{"id":107,"date":"2019-06-07T12:02:51","date_gmt":"2019-06-07T12:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/engp13.epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=107"},"modified":"2019-06-12T06:42:28","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T06:42:28","slug":"phoneme-syllable-and-word-accent","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp13\/chapter\/phoneme-syllable-and-word-accent\/","title":{"rendered":"Phoneme, Syllable and Word Accent"},"content":{"raw":"<div><span style=\"float: right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/6YRZHOfaRGM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img class=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/download.png\" alt=\"epgp books\" width=\"54\" height=\"54\" \/><\/a>\r\n<\/span><\/div>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Learning Outcomes<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Introduction\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Phoneme<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Phone<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Phoneme<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Allophone<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Minimal Pair<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Principles for Phonemic Analysis<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Syllable<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Introduction\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Syllable Structure<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Types of Syllables<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Consonant Clusters<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Word Accent<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Introduction\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>What is Word Accent<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Types of Word Accent<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Word Accent in English<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Learning outcome:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">After going through this module, the student will be able to understand the concepts of phoneme,\u00a0 syllable, and word accent. Each concept is dealt with in detail, with the\u00a0 help\u00a0 of\u00a0 examples\u00a0 from English, and is augmented with a list of exercises, suggested reading and internet resources which aim\u00a0 to supplement as well as build on the ideas discussed in this module.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Introduction<\/strong>:<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">You must, by now, be aware of the role of sound in human language. In <em>Language and Linguistics: An Introduction <\/em>John Lyons says:<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Although language-systems are, to a very considerable extent, independent of the medium in which they are manifest, the natural or primary medium of human language is sound. For this reason, the study of sound is of more central importance in linguistics than in the study of writing, of gestures, or of any other language-medium, whether\u00a0 actual or\u00a0 potential.\u00a0 But\u00a0 it\u00a0 is not sound as such, and not the full range of sound, that is of concern to the linguist. He [sic] is interested in the sounds that are produced by the human speech-organs in so far as these\u00a0 sounds have a role in language.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Lyons makes a few important points here:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">By and large, language-systems are independent of the medium in which they are manifest.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">The natural or primary medium of human language is sound.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Therefore, the study of sound is more important in linguistics than any other language-medium.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">But this does not mean that we study all the sounds that humans are capable of producing. The linguist is interested in only those sounds produced by human speech-organs which have a role in language.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">By this time, you are already familiar with the various levels of linguistic analysis\u00a0 \u2013\u00a0 phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. You know\u00a0 that\u00a0 phonology deals\u00a0 with the\u00a0 patterning\u00a0 of speech sounds in a language.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">We have already discussed what we mean by speech sounds. What do we mean by\u00a0 patterning?\u00a0 Look at the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears given below and see how much\u00a0 of\u00a0 it\u00a0 you\u00a0 can understand:<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Uans appona taim tri berres; mamma berre, papa berre, e beibi berre. Live inne contri nire forresta. NAISE AUS. No mugheggia. Uanna dei papa, mamma, e beibi go bice, orie e furghetta locche di dorra.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Bai ene bai commese Goldilocchese. Sci garra natingha tu du batte meiche troble. Sci puscia olle fudde daon di maute ; no live cromma. Den sci gos\u00a0 appesterrese\u00a0 enne slipse\u00a0 in olle beddse. (Bob Belviso qtd. in Yule 43)<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">While the spellings of the words are different from how they are usually spelt, it is our\u00a0 knowledge\u00a0 of how sounds combine\u00a0 \u2013 our phonological knowledge\u00a0 \u2013 that we bring in to play here to understand what\u00a0 is written. You can see what I mean from the translation that follows:<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Once upon a time was three bears; mama bear, papa bear, and baby bear. Live in the country near the forest.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>NICE HOUSE.<\/strong> No mortgage. One day papa, mama, and baby go beach, only they forget to lock the door.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">By and by comes Goldilocks. She got nothing to do but make trouble. She push all the food down the mouth; no leave a crumb. Then she goes upstairs and sleeps in all the\u00a0 beds.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Human beings are capable of producing many different speech sounds. However, not\u00a0 all the\u00a0 sounds\u00a0 that humans can produce are present in any language. Every language uses a selection of some sounds from among the possible sounds that can be produced. From the previous modules, you know that English (R. P.) uses a selection of 44 sounds.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Phoneme<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Phones<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Phones are the sounds in a language.\u00a0 Number of phones in a language is\u00a0 the\u00a0 total number of sounds\u00a0 that are allowed by a language in its inventory. Languages have two levels of representations:<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">1. Orthographic, which is the written form<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">2. Phonetic, which is the spoken form<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The phonetic representation is the representation of sounds (phones) of a language. The relationship between the two representations is not always direct or one to one. For example, a single orthography (letter) may be realized as two or more different sounds (and hence leading to two or more\u00a0 phones for the same):<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">Example 1.