UNIT 1

PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY.

SOME KEY CONCEPTS
 Phonetics as a part of Linguistics

• Phonetics: the sound system

Linguistics:
three-level • Morphosyntax: word and sentence formation
model • Semantics: meaning

Linguistics: four- • Model A: Phonetics + Morphology + Syntax + Semantics

level models
(most widely- • Model B: Phonetics + Phonology + Morphosyntax + Semantics
used)
• Model A: Phonetics + Phonology + Morphology + Syntax + Semantics

Linguistics: • Model B: Phonetics + Phonology + Morphology + Syntax + Semantics

+ Pragmatics
further
subdivisions • Model C: Phonetics + Phonology + Morphology + Syntax + Semantics
+ Pragmatics + Lexicon
 Phonetics as an independent science

 There are two linguistic sciences.

 Both study language from a different angle.

 Phonetics is considered a pre-requisite for Linguistics.

• It is interested in sounds and

how they are organized and
Phonetics transmitted.
• It is divided into Phonetics
proper and Phonology.

• It is concerned with how

language is structured
Linguistics grammatically and
semantically.
 Phonetics: Aims and Branches.
Aims:
 Description and classification of all speech sounds
 Concerned with speech in its purely physical aspects
 Studies how sounds are produced, transmitted and perceived regardless of the language or
concrete speaker
Branches:
1) Articulatory Phonetics:
– It studies the way sounds are produced by the vocal organs,
i.e. the speech mechanism.
– To describe and classify speech sounds reference is made to
the anatomical places of articulation

2) Acoustic Phonetics:
- It studies the physical properties of speech sounds as transmitted
between mouth and ear by studying the speech waves produced
during speech.
- Various instruments (spectographs) and applications (e.g. Audacity) are used to analyze speech
waves, measuring pitch, loudness and quality.

3) Auditory/Perceptual Phonetics:
- It approaches the study of sounds from the perspective of the listener.
- It studies the effects sound waves make on the ears, auditory nerves and brain of the listener, eg.
differences perceived in aspiration, quality, duration, etc.
 Phonology/Phonemics: Aims and Branches.
Aims:
 Concerned with how speech sounds are selected and organized into a
system to produce differences of meaning between words and other
linguistic units in the different languages.
Branches:
1. Segmental Phonology: analyzes speech into discreet units such as
phonemes, i.e. which sounds are used distinctively in any specific language.
It involves either consonants or vowels.

2. Suprasegmental/Prosodic Phonology: studies features which extend over

more than one segment such as stress, rhythm, intonation and other
intersyllabic phenomena such as juncture (transition), i.e. it involves more
than one single vowel or consonant.
 Applications of Phonetics/Phonology
 Language teaching, e.g. ELT.
 Recording and describing pronunciation, e.g. indigenous languages,
dialects.
 Speech therapy, i.e. programs or exercises to help alleviate or cure a
language or speech defect.
 Audiology, i.e. the study of hearing or hearing disorders.
 Lipreading, i.e. the study of the movement of the lips and face muscles.
 Digitized speech, i.e. speech produced from the digital recording of sounds.
 The conversión of speech to text, i.e. machines type what they
hear/capture.
 Synthetic speech, i.e. making computers talk more intelligibly or recognize
what is said to them.
 Forensic phonetics. It allows speaker profiling (e.g. estimating speaker age,
height, weight and smoking habit estimation, from spontaneous telephone
speech signals) and speaker identifications in voice lineups.
 For professions concerned with the media, e.g. newsreaders, actors,
politicians, teachers
Examples of Speech Therapy (Articulatory Phonetics)
 KEY CONCEPTS
 Phone: individual sounds as they occur in speech uttered on a particular occasion by
a particular speaker.
It is any speech sound without regard of its place in the phonological system of a
language.
They are represented with phonetic symbols, e.g. [n], [ŋ], [ɳ]

