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Chapter11Speechunitsandtheirduration
1.1.3Thestatusoflowerlevelunitssyllablesandsegments
Bothwordsandfeetaretraditionallyparsedintosyllables.Accordingto
TathamandMorton(2001:192;referringtoGimson1962),G[a]syllableis
aphonologicalunitwhichformsthebasisoftheprosodicparametersof
rhythm,stressandintonation1itisdefinedintermsofitshierarchically
organisedstructurebasedonitssegmental(consonantalandvocalic)
composition.Syllablesmusthaveonevowelastheirnucleuswithmargins
where,inEnglish,fromzerotothreeconsonantsprecedethenucleusandfrom
zerotofourconsonantsfollowthenucleus.”
Theexistenceofconsonantclustersinmostlanguages,includingEnglish
andPolish,raisestheproblemofsyllableboundarylocation.Mostresearchers
accepttheMaximalOnsetRule(Pulgram1970,Kahn1976)whichclassifies
consonantsbetweenvowelsassyllable-initialifthephonotacticrulesof
thelanguagearenotviolated.MaximalOnsetRuleensuresconsistent
syllabification,butitdoesnotsolveallpossibleproblems.Forinstance,
theproblemofsyllable-finalstressedshort(lax)vowels,asinmanoriseither
ignored(e.g.HalleandVergnaud1987),maintainingtheconsistencyof
theprinciple,orresolvedbyclassifyingtheproblematicconsonantasthecoda
(e.g.Selkirk1982).Originally,PulgramandKahnregardedsuchconsonants
ambisyllabic.TheproblemisdiscussedinmoredetailinDuanmu(2008).
Blevins(1995:207)providesanacousticallymotivateddefinitionof
thesyllable,statingthatG[e]achsonoritypeakdefine[s]auniquesyllable.”
Thisdefinitionreflectslanguageusers’intuitivesyllabificationability,
includingnotonlyunitrecognitionbutalsoboundarylocation(consequentlyat
sonoritytroughs).However,acousticevidenceisnotalwaysunambiguousand
doesnotalwaysleadtouniversallyacceptedsyllabicparsingeither.
Syllables,asmentionedabove,arecomposedofsegments.Asegment,
regardedasaphoneticrealisationofaphoneme,stillremainsaphonological
entity,reflectingthecontrastiveelementsofwordstructure,ratherthan
physicalreality,asitoftencomprisesseveraldistinctphasesofarticulation(e.g.
occlusion,burstandVOT3inplosivearticulation).
Manyrecentphonologicalapproachesquestiontheontologicalstatusof
thesyllable(e.g.Dziubalska-Kołaczyk2002),andsegmentasarealisationof
phoneme,whichitselfbecameacontroversialnotionsoonafteritsinvention
(e.g.Twaddell1935)andstillremainscontroversial(e.g.Port2007).Thenotions
inquestionindeedlackcommonlyacceptedprecise,uncontroversialdefinitions,
buttheirintuitiverealityforlanguageusers(andlanguagelearners)reflectedin,
forinstance,theundeniablepracticalusefulnessofphonemictranscription,
whichvisualisesthepronunciationofwordsasstringsofdiscreteunitsand
3VOT1VoiceOnsetTime(seeLiskerandAbramson1964).