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">The letter s is realized in four different ways in the following examples:<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">1. \/s\/ as in slow, sin<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">2. \/z\/ as in dogs, busy<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">3. \/\u222b\/\u00a0 as in sure, sugar<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">4. \/\u0292\/ as in pleasure, vision<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<div><\/div>\r\n<div>Example 2.<\/div>\r\n<div><\/div>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">The letter c is realized in two different ways in the following examples:<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">1. \/k\/ as in cat, cow<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">2. \/s\/ as in facade, cell<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">Again, two different letters (that might have had two different spoken forms in history) might have a single phonetic identity:<\/div>\r\n<div><\/div>\r\n<div>Example 1.<\/div>\r\n<div><\/div>\r\n<div>The voiced alveolar nasal \/n\/ is realized in spelling as<\/div>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">1. n as in need, now<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">2. nn as in funny, running<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">3. gn as in gnaw, sign<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">4. kn as in knife, know<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">5. pn as in pneumonia, pneumatic<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<div><\/div>\r\n<div>Example 2.<\/div>\r\n<div><\/div>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">The voiceless labiodental fricative \/f\/ is realized in spelling as<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">1. f as in fan, fire<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">2. ff as in offer, affair<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">3. ough as in cough, rough<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">4. ph as in photo, graph<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Thus it is clear that phonetic representations are independent of the written representations, and hence phones need to be looked at in isolation to the latter.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Phoneme<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">A phoneme is a minimal distinctive unit of sound. The word\u00a0 \u201cminimal\u201d\u00a0 connotes\u00a0 that\u00a0 the\u00a0 sound cannot be subdivided into smaller units. The word \u201cdistinctive\u201d means that each phoneme\u00a0 is\u00a0 distinct from the other in a native\u00a0 speaker\u2019s mind, and\u00a0 helps\u00a0 the\u00a0 speaker\/listener distinguish one word from\u00a0 the other.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div>Example.<\/div>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">\/t\/ sound in tar, star, writer, eighth<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">\/b\/ sound in bar, dub, rubber<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div><\/div>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Phonemes are the broader level representations of a group of sounds that are supposed to be varying because of their phonological distributions. In this sense a phoneme is supposed to be the \u2018underlying form\u2019 for the various \u2018surface forms\u2019 that feature in a language. So while the surface forms are what a speaker\/hearer really encounters, phonemes are their\u00a0 abstract identities.\u00a0 This\u00a0 will become\u00a0 clearer\u00a0 in the sections below.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Allophone<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">The various surface manifestations of a phoneme are known as allophones of that phoneme. For example, the phoneme \/p\/ in English is realized in more than one way:<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">\/p\/ as\u00a0 in pin<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">\/p\/ as\u00a0 in tap<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">It is evident that the same phoneme \/p\/ in English is realized\u00a0 differently in these\u00a0 two different words. The sound in the beginning of a syllable is usually aspirated and is represented as [p\u02b0] in phonetic representation. The other allophone that is also the underlying form (phonemic\u00a0 form)\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 two sounds is [p], is differently realized. The different realizations are contingent to different phonetic environments.\u00a0 Allophones of an individual phoneme\u00a0 have mutually exclusive phonetic environments.\u00a0 \u00a0It is because of the environment that an individual allophone is supposed to sound different from (or\u00a0 same as) its\u00a0 \u2018underlying form\u2019 or from other allophones\u00a0 of its\u00a0 family.\u00a0 Thus\u00a0 allophones\u00a0 are said to\u00a0 be\u00a0 in complementary distribution. Please keep in mind that a complementary distribution should not be mistaken for \u2018optional distribution\u2019 as such a case would lead to a free-variation rather than\u00a0 an allophonic variation. Phonemes, on the other hand, are in contrastive distribution and usually have phonetically overlapping environments. Another thing to note would be that the underlying form (phonemic) for a group of sounds is\u00a0 always one of the sounds that are represented on the surface. Allophones of a phoneme, in addition to having a mutually exclusive\u00a0 phonetic\u00a0 environment, should also have some phonetic resemblance. Two sounds which are too dissimilar phonetically cannot\u00a0 form the allophones of a single phoneme. Also, sounds that are recognized as allophones in one language because of their complementary distribution might be recognized as two distinct phonemes in another language. For example, in Hindi, the two sounds [p] and [p\u02b0] are separate phonemes.\u00a0 We\u00a0 shall talk about this in detail in the next section.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Minimal Pair<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">A minimal pair is a pair of words that are alike except for one phonological unit, and carry distinct meanings. Thus the pair \/tar\/ and \/bar\/ are minimal pairs as they differ only in their initial consonants and have distinct meanings. Minimal pairs are used to find two phones\u00a0 that are\u00a0 phonemically distinct in a language. As in the above example, the substitution of \/t\/ with \/b\/ brings about a difference in meaning to the minimal pair they create, so \/t\/ and \/b\/ are two separate phonemes in this language. We can see why [p] and [p\u02b0] are separate phonemes in Hindi. We have seen that [p] and\u00a0 [p\u02b0]\u00a0 are\u00a0 allophones in English. In the previous section we have also said that [p] and\u00a0 [p\u02b0]\u00a0 are\u00a0 separate\u00a0 phonemes in Hindi. Why? This is because we can form a minimal pair\u00a0 [p\u0259l]\u00a0 \u201cmoment\u201d\u00a0 and\u00a0 [p\u02b0\u0259l] \u201cfruit\u201d using the two sounds in Hindi.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div><\/div>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Principles for Phonemic Analysis<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Two important principles utilized for forming the\u00a0 inventory of\u00a0 a language\u00a0 and for\u00a0 putting two sounds as one under a single phoneme or as two under different phonemes have already been discussed in the sections on phoneme and allophone. They are the\u00a0 principle\u00a0 of\u00a0 contrastive\u00a0 distribution\u00a0 and\u00a0 the principal of complementary distribution. Let us discuss them in detail.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>1. Principle of Contrastive Distribution<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">This principle employs minimal pairs to find different phonemes in a language. A contrast in meaning would give separate phonemes of the language. In case\u00a0 we\u00a0 don\u2019t get a contrast from\u00a0 a pair that looks just like a minimal pair, we would call it a case of free variation.