 Phoneme: the smallest unit of sound in a language which can distinguish between
two words from the point of view of meaning.
It is a minimal unit (i.e. it cannot be broken up into smaller units) and it is a
contrastive unit (it differentiates one word from another in meaning).
It is shown in slashes/obliques, i.e. / /.
Compare:
English:
bus /bʌs/ vs buzz /bʌz/ → /s/ ≠ /z/
Spanish:
mismo /'mismo/ vs ['mismo]
['mizmo]
['mihmo]
['mixmo]
The Standard English Phonemic Chart
 Allophone: variants of a phoneme. One phoneme can have several allophones.
Allophones show a slight change in pronunciation but not in meaning.
They reflect different regional and social dialects or a foreign accent.
They are shown within square brackets, i.e. [ ] and some extra symbols called
diacritics are added and placed under, over or across the phonetic symbol to
indicate the type of variation in pronunciation.
Compare pot [phɒt] vs bop [bɒp] → [ph] ≠ [p]
We pronounce the variants differently, but we know they are the same phoneme.
 (Consonant) cluster (also called blend or adjacent sounds): a sequence of two
or more consonantal phonemes within a syllable, e.g. /fl/ in flake /fleɪk/, /str/ in
strong /strɒŋ/, /ŋk/ in bank, /lps/ in helps or /ksts/ in texts.

Clusters may occupy different positions within the word or syllable:

a) At the beginning, as initial consonant clusters, e.g. /tw/ in twin or /spr/ in
spring;
b) In the middle, as medial consonant clusters, e.g. /fr/ in afraid or /skw/ in
esquire /ɪ'skwaɪ.ǝr /;
c) At the end, as final consonant clusters, e.g. /ld/ in fold, /lpt/ in helped or
/ksts/ in texts.
 Question 1: Up to how many consonant phonemes can there be in initial
position of a syllable/word?

 Question 2: What is the máximum number of consonant phonemes to be found

in final position of a syllable/word?

 Question 3: What is the máximum syllable structure in English and Spanish?

 Question 4: Does the word back contain any cluster?

 Question 5: Does the word lax contain any cluster?

 Question 6: Does the word high cointain any cluster?

 Question 7: Does the word Finn contain any cluster?

 Activity: Identify the clusters in the words that follow, if any.

scream thing
height muslim
bank gnome
attempt reign
abstain abroad
 Question 1: Up to how many consonant phonemes can there be in initial
position of a syllable/word? 3: street /str/
 Question 2: What is the máximum number of consonant phonemes to be found
in final position of a syllable/word? 4: texts /ksts/
 Question 3: What is the máximum syllable structure in English and Spanish? Are
they identical?
English: (CCC)V(CCCC) Spanish: (CC)V(CC)
 Question 4: Does the word back contain any cluster? No, /bæk/
 Question 5: Does the word lax contain any cluster? Yes, /læks/
 Question 6: Does the word high cointain any cluster? No /haɪ/
 Question 7: Does the word Finn contain any cluster? No, /fɪn/
 Activity: Identify the clusters in the words that follow, if any.

scream /skri:m/ thing /θɪŋ/

height /haɪt/ muslim /’mʌz.lɪm/
bank /bæŋk/ gnome /nəʊm/
attempt /ə’tempt/ reign /reɪn/
abstain /əb.steɪn/ abroad /ə’brɔ:d/
 KINDS OF PHONEMES
1. Segmental phonemes: they can be separated without losing their full identity, i.e. vowel and
consonant phonemes.

