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CHAPTER 5
THE SYLLABLE
In this chapter, I discuss the syllable structure of Mono. There has been much
discussion in the literature on how best to define the syllable. Phonetic definitions, mostly
revolving around the notion of ‘chest pulse’ (e.g. Pike 1947; Stetson 1951, cited in
Ladefoged & Maddieson 1996) have proved elusive. Rather, most linguists in both
structuralist and generative frameworks assume that the syllable is a phonological unit
within which segments are distributed (cf. Ladefoged & Maddieson, p. 281-2). In
discussing the syllable structure of Mono, my main goal is to identify the syllable
patterns found in the language. As we shall see, this bears on the phonemic analysis of
Chapter 2.
According to Pike (1947), classical phonemics assumes both phonetic and
phonological syllables, although with respect to his analytical procedure, it is the
phonological syllable which is crucial. In a given language, certain sequences of
segments can unambiguously be interpreted as belonging to a given syllable type. For
example, consider a hypothetical language which, in deference to Pike (p. 68), I will call
Kalaba. The words [ma], [bo], [su], and [sa] in Kalaba (p. 61) each unambiguously
consist of a single CV syllable. If this is the only unambiguous syllable pattern in the
language, then other syllables in the language should be interpreted in such a way as to fit
into this syllable type.
Some individual segments could be interpreted as being either a consonant or a
vowel. Suppose Kalaba contains the word [ia]. The high front segment [i] could
conceivably be interpreted as either a vowel, in which case the word would be transcribed
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