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>2. Principle of Complementary Distribution<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Two sounds that occur in different phonetic environments and never appear to be in the same environment as the other, i.e.\u00a0 when the environment in which one sound appears is\u00a0 exclusive\u00a0 of the one in which the other one appears, the sounds are said to be in complementary distribution. Sounds in complementary distribution are taken as allomorphs of the same phoneme if they show a certain affinity on the phonetic level.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div><\/div>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Syllable<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">When we describe phonemes, we see discrete units of sounds and not a continuous flow of\u00a0 sound segments like the way language naturally exists. This continuity is not\u00a0 random\u00a0 in\u00a0 a\u00a0 language\u00a0 and sounds are organized in the formation of bigger structures such as words. That is to say, when we pronounce a word like potato, the sound [p\u02b0] is\u00a0 not realized freely.\u00a0 It can only be\u00a0 articulated as a string of sounds [p\u02b0 + \u0259] in this case. These larger organised sequence of sounds that are produced as a unit while speaking are called syllables. Since syllables contain more\u00a0 than one\u00a0 segment\u00a0 of\u00a0 sounds, these are identified as the suprasegmental features of the language. Divisons\u00a0 of\u00a0 syllables\u00a0 are\u00a0 intuitive\u00a0 to native speakers, and they know where one syllable ends and the other begins.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">Example<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">plant \/pl\u0251:nt\/<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\">plantain \/pl\u0251:n-t\u026an\/ photograph \/f\u0259\u028a-t\u0259-gr\u0251:f\/<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Syllables are usually marked with hyphens. The first word, plant, contains one syllable. It is monosyllabic; plantain has two syllables and is therefore termed disyllabic; the word photograph has three syllables and is termed trisyllabic.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div><\/div>\r\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">While there have been numerous attempts to define the syllable, a satisfactory definition is still to be agreed upon by linguists. Hosali and Parasher classify attempts to define the syllable based on two approaches (2-3):<\/div>\r\n<div><\/div>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">1. The phonetic approach (which may be based either on the prominence theory or the pulse theory)<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div>2. The linguistic approach<\/div>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">According to the prominence theory, some sounds in an utterance are more\u00a0 prominent than others. In the word similarity \/s\u026am\u026al\u00e6r\u0259t\u026a\/ for example, the peaks of prominence\u00a0 are\u00a0 marked by\u00a0 the\u00a0 vowel\u00a0 sounds \/\u026a, \u026a, \u00e6, \u0259, \u026a\/. Since the number of peaks of prominence decide the\u00a0 number\u00a0 of\u00a0 syllables, the word has five syllables. The pulse theory (or chest pulse theory) focuses\u00a0 on muscular\u00a0 activities\u00a0 and lung movements in the process of speech. It has been experimentally observed\u00a0 that\u00a0 the\u00a0 number\u00a0 of chest pulses, accompanied by increase in air pressure, can determine\u00a0 the\u00a0 number\u00a0 of\u00a0 syllables produced. Both these theories have their limitations. The sonority\u00a0 theory\u00a0 is\u00a0 another\u00a0 approach\u00a0 to\u00a0 explain the syllable.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Syllable Structure<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Syllables are made up of consonant and vowel sounds. While a vowel sound is the nucleus\u00a0 of\u00a0 the syllable, consonant sounds usually serve the peripheral positions. A syllable can be divided into\u00a0 two parts, onset and rhyme, where rhyme is further divided into nucleus and coda. Onsets are the initial positions in a syllable taken by consonant(s). They act as the releasing factor.\u00a0 Rhyme\u00a0 has the\u00a0 nucleus as its first position, which is filled in by a vowel, and then one\u00a0 or\u00a0 several consonants\u00a0 may\u00a0 take\u00a0 the coda position. A syllable may not have onset or coda or both.\u00a0 Sometimes, syllables take consonant\u00a0 sounds in their nuclear position. Such consonants are called syllabic consonants. A\u00a0 syllable\u00a0 cannot have more than one vowel. When two vowel sounds come together, they are realised as a single vowel sound known as dipthong. Diagramatically, the division may be represented as follows:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p class=\"hanging-indent no-indent\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-110\" src=\"http:\/\/engp13.epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/265\/2019\/06\/Untitled-25.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"343\" height=\"324\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Syllables which end in vowel sounds and have no coda are known as open syllables. Syllables are termed close if the coda position is fulfilled.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Types of Syllables<\/strong><\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Using the symbols V for vowel sounds and C for consonant sounds, let us look at the various types of syllables that can occur in English:<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"textbox shaded\">1. V\r\nair \/e\u0259\/\r\na \/\u0259\/, \/e\u026a\/\r\n2. VC\r\nam \/\u00e6m\/\r\neat \/\u026a:t\/\r\n3. CV\r\ntea \/t\u026a:\/\r\nno \/n\u0259\u028a\/\r\n4. CVC\r\ncut \/k\u028ct\/\r\nking \/k\u026a\u014b\/\r\n5. CCV\r\nclay \/kle\u026a\/\r\ncry \/kra\u026a\/\r\n6. CCCV\r\nspray \/spre\u026a\/\r\nscrew \/skru:\/\r\n7. CCCVC\r\nscream \/skr\u026a:m\/\r\nstreet \/str\u026a:t\/\r\n8. CCCVCC\r\nscreamed \/skr\u026a:md\/\r\nstrange \/stre\u026and\u0292\/\r\n9. CCCVCCC\r\nstrands \/str\u00e6nds\/\r\nstrengths \/stre\u014b\u03b8s\/\r\n10. VCCCC\r\npre-empts \/empts\/\r\n11. CVCCCC\r\ntempts \/tempts\/\r\ntexts \/teksts\/\r\n12. CCVCCCC\r\ntwelfths \/twelfv\u03b8s\/\r\n13. CCVCCC\r\nbrands \/br\u00e6nds\/\r\ntrunks \/tr\u028cnks\/\r\n14. CCVCC\r\ncrates \/kre\u026ats\/\r\nsnacks \/sn\u00e6ks\/\r\n15. CVCC\r\ntents \/tent\/\r\nrains \/re\u026ans\/\r\n16. VCC\r\nand \/\u00e6nd\/\r\nask \/a:sk\/<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Consider the following examples:<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">mutton \/m\u028c-tn\/<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">rhythm \/r\u026a-\u03b4m\/<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">In both these words, the second syllable is marked CV although the final sound in both words is a consonant. As stated earlier, in some syllables the consonant functions as the nucleus of the syllable. Such consonants are known as syllabic consonants.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Consonant Clusters<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">In English, it is possible to have up to three consonants at the beginning of the syllable and up to four consonants after the nucleus. The sequence of consonants occuring together at the beginning of the syllable or at the end of the syllable are known as consonant clusters. This can\u00a0 be\u00a0 represented as follows: (CCC) V (CCCC)<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Word Accent<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Accent is taken from a Latin word accentus that can mean tone, intensity or signal. The\u00a0 word \u2018accent\u2019 as used in modern English has broader connotations and can be utilized for more than one linguistic feature. In our daily life, we use the term \u2018accent\u2019 to refer to the way a\u00a0 speaker\u00a0 speaks a\u00a0 language. And that is how we refer to the term \u2018accent\u2019 in\u00a0 a\u00a0 social\/sociolinguistic\u00a0 domain.