2. Suprasegmental phonemes: they extend over more than one sound in an utterance to preserve
their identity, i.e.

i. Stress: prominence given to a particular word or syllable to make it stand out with respect to the
surrounding words or syllables.
 Word stress: offer vs prefer
 Sentence stress: She is happy vs She is happy
ii. Rhythm: pattern described by the succession of prominent and non-prominent syllables in a
sentence or utterance. We usually give more stress to nouns, ordinary verbs, adjectives and
adverbs, and less stress to pronouns, determiners, prepositions, conjunctions and auxiliary
verbs.
One, two, three, four.
One and two and three and four.
One and a two and a three and a four.
iii. Intonation: rising and falling sound patterns in speech. Intonation patterns provide different
types of information:
 They have a grammatical function (e.g. to indicate whether it is a command or request).
 They also have an attitudinal function, i.e. they give additional information to the one
contained in the proposition, e.g. to show the speaker's attitude towards the
matter discussed or the listener.
 Activity: where would you place the stress mark in the following words?
perform reasonable
orange reliable
appear geography
activity activate
referee abstain

 Activity: how would you split up the words that follow into syllables?
Delegate
Addressee /ˌæd.resˈiː/
/ˌɪn·tjuˈɪʃ·ən/
/ˌref·ərˈiː/
 Question 3: What is the máximum syllable structure in English and Spanish?

 Question 4: Does the word back contain any cluster?

 Question 5: Does the word lax contain any cluster?

 Grapheme: a symbol made up of a single letter or group of letters used to identify a
phoneme.
Graphemes are represented between angled brackets, i.e. < >.
Thus, the word cat is made up of three phonemes (i.e. /k/, /æ/, /t/) each
represented by a single-letter grapheme or monograph: <c> <a> <t>.
Types:
 Monograph: a single-letter grapheme that makes one phoneme, e.g. <h> and <i>
in hi /haɪ/.
 Digraph: a two-letter grapheme that makes one sound, e.g. <ch> in choice /ʧɔɪs/,
<sh> in ship /ʃɪp/, <ea> in tea /ti:/ or <oa> in boat /bәʊt/.

 Split digraph: two letters, which work as a pair, split,

to represent one sound, e.g. a-e as in cake, or i-e as in kite.

 Trigraph: a three-letter grapheme that makes one phoneme, e.g. in high, <igh>
makes the diphthong /aɪ/ .
 Tetragraph: a four-letter grapheme that makes one phoneme, e.g. in the word
eight, <eigh> makes an /eɪ/ sound or in the word through where <ough>
makes /u:/.
 Activity: identify the digraphs or trigraphs in the following words, if any.

fight rough
chimp guest
chicken tomb
blouse monkey
bath teethe

 Activity: Identify the clusters and/or digraphs in the words that follow.

sign phone
climb number
wash sank
knees mess
friend thing
 Activity: identify the digraphs or trigraphs in the following words, if any.

Fight, fight /faɪt/ rough, rough /ruf/

chimp /ʧɪmp/ guest /gest/
chicken /’ʧɪk.ɪn/ tomb /tu:m/
blouse /blaʊz/ monkey /’mʌŋ.ki/
bath /bæθ/ tee the /ti:ð/

 Activity: Identify the clusters and/or digraphs in the words that follow.

sphere /sfɪə/ phone, phone /fəʊn/

climb /klaɪm/ number /’nʌm.bə/
wash /wɒʃ/ sang /sæŋ/
kn ees /ni:z/ mess /mes/
friend /frend/ thing /θɪŋ/
 Phonics
Phonics: the correlation between phonemes and graphemes (i.e. sounds and
letters). English has about 44 phonemes that can be represented by a large number
of spelling alternatives.

 Blending: merging the individual phonemes together to pronounce a word.

In order to read an unfamiliar word, a child must recognize (‘sound out’) each
grapheme, not each letter (e.g. ‘th-i-n’, i.e. /θ/ /ɪ/ /n/; not ‘t-h-i-n’ /ti:/ /eɪʧ/ /aɪ/
/en/), and then merge the phonemes together to make the word.

 Segmentation: separating or hearing the individual phonemes within a word –

for instance the word wish consists of three phonemes: ‘w – i – sh’. In order to
spell this word, a child must segment it into its component phonemes (i.e. /w/
/ɪ/ /ʃ/) and choose a grapheme to represent each phoneme.

