Chapter 7: Beyond the segment: Syllable structure in English 7.1. The Syllable: a fundamental phonological unit in any language.

A tentative definition 7.2. The structure of the syllable. Phonotactic constraints 7.3 The importance of segmental sonority for the syllable structure 7.4. Constraints on onsets 7.5. Constraints on codas 7.6. Syllabic consonants. Non-vocalic nuclei 7.7. Syllabification in English

7.6. Syllabic consonants. Non-vocalic nuclei

In a previous paragraph we mentioned the quite large number of cases where sequences of an obstruent and a nasal or a liquid could not be accepted to be part of a well-formed coda as they violated the fundamental principle of Sonority Sequencing. Indeed, if we consider, for instance, the word fiddle and we analyse it as a monosyllabic word whose onset contains the fricative f, while the nucleus is represented by the vowel w and the coda by the two-consonant cluster dl, we will obviously have problems with the latter sequence since instead of having a fall in sonority in the coda we witness an increase from the voiced obstruent d to the liquid l. Such examples are quite numerous in English and a widely accepted solution is to postulate the possibility that in some cases not only vowels, but certain sonorants liquids and nasals, more precisely can represent the peak of sonority and consequently the nucleus of the syllable. Thus, the word topple, instead of being interpreted as a monosyllabic one and get the following representation:

S O R N
t
]

Co
p l

will be divided into two syllables and represented thus: S O R N

t
]

S O R N
p l

The same interpretation will be assigned to sequences of obstruent+ liquid l like supple [s-pl], table [tew-bl], cattle [k-tl], fiddle [fw-dl], sickle [sw-kl], bagel [bew-gl], siffle [sw fl], shovel [-vl], castle [kY:sl], hazel [hewzl] or obstruent+nasal m: chasm [kzm], rhythm [ri-m]; obstruent+nasal n: deepen [di:-pn], ribbon [rw-bn], cotton [k] -tn], ridden [rw-dn], bacon [bew-kn], waggon [wgn], soften [s]-fn], raven [rewvn], fasten [fY:-sn], brazen [brew-zn], heathen [hi:-n] cushion [ku-n], vision [vi:-n]. In rhotic accents, the liquid r can also be a syllable nucleus: brother [brr]. In all the cases above we deal with non-vocalic elements (sonorants: nasals or glides), occupying the position of the nucleus. Such consonants are called syllabic consonants. Their relatively high degree of sonority allows them to replace the vowels in this otherwise typically vocalic position. Most languages (Romanian included) do not have syllabic consonants, but English is not unique in this respect, Czech for instance being another language that includes such sounds. (See above, in Chapter 5, the discussion of the feature +/- syllabic introduced by Chomsky and Halle in SPE in 1968).