\u00a0 However, when we talk about the term \u2018accent\u2019 as in \u2018word accent\u2019 we are concerned about the general feature of a language that has to do with the relative prominence\/emphasis\/intensity of various components\u00a0 of speech. It is in this sense the term \u2018accent\u2019 shall be used in the discussion that follows. Accent is the intensity or prominence given to a certain syllable within a word, or certain words within a phrase or a sentence. Thus accent can be lexical (within the word) or prosodic (within the sentence).<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>What is Word Accent<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Word accent or word stress or lexical stress is the\u00a0 prominence\u00a0 that is\u00a0 given to a certain syllable\u00a0 within a word by providing it a greater intensity that can result in features such as\u00a0 increased\u00a0 loudness.\u00a0 A syllable that shows relative prominence is said to be stressed, accented or tonic, while the other syllables that are relatively less prominent in speech are unstressed, accented or\u00a0 atonic.\u00a0 One\u00a0 should keep in mind that the use of the word \u201ctonic\u201d is different from the \u201ctone\u201d\u00a0 that\u00a0 is\u00a0 a\u00a0 phonemic distinction in many languages.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Types of Word Accent<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Word accent can have its types. Languages can have a fixed word accent, variable word accent, or a regular word accent. In languages that have a fixed\u00a0 word accent, the\u00a0 position of\u00a0 the\u00a0 accented syllable is fixed. As for instance, a language with a penultimate word stress will almost always have\u00a0 its penultimate syllable as stressed (Polish), and same way there will be languages that will have\u00a0 their stress on the first syllable only (Icelandic). Other languages that have a variable word accent, like English, have a less predictable\u00a0 stress\u00a0 system,\u00a0 and\u00a0 factors like\u00a0 etymology, morphology and grammar of the word decide which syllable would be accented. Such variations in\u00a0 the\u00a0 position\u00a0 of\u00a0 stress can bring a contrast to the meaning of a word. Thus stress can be phonemic in such languages.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Example<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">permit, permit (n, v)<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">insight, incite<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Some other languages have neither a fixed word accent, nor do they show a\u00a0 variable\u00a0 word\u00a0 accent. Such languages have words where the stress is marked with some simple rules. These rules are highly predicable in nature, and so these languages are supposed to have a regular word accent (Latin, for example).<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Languages might show stress in their writing system as\u00a0 well.\u00a0 Some languages\u00a0 like\u00a0 Spanish\u00a0 use diacritics to mark the accent.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Word accent in English<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Languages with variable word accent, like English, show a random\u00a0 position\u00a0 of\u00a0 stress.\u00a0 Stress\u00a0 in English is not fixed \u2013 it is not tied to any particular syllable.\u00a0 The\u00a0 position of stress is\u00a0 mostly learnt by the speaker. There are rules depending on the type and constituents of the words, but not without exception. There are various words\u00a0 where\u00a0 native\u00a0 speakers\u00a0 have\u00a0 different\u00a0 opinions\u00a0 about\u00a0 which\u00a0 syllable should be accented, e.g. TeleVIsion, TELivision Some languages have only one level of stress. Some others have more than one level of stress. When languages allow more than one stress, we can see two stressed syllables in a word, primary and secondary. Primary stress is on the most prominent and intensified syllable; secondary stress\u00a0 is attributed to the syllable whose intensity is more\u00a0 than the other syllables but\u00a0 lower than the\u00a0 one\u00a0 with the primary stress. Linguists like Chomsky and Halle\u00a0 have\u00a0 described four levels of stress in English, but there is no consensus on this issue among other linguists. In fact, the case\u00a0 for\u00a0 English\u00a0 being analyzed using only one level of stress is well argued by many linguists.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">There are some analyses that have showed that some languages might be seen as lacking the stress entirely, such as French and Mandarin.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<table>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>you can view video on Phoneme, Syllable and Word Accent<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/6YRZHOfaRGM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-120\" src=\"http:\/\/epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/download.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"36\" height=\"36\" \/><\/a><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Reference<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Balasubramanian, T. <em>A Textbook of English Phonetics for Indian Students<\/em>. 1981. New Delhi: Trinity, 2014. Print.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Balasubramanian, T. <em>English Phonetics for Indian Students: A Workbook<\/em>. 1992. New Delhi: Macmillan, 2000. Print.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Bharati, Surabhi. \u201cPhonology and Morphology.\u201d <em>Introduction to Linguistics. <\/em>Eds. Tapas S. Ray and Surabhi Bharati. PGCTE Course Material Block II, Unit 1-6. Hyderabad: Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, 1996. Print.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Gimson, A. C. <em>An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English<\/em>. 1962. London: Edward Arnold Publishers, 1989. Print.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Hosali, Priya and S. V. Parasher. \u201cIntonation, Rhythm and Stress.\u201d<em>Phonetics and Spoken English\u00a0<\/em>Eds. V. Prakasam and S. V. Parasher. PGCTE Course Material Block II, Unit 4-5. Hyderabad: Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, 1996. Print.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Hosali, Priya and S. V. Parasher. \u201cThe Syllable and Its Structure.\u201d<em>Phonetics and Spoken English\u00a0<\/em>Eds. V. Prakasam and S. V. Parasher. PGCTE Course Material Block III, Unit 1-2. Hyderabad: Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, 1996. Print.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Jones, Daniel. <em>English Pronouncing Dictionary<\/em>. Revised by A.C. Gimson. New Delhi: Universal Book Stall, 1995. Print.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Lyons, John. <em>Language and Linguistics: An Introduction<\/em>. 1981. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Print.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Sethi, J. and P. V. Dhamija. <em>A Course in Phonetics and Spoken English<\/em>. New Delhi: Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.<\/li>\r\n \t<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Yule, George. <em>The Study of Language. <\/em>1985. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Print.