 Mnemonics: a device for memorizing and recalling something, such as a hand

action of a snake to remember the phoneme /s/.
• Tricky words: terms that cannot be
‘sounded-out’ but need to be learned
by heart. They do not fit into the usual
spelling patterns.
In order to read simple sentences, it is
necessary for children to know some
words that have unusual or untaught
spellings.

• High frequency words: terms which appear most frequently

in the English language. As they recur frequently in written
materials, young children need them when they read and
write. A child may be able to sound out some of them, such
as ‘at’, ‘in’ or ‘he’, but some are not decodable through
phonics, such as ‘said’, ‘are’ or ‘Mr’.
Recognising and being able to read high frequency
words give children more confidence: if a child can already
recognise a quarter of the words in a text, they are more
likely to want to keep reading.
 Homophones: words with the same pronunciation and different spelling and meaning,
e.g. air/heir /eə/, poor/pour /pʊə/, or steel/steal /sti:l/.

 Homograph (sometimes called heterograph): a word with two different pronunciations

depending on their meaning, e.g. read as /ri:d/ or /red/, or abuse as /ə'bju:s/ or /ə'bju:z/.

 Minimal pairs: couples of words that differ in one sound segment only, either in a
consonantal or a vocalic phoneme, e.g. ship/chip or cat/cut.
 Commutation test: a process of sound substitution in minimal pairs to show
contrastivity (= differences in meaning).

When applying the commutation test, it is not sufficient to consider merely

one position in a word. Only 22 consonant phonemes can function contrastively
in initial position. Possibilities of phonemic opposition have to be investigated
in medial and final positions as well. This allows us to discover two more
phonemes in the particular case of English: /ŋ/ and /ʒ/. English therefore has 24
consonants.

Examples:
1. pan/ban are recognized as two different words in English, so /p/ and /b/ are
two different phonemes
2. bun/bin are two different words in English as well, so / ʌ / and /ɪ/ must be
two different phonemes.
3. thin/thing are also two different words, so /n/ and /ŋ/ are two different
phonemes.

Minimal pairs constitute a very effective technique in ELT to teach phonemes

as they focus on differences in pronunciation of segments that produce
differences in meaning.
 Word Stress
LEVELS OF STRESS
Primary Stress: the strongest emphasis in a polysyllabic word, which is marked in IPA by placing a small
raised vertical line before the accented syllable, i.e. [ˈ].

In monosyllables, that one syllable has the primary stress and is left unmarked, when transcribed in
isolation. In phrases or sentences, one-syllable words may be stressed. Compare:
house /haʊs/
It´a a house ǀ ɪts ə 'haʊs ǀ

Secondary Stress: syllables which are not completely unstressed, but are less prominent than those that
have the primary stress. Secondary stress is marked with a lowered vertical line [ˌ] at the beginning of the
syllable. Compare:
destiny /ˈdestɪni/ vs destination /ˌdestɪˈneɪʃən/
address /əˈdres/ (Br E) vs addressee /ˌædresˈiː/
Secondary stresses have only limited ocurrence after a primary stress. This stress is only marked in
compound words where the second elememnt is polysyllabic. Compare:
fishmonger /ˈfɪʃˌmʌŋɡər/ vs alphabet /ˈæl·fə·bet/

Unstressed syllables: syllables that have no prominence at all. In English, unstressed syllables most
usually contain schwa [ə] or [ɪ]. Other possibilities are [i], [u] or [ʊ], e.g.
happy /ˈhæpi/
statue /ˈstætʃu/
Very rarely, other vowels might be unstressed as well, e.g.
potato /pəˈteɪtəʊ/
delegate /ˈdelɪɡət/ (noun) vs /ˈdelɪɡeɪt/ (verb)
 The Syllable
Syllable: the basic unit of pronunciation in a phonological structure, e.g. stress, rhythm, intonation
and other intersyllabic phenomena.

