Approaches to the syllable: an assessment
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4312/linguistica.57.1.229-241Keywords:
the syllable, linear and non-linear phonology, syllabification and allophony, J. C. WellsAbstract
In this paper, which looks back at some of the principal ways of viewing the syllable that have been proposed and attempts to assess their relative validity, I will firstly refer to evidence for the existence of the syllable and lend support to the argument that the syllable must be part of speakers’ phonological knowledge because, not only can they count syllables, but they also know what sound sequences are permissible in them in their native language. Moreover, in this same vein I will also recall the fact that the syllable is the domain of many phonological processes (in English, note aspiration and the glottalling, tapping and rhotacization of [t], for example). Finally, I will defend the analysis of English syllabification proposed by Wells in the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary over and against other traditional linear models and the more abstract nonlinear models, while recognizing that Wells’ hypothesis still leaves unresolved some issues involving the presence/absence of phonetic correlates of morpheme boundaries.Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Downloads
Published
30.12.2017
How to Cite
Mott, B. (2017). Approaches to the syllable: an assessment. Linguistica, 57(1), 229–241. https://doi.org/10.4312/linguistica.57.1.229-241
Issue
Section
Articles
License
Copyright (c) 2017 Brian Mott
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors are confirming that they are the authors of the submitting article, which will be published (print and online) in journal Linguistica by Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete Univerze v Ljubljani (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts, Aškerčeva 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia). Author’s name will be evident in the article in journal. All decisions regarding layout and distribution of the work are in hands of the publisher.
- Authors guarantee that the work is their own original creation and does not infringe any statutory or common-law copyright or any proprietary right of any third party. In case of claims by third parties, authors commit their self to defend the interests of the publisher, and shall cover any potential costs.
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