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","rendered":"<div><span style=\"float: right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/6YRZHOfaRGM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/download.png\" alt=\"epgp books\" width=\"54\" height=\"54\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<\/span><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Learning Outcomes<\/li>\n<li>Introduction\n<ul>\n<li>Phoneme<\/li>\n<li>Phone<\/li>\n<li>Phoneme<\/li>\n<li>Allophone<\/li>\n<li>Minimal Pair<\/li>\n<li>Principles for Phonemic Analysis<\/li>\n<li>Syllable<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Introduction\n<ul>\n<li>Syllable Structure<\/li>\n<li>Types of Syllables<\/li>\n<li>Consonant Clusters<\/li>\n<li>Word Accent<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Introduction\n<ul>\n<li>What is Word Accent<\/li>\n<li>Types of Word Accent<\/li>\n<li>Word Accent in English<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Learning outcome:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">After going through this module, the student will be able to understand the concepts of phoneme,\u00a0 syllable, and word accent. Each concept is dealt with in detail, with the\u00a0 help\u00a0 of\u00a0 examples\u00a0 from English, and is augmented with a list of exercises, suggested reading and internet resources which aim\u00a0 to supplement as well as build on the ideas discussed in this module.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Introduction<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">You must, by now, be aware of the role of sound in human language. In <em>Language and Linguistics: An Introduction <\/em>John Lyons says:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Although language-systems are, to a very considerable extent, independent of the medium in which they are manifest, the natural or primary medium of human language is sound. For this reason, the study of sound is of more central importance in linguistics than in the study of writing, of gestures, or of any other language-medium, whether\u00a0 actual or\u00a0 potential.\u00a0 But\u00a0 it\u00a0 is not sound as such, and not the full range of sound, that is of concern to the linguist. He [sic] is interested in the sounds that are produced by the human speech-organs in so far as these\u00a0 sounds have a role in language.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Lyons makes a few important points here:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">By and large, language-systems are independent of the medium in which they are manifest.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">The natural or primary medium of human language is sound.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Therefore, the study of sound is more important in linguistics than any other language-medium.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">But this does not mean that we study all the sounds that humans are capable of producing. The linguist is interested in only those sounds produced by human speech-organs which have a role in language.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">By this time, you are already familiar with the various levels of linguistic analysis\u00a0 \u2013\u00a0 phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. You know\u00a0 that\u00a0 phonology deals\u00a0 with the\u00a0 patterning\u00a0 of speech sounds in a language.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">We have already discussed what we mean by speech sounds. What do we mean by\u00a0 patterning?\u00a0 Look at the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears given below and see how much\u00a0 of\u00a0 it\u00a0 you\u00a0 can understand:<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Uans appona taim tri berres; mamma berre, papa berre, e beibi berre. Live inne contri nire forresta. NAISE AUS. No mugheggia. Uanna dei papa, mamma, e beibi go bice, orie e furghetta locche di dorra.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Bai ene bai commese Goldilocchese. Sci garra natingha tu du batte meiche troble. Sci puscia olle fudde daon di maute ; no live cromma. Den sci gos\u00a0 appesterrese\u00a0 enne slipse\u00a0 in olle beddse. (Bob Belviso qtd. in Yule 43)<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">While the spellings of the words are different from how they are usually spelt, it is our\u00a0 knowledge\u00a0 of how sounds combine\u00a0 \u2013 our phonological knowledge\u00a0 \u2013 that we bring in to play here to understand what\u00a0 is written. You can see what I mean from the translation that follows:<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Once upon a time was three bears; mama bear, papa bear, and baby bear. Live in the country near the forest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>NICE HOUSE.<\/strong> No mortgage. One day papa, mama, and baby go beach, only they forget to lock the door.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">By and by comes Goldilocks. She got nothing to do but make trouble. She push all the food down the mouth; no leave a crumb. Then she goes upstairs and sleeps in all the\u00a0 beds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Human beings are capable of producing many different speech sounds. However, not\u00a0 all the\u00a0 sounds\u00a0 that humans can produce are present in any language. Every language uses a selection of some sounds from among the possible sounds that can be produced. From the previous modules, you know that English (R. P.) uses a selection of 44 sounds.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Phoneme<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Phones<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Phones are the sounds in a language.\u00a0 Number of phones in a language is\u00a0 the\u00a0 total number of sounds\u00a0 that are allowed by a language in its inventory. Languages have two levels of representations:<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">1. Orthographic, which is the written form<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">2. Phonetic, which is the spoken form<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">The phonetic representation is the representation of sounds (phones) of a language. The relationship between the two representations is not always direct or one to one. For example, a single orthography (letter) may be realized as two or more different sounds (and hence leading to two or more\u00a0 phones for the same):<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">Example 1.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">The letter s is realized in four different ways in the following examples:<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">1. \/s\/ as in slow, sin<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">2. \/z\/ as in dogs, busy<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">3. \/\u222b\/\u00a0 as in sure, sugar<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">4. \/\u0292\/ as in pleasure, vision<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Example 2.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">The letter c is realized in two different ways in the following examples:<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">1. \/k\/ as in cat, cow<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">2. \/s\/ as in facade, cell<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">Again, two different letters (that might have had two different spoken forms in history) might have a single phonetic identity:<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Example 1.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The voiced alveolar nasal \/n\/ is realized in spelling as<\/div>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">1. n as in need, now<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">2. nn as in funny, running<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">3. gn as in gnaw, sign<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">4. kn as in knife, know<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">5. pn as in pneumonia, pneumatic<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Example 2.