Words are generally made up of one or more syllables:

- Monosyllables: words that contain one syllable, e.g. bear
- Disyllables: words that contain two syllables, e.g. pigeon
- Trisyllables: words that contain three syllables, e.g. octopus
- Tetrasyllables: words that contain four syllables, e.g. alligator
- Pentasyllables: words that contain five syllables, e.g. refrigerator
- Polysyllables: words made up of more than one syllable, e.g. di-, tri- tetra- penta- …syylables
- Minimum syllables: Vowels in isolation, preceded and followed by silence, e.g. /ɔ:/ meaning “or” or “oar”.
- Isolated consonant sounds may be also regarded as syllables. Example: [mͅ ] indicates agreement.

Syllables are made up of three parts or constituents:

1. The opening segment of a syllable, i.e. the onset
onsets → consonants
(C) /s/ in sun, (CC) /sp/ in speak, (CCC) /spr/ in spring
2. The central segment, i.e. the nucleus, centre or peak
nucleus → vowels or syllabic consonants
(V) /e/ in pet, (Sylb C) /ṇ/ in open
3. The closing segment, i.e. the coda or termination
codas → consonants
(C) /n/ in sun, (CC) /nz/ in suns, (CCC) /mpt/ in jumped, (CCCC) /ksts/ in texts
Syllabic consonantes: Consonant phonemes that may occupy the nucleus in an unstressed
syllable. This may only happen in the cases of /l, r, m, n, ŋ/. A small vertical line below
the phonetic symbol is used as a diacritic.
people /'pi:pəl/ → /'pi:pl᷂ͅ/
listen /'lɪsən/ → /'lɪsnͅͅ/
prism /'prɪzəm/ → /'prɪzmͅ /
father /'fɑ:ðər/ → /'fɑ:ðrͅ /
thicken /'θɪkən/ → /'θɪkŋ̍ /

Syllables can be classified according to their ending:

Ø If they end with a vowel, they are called open syllables, e.g. weigh /weɪ/
Ø If they end with a consonant, the are called closed syllables, e.g. hit /hɪt/

Activity. Indicate the nucleus, onset and coda in the one-syllable words that follow and whether
they are open or closed syllables:

next sleigh

crumb jumped

folks smile

heir knew

crow tough
KEY TO Activity. Indicate the nucleus, onset and coda in the words that follow:

next /nekst/ ONC closed sleigh /sleɪ/ ON open

crumb /krʌm/ ONC closed jumped /ʤʌmpt/ ONC closed
folks /fəʊks/ ONC closed smile /smaɪl/ ONC closed
heir /eər/ N(C) op/clos knew /nju:/ ON open
crow /krəʊ/ ON open tough /tʌf/ ONC closed

Activity. Indicate the nuclei, onsets and codas in the two-syllable words below:

actor
label
swimmer
ocean
feather
heater
riddle
curtain
eagle
hostess
KEY TO Activity. Indicate the nuclei, onsets and codas in the two-syllable words below:

actor /ˈæk·tər/, /ˈæk·tr̩ / NC.ON(C) or NC.ON

label /ˈleɪ·bəl/, /ˈleɪ·bl̩/ ON.ONC or ON.ON
swimsuit /ˈswɪm·su:t/ ONC.ONC
ocean /ˈəʊ·ʃən/, /ˈəʊ·ʃn̩ / N.ONC or N.ON
instead /ɪnˈsted/ NC.ONC
rely /rɪˈlaɪ/ ON.ON
city /ˈsɪt·i/ ONC.N
ɪ
bottom /ˈbɒt·əm/, /ˈbɒt·m̩/ ONC.NC or ONC.N
earnest /ˈɜː·nɪst/ N.ONC
hostess /ˈhəʊ·stɪs/ * ON.ONC
 MAXIMAL ONSET PRINCIPLE
Syllabification is the term which refers to the division of a word into syllables. The diacritic
used following the recommendations of the IPA is a dot, except where a primary or secondary
stress mark occurs as these are also syllable division markers.

