Syllables and Suprasegmental Features - Department of Linguistics ...

Chapter 10, day 1
A P R I L 1 2 , 2 0 1 3

Quiz
1. Why is it hard to define the syllable?
2. How can we prove that syllables exist?
3. What is ambisyllabicity?
4. Do languages tend to like to put consonants in the
onset or in the coda?
5. What is the most common syllable shape across the
languages of the world (choose one): CVC, CCV, V,
CV, CCCVCCC

If you want to turn in a draft of your final paper for
review, it must be turned in by 5 on Monday.
Same with extra credit.
Everything needs to be turned in by 5 on Monday.
No exceptions.

Outline of Chapter 10: Examining
Suprasegmentals across languages
1. Syllables
2. Length
3. Timing (intonation)
4. Pitch
5. Stress

Top 10 questions about syllables you can’t
live without knowing the answer to:
1. What are the parts of the syllable?
2. How do we know syllables exist?
3. What makes defining a syllable so hard?
4. What does the word “ambisyllabic” mean?
5. What is the sonority principle?
6. Why do we change the number of syllables in a word in casual
speech?
7. What can be a nucleus in a language?
8. How do syllables differ?
9. How do languages differ in the number and type of syllables?
10. How do dialects differ in their use of syllables?

5. What is the sonority principle?
Which sounds are sonorant?

What Sounds are onsets, codas and nuclei?

4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Sonority Hierarchy
[sli:p]
s l i: p
Sonority

4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Sonority Hierarchy
*[lsi:p]
l s i: p
Sonority

pickle
Sudden
spasm
fire
Practice with some other words

5. What is the sonority principle?
Words in different languages:
Grizzanese:
dman.de do.brze
bzo war.sza.wa
dge.va
are they violating the sonority principle?
What about spaghetti?

Sonority Sequencing Principle
(SSP):
•Syllables attempt to provide maximal separation
across the sonority scale (at least 2 degrees of
separation)
Black
CV syllables provide the maximal separation within
and across syllables.
• Can you think of any English examples where
this principle might not work?

SSP
Examples from languages:
Plateaus: English apt, Russian kto, mohawk
kka:wes,
Reversals: English ax, German obst, russian lba,
No peak: English yearn

5. Sonority hierarchy
Leong (2008) found that children had faster reaction
times to sounds that were higher on the sonority
hierarchy and also learned to read and write these
words faster.

6. Why do we sometimes change the number of
syllables?
We mainly do it in fast speech or on syllables that are
not keeping the CV rule or are violating the sonority
principle:
Did you eat yet jit yet?
Athlete athalete
Spaghetti psigetti
We almost always delete in such a way that we have CV
syllables:
Batteries battries

7. What can be a nucleus in a language?
Languages differ in what can constitute a nucleus.
Ex: Tashlhiyt Berber
Words in Berber
/tft. kt. stt/ ‘you sprained it’
/tl. di/ ‘she pulls’
/ts. krt/ ‘you did’
/tn. Sft/ “you grazed the skin
/tx. znt/ ‘you stored’
ttggwa
ttsxxan
http://www.phon.ox.ac.uk/jcoleman/ttggwa.wav
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berber_languages

7. What can be a nucleus in a language?
Nuxálk:
[pʰs] 'shape, mold'
[pʼs] 'bend'
[pʼχʷɬtʰ] 'bunchberry'
[t͡sʰkʰtʰskʷʰt͡sʰ] 'he arrived'
[tʰt͡sʰ] 'little boy'
[skʷʰpʰ] 'saliva'
[spʰs] 'northeast wind'
[tɬʼpʰ] 'cut with scissors'
st͡sʼqʰ] 'animal fat'
[st͡sʼqʰt͡sʰtʰx] 'that's my
animal fat over there'
[sxs] 'seal fat'
[tʰɬ] 'strong'
[qʼtʰ] 'go to shore'
[qʷʰtʰ] 'crooked'
[kʼxɬɬtʰsxʷ sɬχʷtʰɬɬtʰs
(t͡s?)] 'you had seen that I
had gone through a
passage'

8. How do syllables differ?
Light syllables: V , CV, CVC, CCVC, CCCV
Heavy syllables: CV: , CVN(L), CVCC, CVCCC, CVVCC (sometimes
CVC)
How do we decide if a syllable is heavy or light?
Depends on moras
Mora: unit of weight in a language (how long the syllable is)
What part of the syllable determines the weight of the syllable?
the coda (and sometimes the nucleus)
Light syllables contain 1 mora
Heavy syllables contain 2 moras
Super heavy might contain 3 moras

Different syllables in words
V = a
VC = of
CV = so
CVC = bad
CCVC = slit
CCVCC = slicked
Syllables
Moras play a profound role in things like poetry and rhythm
of a language—our stressed syllables tend to be heavy and
superheavy
For this reason, often poetry is used in language
reconstruction

8. How do syllables differ?
Languages differ in what kinds of syllables they allow:
Out of 200 languages (Fudge and Shockey, 1998)
Onsets:
V—0% must have initial V
CV –69% must have onset C
CCVC—45% allow CC onsets
CCCVCCC –15% allow CCC onsets
Codas:
CV—12% cannot have final C
CVC—8% must have coda C
CCVCC—9% allow CC codas
CCCVVCCC—4% allow CCC codas

Typical syllable types across languages
http://wals.info/feature/12A?tg_format=map&v1=cfff&v
2=cf6f&v3=cd00
http://wals.info/chapter/12
Across the set of 484 languages for which both consonant
inventory size and syllable structure data are included:
languages with simple canonical syllable structure have
an average of 19.1 consonants
languages with moderately complex syllable structure
have an average of 22.0 consonants
languages with complex syllable structures have an
average of 25.8 consonants.

9. How do languages differ in the
number and type of syllables?
Number of possible syllables:
range 150 - 200,000
Depends on
1. Number of Consonants
2. Number of Vowels
3. Number of possible syllable structures
CV, (C)V, CV(C), (C)CV, etc.
4. Number of tone contrasts
Which language has the largest number of possible syllables?

Principles that guide syllable types
The most prevailing principle is: We like simple CV
syllables and want to use them and have them as
much as possible.
Children acquire simpler syllable types before the
more complex ones.
All languages have CV syllables and they are the
most prevalent
Syllable-related historical change tends to go in the
direction of greater syllable simplicity.
We remember and can learn words better when
they have simple CV syllables and sounds we can
pronounce (Ellis et al., 1999)

Spanish Syllables and Dialects