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">The voiceless labiodental fricative \/f\/ is realized in spelling as<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">1. f as in fan, fire<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">2. ff as in offer, affair<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">3. ough as in cough, rough<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">4. ph as in photo, graph<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Thus it is clear that phonetic representations are independent of the written representations, and hence phones need to be looked at in isolation to the latter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Phoneme<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">A phoneme is a minimal distinctive unit of sound. The word\u00a0 \u201cminimal\u201d\u00a0 connotes\u00a0 that\u00a0 the\u00a0 sound cannot be subdivided into smaller units. The word \u201cdistinctive\u201d means that each phoneme\u00a0 is\u00a0 distinct from the other in a native\u00a0 speaker\u2019s mind, and\u00a0 helps\u00a0 the\u00a0 speaker\/listener distinguish one word from\u00a0 the other.<\/p>\n<div>Example.<\/div>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">\/t\/ sound in tar, star, writer, eighth<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">\/b\/ sound in bar, dub, rubber<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Phonemes are the broader level representations of a group of sounds that are supposed to be varying because of their phonological distributions. In this sense a phoneme is supposed to be the \u2018underlying form\u2019 for the various \u2018surface forms\u2019 that feature in a language. So while the surface forms are what a speaker\/hearer really encounters, phonemes are their\u00a0 abstract identities.\u00a0 This\u00a0 will become\u00a0 clearer\u00a0 in the sections below.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Allophone<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">\n<p class=\"no-indent\">The various surface manifestations of a phoneme are known as allophones of that phoneme. For example, the phoneme \/p\/ in English is realized in more than one way:<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">\/p\/ as\u00a0 in pin<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">\/p\/ as\u00a0 in tap<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">It is evident that the same phoneme \/p\/ in English is realized\u00a0 differently in these\u00a0 two different words. The sound in the beginning of a syllable is usually aspirated and is represented as [p\u02b0] in phonetic representation. The other allophone that is also the underlying form (phonemic\u00a0 form)\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 two sounds is [p], is differently realized. The different realizations are contingent to different phonetic environments.\u00a0 Allophones of an individual phoneme\u00a0 have mutually exclusive phonetic environments.\u00a0 \u00a0It is because of the environment that an individual allophone is supposed to sound different from (or\u00a0 same as) its\u00a0 \u2018underlying form\u2019 or from other allophones\u00a0 of its\u00a0 family.\u00a0 Thus\u00a0 allophones\u00a0 are said to\u00a0 be\u00a0 in complementary distribution. Please keep in mind that a complementary distribution should not be mistaken for \u2018optional distribution\u2019 as such a case would lead to a free-variation rather than\u00a0 an allophonic variation. Phonemes, on the other hand, are in contrastive distribution and usually have phonetically overlapping environments. Another thing to note would be that the underlying form (phonemic) for a group of sounds is\u00a0 always one of the sounds that are represented on the surface. Allophones of a phoneme, in addition to having a mutually exclusive\u00a0 phonetic\u00a0 environment, should also have some phonetic resemblance. Two sounds which are too dissimilar phonetically cannot\u00a0 form the allophones of a single phoneme. Also, sounds that are recognized as allophones in one language because of their complementary distribution might be recognized as two distinct phonemes in another language. For example, in Hindi, the two sounds [p] and [p\u02b0] are separate phonemes.\u00a0 We\u00a0 shall talk about this in detail in the next section.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Minimal Pair<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">A minimal pair is a pair of words that are alike except for one phonological unit, and carry distinct meanings. Thus the pair \/tar\/ and \/bar\/ are minimal pairs as they differ only in their initial consonants and have distinct meanings. Minimal pairs are used to find two phones\u00a0 that are\u00a0 phonemically distinct in a language. As in the above example, the substitution of \/t\/ with \/b\/ brings about a difference in meaning to the minimal pair they create, so \/t\/ and \/b\/ are two separate phonemes in this language. We can see why [p] and [p\u02b0] are separate phonemes in Hindi. We have seen that [p] and\u00a0 [p\u02b0]\u00a0 are\u00a0 allophones in English. In the previous section we have also said that [p] and\u00a0 [p\u02b0]\u00a0 are\u00a0 separate\u00a0 phonemes in Hindi. Why? This is because we can form a minimal pair\u00a0 [p\u0259l]\u00a0 \u201cmoment\u201d\u00a0 and\u00a0 [p\u02b0\u0259l] \u201cfruit\u201d using the two sounds in Hindi.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Principles for Phonemic Analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Two important principles utilized for forming the\u00a0 inventory of\u00a0 a language\u00a0 and for\u00a0 putting two sounds as one under a single phoneme or as two under different phonemes have already been discussed in the sections on phoneme and allophone. They are the\u00a0 principle\u00a0 of\u00a0 contrastive\u00a0 distribution\u00a0 and\u00a0 the principal of complementary distribution. Let us discuss them in detail.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>1. Principle of Contrastive Distribution<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">This principle employs minimal pairs to find different phonemes in a language. A contrast in meaning would give separate phonemes of the language. In case\u00a0 we\u00a0 don\u2019t get a contrast from\u00a0 a pair that looks just like a minimal pair, we would call it a case of free variation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>2. Principle of Complementary Distribution<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Two sounds that occur in different phonetic environments and never appear to be in the same environment as the other, i.e.\u00a0 when the environment in which one sound appears is\u00a0 exclusive\u00a0 of the one in which the other one appears, the sounds are said to be in complementary distribution. Sounds in complementary distribution are taken as allomorphs of the same phoneme if they show a certain affinity on the phonetic level.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Syllable<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">When we describe phonemes, we see discrete units of sounds and not a continuous flow of\u00a0 sound segments like the way language naturally exists. This continuity is not\u00a0 random\u00a0 in\u00a0 a\u00a0 language\u00a0 and sounds are organized in the formation of bigger structures such as words. That is to say, when we pronounce a word like potato, the sound [p\u02b0] is\u00a0 not realized freely.\u00a0 It can only be\u00a0 articulated as a string of sounds [p\u02b0 + \u0259] in this case. These larger organised sequence of sounds that are produced as a unit while speaking are called syllables. Since syllables contain more\u00a0 than one\u00a0 segment\u00a0 of\u00a0 sounds, these are identified as the suprasegmental features of the language. Divisons\u00a0 of\u00a0 syllables\u00a0 are\u00a0 intuitive\u00a0 to native speakers, and they know where one syllable ends and the other begins.