Different criteria may be used. From a phonological point of view what is to be applied is the
Maximal Onset Principle. This principle states that where two syllables are to be divided,
any consonants between them should be attached to the right-hand syllable as far as
possible within the restrictions governing syllable onsets and codas.

Rules:
Stressed syllables containing a short vowel (i.e. /ɪ, e, æ, ʌ, ʊ, ɒ/) with the exception of
schwa and the allophones [i] and [u] need to be followed by one or more consonants to
reinforce the prominence of the syllable. Long vowels do not need to be reinforced by
consonants and therefore may appear in open syllables. Compare better /'bet.ər/ vs
heater /'hi:.tər/

Unstressed syllables containing short vowels, /ɪ, ʊ, i, u, ә/ do not need a consonant

following. For instance, develop /dɪ'vel.əp/.

Notwithstanding the above, words in compounds should not be re-divided syllabically in a

way that does not agree with perceived word boundaries. For example, the term hardware
could in theory be divided /'hɑ:.dweə/, but most readers would find this counter-intuitive and
would prefer /'hɑ:d.weə/. This principle applies to open, closed and hyphenated compounds.
 Examples of syllabification in trisyllables
addictive /ədɪktɪv/ /əˈdɪk.tɪv/
hospital /hɒspɪtəl/ /ˈhɒs.pɪ.təl/ /ˈhɒs.pɪ.tlͅ /
tertiary /tɜːʃəri/ /ˈtɜː.ʃə.ri/ / /ˈtɜː.ʃrͅ .i/

Activity. Place the syllable boundaries in the appropriate places in the

words below:
/d eɪ n dʒ ə r ə s/
/ɪ n d i ə n/
/e l ɪ ɡ ə n t/
/n ɒ v ə l t i/
/ɪ n s j ə l eɪ t/
/p ɒ s ə b ə l/
/ə b ɪ l ə t i/
/h e z ɪ t eɪ t/
/v ɜː t ɪ k ə l/
/ɡ r æ dʒ u ə t/
 Activity. Place the syllable boundaries in the appropriate
places in the words below:

/d eɪ n dʒ ə r ə s/ /ˈdeɪn.dʒə.rəs/, /ˈdeɪn.dʒrͅ .əs/ dangerous

/ɪ n d i ə n/ /ˈɪn.di.ən/ indian
/e l ɪ ɡ ə n t/ /ˈel.ɪ.ɡənt/ elegant
/n ɒ v ə l t i/ /ˈnɒv.əl.ti/, /ˈnɒv.lͅ .ti/ novelty
/ɪ n s j ə l eɪ t/ /ˈɪn.sjə.leɪt/, /ˈɪn.sjʊ.leɪt/ insulate
/p ɒ s ə b ə l/ /ˈpɒs.ə.bəl/, /ˈpɒs.ə.blͅ / possible
/ə b ɪ l ə t i/ /əˈbɪl.ə.ti/ ability
/h e z ɪ t eɪ t/ /ˈhez.ɪ.teɪt/ hesitate
/v ɜː t ɪ k ə l/ /ˈvɜː.tɪ.kəl/, /ˈvɜː.tɪ.klͅ / vertical
/ɡ r æ dʒ u ə t/ /ˈɡrædʒ.u.ət/ graduate
The syllable from a phonological standpoint.
Phonotactics studies the ways sounds combine in individual languages to produce typical
sound sequences, i.e.
 the permissible syllable structure
 the distribution of phonemes
 their possible combinations

Maximum syllabic structure. In English, the syllable can take up to three consonants
before the nucleus and up to four after it whereas in Spanish there can only be two
consonants both before and after the vowel:
English: (C C C) V (C C C C), e.g. spring, texts
Spanish: (C C) V (C C), e.g. transmitir, plano
Possible English syllable onset patterns:
 Zero onsets, e.g. ease /i:z/
 C V, e.g. bend /bend/
 C C V, e.g. train /treɪn/
 C C C V, e.g. strange /streɪnʤ
Possible English syllable coda patterns:
 Zero terminations, e.g. know /nәʊ/
 V C, e.g. swap /swɒp/
 V C C, e.g. shelf /ʃelf/
 V C C C, e.g. helped /helpt/
 V C C C C, e.g. sixths /sɪksθs/
The different contexts and positions in which phonemes can occur is called distribution:
a) INITIAL, e.g. /s/ in sun /sʌn/.
b) MEDIAL, e.g. /s/ in assess /ə’ses/
c) FINAL, e.g. /s/ in loss /lɒs/

 Question 1. Is the nucleus a compulsory element in a syllable?

