Syllable: the basic unit of spoken sound and its role in language

In linguistics, the syllable (σ) is defined, in simplified terms, as a sequence of segments that has an internal structure. That is, a syllable is composed of a group of sounds in the natural flow of speech, which the speaker can articulate in one breath. Thus, the syllable is the smallest free phonological unit.

Syllable Structure Models

Due to the structural properties of the syllable, it is useful to represent them in structural models. There are two main approaches to this in linguistics. The CV model and the constituent model. The CV model represents syllable structure linearly and non-hierarchically, but flatly as a sequence of C and V elements. C-elements are typically consonants and V-elements are typically vowels. Syllables are thus viewed as a sequence of positions, with a position associated with one or more sounds. The CV model makes it possible to draw conclusions about duration differences and quantity based on occupied CV positions when tense and stress are taken into account, and is thus useful for analyses of these aspects of the syllable. Another approach is the constituent model. Here the structural positions of the syllable are in a hierarchical relationship. In this model, the syllable is divided into basic constituents. These constituents are syllable head (onset, ω), syllable nucleus (nucleus, ν) and syllable tail (coda, κ). Nucleus and coda can in turn be grouped together as syllable rhyme (ρ). This model lends itself to analysis based on these segments, since, for example, not all segments need to be occupied and this should be clarified. A combination of CV and constituent model is possible.

There are several traditions and theories of syllable analysis. At the first level, syllable structure from the sequence of segments is usually divided into syllable head and syllable rhyme. The rhyme is further subdivided into sonant syllable nucleus and syllable tail, especially in Western phonology. Especially in Far Eastern phonology, the head or initial sound is further analyzed into initial sound (ι) and medial sound (μ), or instead of medial and rhyme, the complex final sound (φ) is used, which also carries the tone (τ) with pitch and course, which in many East Asian languages has lexemic and not only syntactic meaning.

Thus, the obligatory nucleus has an optional left and right edge, which together form the syllable shell. The syllable coda is obligatory in some languages, in others (incl. German) it may be omitted. The syllabic coda is not obligatory in any language, it is always either optional (e.g. in German) or it does not occur at all (e.g. in Hawaiian).

Some linguists distinguish between the phonetic and the phonological syllable. Pike uses the terms contoid (C), vocoid (V), and tone (T) to name the purely phonetically defined sound units. Vokoids are "oral non-lateral resonants", accountids are all other segmented speech sounds. In addition to the syllable feature "tone", a phonetic syllable can contain accountides in the initial sound, vocoids in the nucleus, and accountides or vocoids in the final sound.

Syllable attachment

The beginning of a syllable (also: beginning of a syllable, beginning of a syllable, head of a syllable, beginning edge, onset) consists of one or more consonants. For example, the consonants [n] and [m] in the word "name" each form the beginning of a syllable. The sequence and maximum number of consonants are restricted. The restriction is valid both individually under aspects of phonotactics, and universally because of the sonority hierarchy. A consonant sequence in the beginning of a syllable usually has increasing sonority, but there are exceptions like the sequence [ʃt] in the German word "Stock".

For the morphological anlaut for the first speech sound of a word, see Anlaut.

Syllable rhyme

Syllabic rhyme consists of the consonantal syllabic coda together with the vocalic syllabic nucleus. In traditional Chinese phonology, it is not further subdivided, but still distinguished by tone.

Syllable nucleus

The syllable core (nucleus, syllable peak) is the moment of the greatest sonority of a syllable and thus its sonorous main part (segment with the highest prominence). As a rule, this syllable nucleus is vocalic, e.g. the vowel [a] in the word "comb" forms the peak of a syllable. If there is no vowel, the syllable nucleus lies on a floating sound (liquida) or on a nasal sound, e.g. the [l̩]-sound in the word "peak" and the [n̩]-sound in the word "load" each form the peak of a vowel-less syllable.

The syllable as the smallest free phonological unit has exactly one nucleus. Consonantal satellite phonemes (syllable anlaut and syllable coda) can surround the nucleus. A larger phonological unit can have several syllable nuclei.