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">Example<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">plant \/pl\u0251:nt\/<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\">plantain \/pl\u0251:n-t\u026an\/ photograph \/f\u0259\u028a-t\u0259-gr\u0251:f\/<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Syllables are usually marked with hyphens. The first word, plant, contains one syllable. It is monosyllabic; plantain has two syllables and is therefore termed disyllabic; the word photograph has three syllables and is termed trisyllabic.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify\">While there have been numerous attempts to define the syllable, a satisfactory definition is still to be agreed upon by linguists. Hosali and Parasher classify attempts to define the syllable based on two approaches (2-3):<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">1. The phonetic approach (which may be based either on the prominence theory or the pulse theory)<\/p>\n<div>2. The linguistic approach<\/div>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">According to the prominence theory, some sounds in an utterance are more\u00a0 prominent than others. In the word similarity \/s\u026am\u026al\u00e6r\u0259t\u026a\/ for example, the peaks of prominence\u00a0 are\u00a0 marked by\u00a0 the\u00a0 vowel\u00a0 sounds \/\u026a, \u026a, \u00e6, \u0259, \u026a\/. Since the number of peaks of prominence decide the\u00a0 number\u00a0 of\u00a0 syllables, the word has five syllables. The pulse theory (or chest pulse theory) focuses\u00a0 on muscular\u00a0 activities\u00a0 and lung movements in the process of speech. It has been experimentally observed\u00a0 that\u00a0 the\u00a0 number\u00a0 of chest pulses, accompanied by increase in air pressure, can determine\u00a0 the\u00a0 number\u00a0 of\u00a0 syllables produced. Both these theories have their limitations. The sonority\u00a0 theory\u00a0 is\u00a0 another\u00a0 approach\u00a0 to\u00a0 explain the syllable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Syllable Structure<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Syllables are made up of consonant and vowel sounds. While a vowel sound is the nucleus\u00a0 of\u00a0 the syllable, consonant sounds usually serve the peripheral positions. A syllable can be divided into\u00a0 two parts, onset and rhyme, where rhyme is further divided into nucleus and coda. Onsets are the initial positions in a syllable taken by consonant(s). They act as the releasing factor.\u00a0 Rhyme\u00a0 has the\u00a0 nucleus as its first position, which is filled in by a vowel, and then one\u00a0 or\u00a0 several consonants\u00a0 may\u00a0 take\u00a0 the coda position. A syllable may not have onset or coda or both.\u00a0 Sometimes, syllables take consonant\u00a0 sounds in their nuclear position. Such consonants are called syllabic consonants. A\u00a0 syllable\u00a0 cannot have more than one vowel. When two vowel sounds come together, they are realised as a single vowel sound known as dipthong. Diagramatically, the division may be represented as follows:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"hanging-indent no-indent\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-110\" src=\"http:\/\/engp13.epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/265\/2019\/06\/Untitled-25.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"343\" height=\"324\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp13\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/265\/2019\/06\/Untitled-25.png 343w, https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp13\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/265\/2019\/06\/Untitled-25-300x283.png 300w, https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp13\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/265\/2019\/06\/Untitled-25-65x61.png 65w, https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp13\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/265\/2019\/06\/Untitled-25-225x213.png 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 343px) 100vw, 343px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Syllables which end in vowel sounds and have no coda are known as open syllables. Syllables are termed close if the coda position is fulfilled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Types of Syllables<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify\">Using the symbols V for vowel sounds and C for consonant sounds, let us look at the various types of syllables that can occur in English:<\/p>\n<p class=\"textbox shaded\">1. V<br \/>\nair \/e\u0259\/<br \/>\na \/\u0259\/, \/e\u026a\/<br \/>\n2. VC<br \/>\nam \/\u00e6m\/<br \/>\neat \/\u026a:t\/<br \/>\n3. CV<br \/>\ntea \/t\u026a:\/<br \/>\nno \/n\u0259\u028a\/<br \/>\n4. CVC<br \/>\ncut \/k\u028ct\/<br \/>\nking \/k\u026a\u014b\/<br \/>\n5. CCV<br \/>\nclay \/kle\u026a\/<br \/>\ncry \/kra\u026a\/<br \/>\n6. CCCV<br \/>\nspray \/spre\u026a\/<br \/>\nscrew \/skru:\/<br \/>\n7. CCCVC<br \/>\nscream \/skr\u026a:m\/<br \/>\nstreet \/str\u026a:t\/<br \/>\n8. CCCVCC<br \/>\nscreamed \/skr\u026a:md\/<br \/>\nstrange \/stre\u026and\u0292\/<br \/>\n9. CCCVCCC<br \/>\nstrands \/str\u00e6nds\/<br \/>\nstrengths \/stre\u014b\u03b8s\/<br \/>\n10. VCCCC<br \/>\npre-empts \/empts\/<br \/>\n11. CVCCCC<br \/>\ntempts \/tempts\/<br \/>\ntexts \/teksts\/<br \/>\n12. CCVCCCC<br \/>\ntwelfths \/twelfv\u03b8s\/<br \/>\n13. CCVCCC<br \/>\nbrands \/br\u00e6nds\/<br \/>\ntrunks \/tr\u028cnks\/<br \/>\n14. CCVCC<br \/>\ncrates \/kre\u026ats\/<br \/>\nsnacks \/sn\u00e6ks\/<br \/>\n15. CVCC<br \/>\ntents \/tent\/<br \/>\nrains \/re\u026ans\/<br \/>\n16. VCC<br \/>\nand \/\u00e6nd\/<br \/>\nask \/a:sk\/<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Consider the following examples:<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">mutton \/m\u028c-tn\/<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">rhythm \/r\u026a-\u03b4m\/<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">In both these words, the second syllable is marked CV although the final sound in both words is a consonant. As stated earlier, in some syllables the consonant functions as the nucleus of the syllable. Such consonants are known as syllabic consonants.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Consonant Clusters<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">In English, it is possible to have up to three consonants at the beginning of the syllable and up to four consonants after the nucleus. The sequence of consonants occuring together at the beginning of the syllable or at the end of the syllable are known as consonant clusters. This can\u00a0 be\u00a0 represented as follows: (CCC) V (CCCC)<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Word Accent<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Accent is taken from a Latin word accentus that can mean tone, intensity or signal. The\u00a0 word \u2018accent\u2019 as used in modern English has broader connotations and can be utilized for more than one linguistic feature. In our daily life, we use the term \u2018accent\u2019 to refer to the way a\u00a0 speaker\u00a0 speaks a\u00a0 language. And that is how we refer to the term \u2018accent\u2019 in\u00a0 a\u00a0 social\/sociolinguistic\u00a0 domain.\u00a0 However, when we talk about the term \u2018accent\u2019 as in \u2018word accent\u2019 we are concerned about the general feature of a language that has to do with the relative prominence\/emphasis\/intensity of various components\u00a0 of speech. It is in this sense the term \u2018accent\u2019 shall be used in the discussion that follows. Accent is the intensity or prominence given to a certain syllable within a word, or certain words within a phrase or a sentence. Thus accent can be lexical (within the word) or prosodic (within the sentence).