words in four different experimental conditions. When the results were compared they observed widely different results in many instances. This suggests that syllabification preferences are highly influenced by the particular task used to elicit them, which in turn casts doubt on the intratask reliability of syllabification studies. In order to test the reliability of different experimental methods in English, syllable divisions of 120 English words were elicited with eight different experimental tasks. In a mixed-effects logistic regression, no main effect of experimental method was found, although the method showed some interaction with stress and the legality of the consonant cluster word-initially and word-finally. Reasons why these results differ from those of Côté and Kharlamov are discussed, some of which are due to methodological flaws in their analysis.

Effects of consonant cluster syllabification on vowel-to-vowel coarticulation in English

Speech Communication, 2012

This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright

Syllabification of intervocalic consonants

1988

Two tasks were used to study the syllabification of intervocalic consonants like the /V's of melon and collide. In an oral task, subjects reversed the syllables in words; in a written task, they selected between alternative syllabifications. Even in the oral task, subjects' responses were influenced by whether their spellings of the words contained a single letter (r) or a double letter (10. Responses in the two tasks were also affected by the stress pattern of the word, the phonetic category of the intervocalic consonant, and the nature of the preceding vowel. The results are discussed in relation to theories of syllabification. o 1988

The Problem of Syllabification in Consonant Cluster for English Department Students

Journal Of Academia In English Educations, 2022

The focus of this study is an attempt to identify the students of English department problem in syllabifying English consonant cluster. Syllable is the smallest unit beyond single consonants and vowels. Syllabification refers to the division of a word into syllables. Meanwhile, consonant clusters are the combinations of consonant found at the beginning or end of words and syllables. In this research, the researcher used quantitative approach which the design is the descriptive design. The process of collecting data was done by applying the essay test. The test was conducted to 11 respondents from the English department students of IAIN Langsa. According to the result of the essay test, the researcher found that there were three aspects of the students of English department problem in syllabifying English consonant cluster, these were syllabification, consonant cluster and syllable components. There were 45,45 % of students who got mistakes in aspect syllabification and syllable components and 54,55 % of students who got mistakes in aspect syllabification, consonant cluster and syllable components. According to the result of the research, the researcher suggested to the English department students of IAIN langsa have to improve their learning strategy in order to help them in comprehending the syllabification and the syllable structure. In addition, the English department students should enrich their comprehension about syllabification, consonant cluster, syllable components and recognize each of them in the word.

interaction of syllabification and voicing perception in American English

ZAS Papers in Linguistics, 2002

The current paper explores these two sorts of phonetic explanations of the relationship between syllabic position and the voicing contrast in American English. It has long been observed that the contrast between, for example, /p/ and /b/ is expressed differently, depending on the position of the stop with respect to the vowel. Preceding a vowel within a syllable, the contrast is largely one of aspiration. /p/ is aspirated, while /b/ is voiceless, or in some dialects voiced or even an implosive. Following a vowel within a syllable, both /p/ and /b/ both tend to lack voicing in the closure and the contrast is expressed largely by dynamic differences in the transition between the previous vowel and the stop. Here, vowel and closure duration are negatively correlated such that the /p/ has a shorter vowel and longer closure duration. This difference is often enhanced by the addition of glottalization to /p/. In addition to these differences, there are additional differences connected to ...

Segmentation of spoken words into syllables by English-speaking children as compared to adults

Journal of experimental child psychology, 2002

Given the importance of syllables in the development of reading, spelling, and phonological awareness, information is needed about how children syllabify spoken words. To what extent is syllabification affected by knowledge of spelling, to what extent by phonology, and which phonological factors are influential? In Experiment 1, six-and seven-year-old children did not show effects of spelling on oral syllabification, performing similarly on words such as habit and rabbit. Spelling influenced the syllabification of older children and adults, with the results suggesting that knowledge of spelling must be well entrenched before it begins to affect oral syllabification. Experiment 2 revealed influences of phonological factors on syllabification that were similar across age groups. Young children, like older children and adults, showed differences between words with ''short'' and ''long'' vowels (e.g., lemon vs. demon) and words with sonorant and obstruent intervocalic consonants (e.g., melon vs. wagon).