 Question 2. Are vowels the only phonemes that may be in the centre of a syllable in Spanish?
And in English?

 Question 3. Where are consonant phonemes generally placed in a syllable?

 Question 4. What consonant phonemes can be placed in the nucleus of a syllable?

 Question 5. What vowel phonemes cannot appear in initial position?

 Question 6. What vowel phonemes cannot occur finally?

 Question 7. What consonant phonemes cannot appear in initial position?

 Question 8. What consonant phonemes cannot appear in final position?

 Question 9: Is <r> always pronounced in English? What does it depend on?

Main characteristics of the English syllabic structure:

 The nucleus is obligatory whereas the onset and coda are optional.

 With a few exceptions, consonants do not form syllables on their own and for the most part can only
appear at the onset and the coda.

 Vowels can form a syllable by themselves or be the centre of a syllable.

 Speech sounds which can be the nucleus of a syllable are called syllabic. These comprise both vowels
and /l, r, m, n, ŋ/ in unstressed vowels. Syllabicity is shown through a small line underneath the
consonant phoneme affected, e.g. /'æplͅ /.

 Any consonant except /ŋ/ can occupy initial position, although /ʒ/ is rare.

 Any vowel may occur at the beginning of a syllable, although /ʊ/ is rare.

 All vowels except /e, æ, ʌ, ɒ/ can occur finally.

 Any consonant may be final except /h, j, w/.

 In non-rhotic accents, <r> is always pronounced as /r/ in initial position of words or syllables, but not in
final position of words or syllables except when a vowel phoneme follows. Compare: tear up /teər ʌp/ vs.
tear cloth /teə klɒθ/
 Rhyme or rime: the combination of the nucleus and coda.
The ability to recognize and produce rhyming words is an important early
phonological awareness skill present in reading programs. For instance, the ability to
recognize the common sounds in words such as the /ɒg/ sound in frog, dog, and log
and to produce rhyming words when asked, for example, to give a word that rhymes
with boy, such as toy, joy and coy.

 Alliteration: Words that have the same onset are said to alliterate /əˈlɪtəreɪt/.
Alliteration is used as a strategy in the beginning phases of reading to help children to
learn to listen for initial sounds in words and say other words that start with the same
sound in order to match a sound with a letter and develop phonological awareness.
The syllable from a phonetic standpoint (less reliable).
a) Definition on the basis of the articulatory effort:
Contractions of certain chest muscles are more noticeable in the nucleus or
peak of a syllable, but people often have difficulty in knowing when one
syllable ends and another begins. For instance, the word bitter may be
heard as bitter, bit-ter or bitt-er.

b) Definition based on auditory terms:

Some sounds are more prominent or sonorous than others. Thus, voiced
sounds are more sonorous than unvoiced phonemes.
Sonority hierarchy:
1 open vowels, 2 intermediate vowels, 3 close vowels, 4 laterals, 5 nasals,
6 approximants, 7 trills, 8 fricatives, 9 affricates, 10 plosives

According to the prominence theory, the number of syllables in a word is

determined by the number of peaks of prominence. Each peak of sonority
corresponds to the centre of a syllable, usually vowels. However, this theory
does not help much in discussions of syllable division. For instance, where
to split the word busker: bus-ker, bu-sker or busk-er.
Chunking words
Syllable Division | Learn the six rules of syllables | Chunking words |
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