<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>What is Word Accent<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Word accent or word stress or lexical stress is the\u00a0 prominence\u00a0 that is\u00a0 given to a certain syllable\u00a0 within a word by providing it a greater intensity that can result in features such as\u00a0 increased\u00a0 loudness.\u00a0 A syllable that shows relative prominence is said to be stressed, accented or tonic, while the other syllables that are relatively less prominent in speech are unstressed, accented or\u00a0 atonic.\u00a0 One\u00a0 should keep in mind that the use of the word \u201ctonic\u201d is different from the \u201ctone\u201d\u00a0 that\u00a0 is\u00a0 a\u00a0 phonemic distinction in many languages.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Types of Word Accent<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Word accent can have its types. Languages can have a fixed word accent, variable word accent, or a regular word accent. In languages that have a fixed\u00a0 word accent, the\u00a0 position of\u00a0 the\u00a0 accented syllable is fixed. As for instance, a language with a penultimate word stress will almost always have\u00a0 its penultimate syllable as stressed (Polish), and same way there will be languages that will have\u00a0 their stress on the first syllable only (Icelandic). Other languages that have a variable word accent, like English, have a less predictable\u00a0 stress\u00a0 system,\u00a0 and\u00a0 factors like\u00a0 etymology, morphology and grammar of the word decide which syllable would be accented. Such variations in\u00a0 the\u00a0 position\u00a0 of\u00a0 stress can bring a contrast to the meaning of a word. Thus stress can be phonemic in such languages.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Example<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">permit, permit (n, v)<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">insight, incite<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Some other languages have neither a fixed word accent, nor do they show a\u00a0 variable\u00a0 word\u00a0 accent. Such languages have words where the stress is marked with some simple rules. These rules are highly predicable in nature, and so these languages are supposed to have a regular word accent (Latin, for example).<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Languages might show stress in their writing system as\u00a0 well.\u00a0 Some languages\u00a0 like\u00a0 Spanish\u00a0 use diacritics to mark the accent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Word accent in English<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">Languages with variable word accent, like English, show a random\u00a0 position\u00a0 of\u00a0 stress.\u00a0 Stress\u00a0 in English is not fixed \u2013 it is not tied to any particular syllable.\u00a0 The\u00a0 position of stress is\u00a0 mostly learnt by the speaker. There are rules depending on the type and constituents of the words, but not without exception. There are various words\u00a0 where\u00a0 native\u00a0 speakers\u00a0 have\u00a0 different\u00a0 opinions\u00a0 about\u00a0 which\u00a0 syllable should be accented, e.g. TeleVIsion, TELivision Some languages have only one level of stress. Some others have more than one level of stress. When languages allow more than one stress, we can see two stressed syllables in a word, primary and secondary. Primary stress is on the most prominent and intensified syllable; secondary stress\u00a0 is attributed to the syllable whose intensity is more\u00a0 than the other syllables but\u00a0 lower than the\u00a0 one\u00a0 with the primary stress. Linguists like Chomsky and Halle\u00a0 have\u00a0 described four levels of stress in English, but there is no consensus on this issue among other linguists. In fact, the case\u00a0 for\u00a0 English\u00a0 being analyzed using only one level of stress is well argued by many linguists.<\/p>\n<p class=\"no-indent\" style=\"text-align: justify\">There are some analyses that have showed that some languages might be seen as lacking the stress entirely, such as French and Mandarin.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>you can view video on Phoneme, Syllable and Word Accent<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/6YRZHOfaRGM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-120\" src=\"http:\/\/epgpbooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/download.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"36\" height=\"36\" \/><\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p class=\"no-indent\"><strong>Reference<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Balasubramanian, T. <em>A Textbook of English Phonetics for Indian Students<\/em>. 1981. New Delhi: Trinity, 2014. Print.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Balasubramanian, T. <em>English Phonetics for Indian Students: A Workbook<\/em>. 1992. New Delhi: Macmillan, 2000. Print.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Bharati, Surabhi. \u201cPhonology and Morphology.\u201d <em>Introduction to Linguistics. <\/em>Eds. Tapas S. Ray and Surabhi Bharati. PGCTE Course Material Block II, Unit 1-6. Hyderabad: Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, 1996. Print.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Gimson, A. C. <em>An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English<\/em>. 1962. London: Edward Arnold Publishers, 1989. Print.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Hosali, Priya and S. V. Parasher. \u201cIntonation, Rhythm and Stress.\u201d<em>Phonetics and Spoken English\u00a0<\/em>Eds. V. Prakasam and S. V. Parasher. PGCTE Course Material Block II, Unit 4-5. Hyderabad: Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, 1996. Print.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Hosali, Priya and S. V. Parasher. \u201cThe Syllable and Its Structure.\u201d<em>Phonetics and Spoken English\u00a0<\/em>Eds. V. Prakasam and S. V. Parasher. PGCTE Course Material Block III, Unit 1-2. Hyderabad: Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, 1996. Print.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Jones, Daniel. <em>English Pronouncing Dictionary<\/em>. Revised by A.C. Gimson. New Delhi: Universal Book Stall, 1995. Print.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Lyons, John. <em>Language and Linguistics: An Introduction<\/em>. 1981. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Print.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Sethi, J. and P. V. Dhamija. <em>A Course in Phonetics and Spoken English<\/em>. New Delhi: Prentice Hall, 2009. Print.<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify\">Yule, George. <em>The Study of Language. <\/em>1985. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Print.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"menu_order":9,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":["prof-banibrata-mahanta"],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[79],"license":[],"class_list":["post-107","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","contributor-prof-banibrata-mahanta"],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp13\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp13\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp13\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp13\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/107\/revisions\/109"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp13\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp13\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/107\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp13\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=107"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=107"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in\/engp13\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}