A syllable nucleus consists in the simplest case of exactly one short or long vowel. In most languages, the slightest deviation is a syllable nucleus consisting of two vowels and thus of a diphthong, e.g. [ai] in the word "porridge". More rarely, triphthongs, i.e. an immediate sequence of three vowels or semivowels in the nucleus, are also syllable-nucleated, e.g. in the English word fire [faɪə] (RP).

Syllabary

The syllable coda (from Italian coda 'tail', also: syllable end, syllable vowel, syllable tail, end margin) consists of one or more consonants. The sequence and maximum number of consonants are restricted. The restriction applies both individually under aspects of phonotactics and universally because of the sonority hierarchy. A consonant sequence in the syllable coda usually has falling sonority, but there are exceptions such as the sequence [pʃ] in the German word "hübsch". In many languages, including German, an obstruent in the coda must be voiceless, see Auslautverhärtung.

Syllabary

The syllable shell is composed of the optional syllable edges (syllable head and syllable coda). Head and coda form the consonantal environment of the obligatory vocalic syllable nucleus.

Phonemes that cannot be in the syllable nucleus of a syllable, but only in the syllable shell, are called satellite phonemes. These include non-syllabic consonants and the not fully vocalic parts of a diphthong. In German, with a few exceptions (e.g. /n/ and /l/), all consonants are satellite phonemes; in other languages, the number of consonants that can appear as syllable nuclei is significantly larger. Vowels can always form the syllable nucleus, so they do not belong to the category of satellite phonemes.

On the basis of their segmented structure, a distinction is made between open and closed syllables and between naked and covered syllables:

A covered syllable has a (consonantal) syllable head. A bare syllable, on the other hand, begins directly with the (vocalic) syllable nucleus. The two terms make no statement about the structure of the rhyme, i.e. whether there is a (consonantal) coda or not.

Examples:

• The third syllable of the word "museum" is naked.
• The first and second syllables of the word "museum" are covered.

An open syllable (Latin syllaba aperta) ends with a vowel. A closed syllable (Latin syllaba clausa), on the other hand, ends in at least one consonant. The two terms say nothing about the existence or nature of the syllable head.

Examples:

• The first syllable of the word "syllable" is closed.
• The second syllable of the word "syllable" is open.

On the basis of length one distinguishes between quantity, syllable weight and syllable duration.

The determining property of quantity, especially in the quantitative ancient metrics of the Greeks and Romans, distinguishes between "short" and "long" syllables, referring to the relative duration of a syllable in the context of the concrete verse. Analogous to the "shortenings" and "lengths" of quantitative languages, a distinction is made between "unaccented" and "accented" syllables in languages with an accentuating verse principle.

In contrast, syllable weight is a property of the syllable itself, independent of its context, which can be derived from the syllable structure. A distinction is made here between "light" and "heavy" syllables. According to a terminology introduced by Theo Vennemann, "light" or "heavy" is also used abstracting from the verse principle to denote properties of metrical elements independent of it.

Finally, syllable duration means the (physically measurable) duration of the articulation of a syllable.

With Utz Maas, we distinguish between the prominent syllable (stressed and with a full vowel) and the reduction syllable (unstressed and with a reduction vowel [ə] or [ɐ]) in the two-syllable German first words.

To designate syllables of a word with regard to their position, Latin technical terms are in use for the last three word syllables: the last syllable of a word is called the final syllable or ultima (Latin [syllaba] ultima, "the last [syllable]"), the penultimate antepenultimate syllable or paenultima (Latin [syllaba] paenultima), and the penultimate antepenultima (Latin [syllaba] antepaenultima); the first syllable of a word is called the first syllable, and all those between the first and last syllables are called internal or middle syllables.

In order to designate words of the classical and romance languages with regard to the syllable which carries the main accent, Greek technical terms are in use: if the main accent is on the last syllable, the word is called an oxytonon; if it is on the penultimate syllable, one speaks of a paroxytonon, and if it falls on the penultimate syllable, the word is a proparoxytonon. All three terms are in turn to be pronounced "proparoxytonally", namely with the main stress on the "y". Words accented on the first syllable are called prototonal, words accented on the second syllable are called deuterotonal.