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Syllables and rule interaction

Syllables and rule interaction. The longest tradition has seen syllables as being waves of energy (“sonority”, in current parlance). In the late 1940s, some students of Leonard Bloomfield tried out the idea of imposing syntactic structure on the syllable. The idea stuck. s. rhyme. onset.

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Syllables and rule interaction

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  1. Syllables and rule interaction

  2. The longest tradition has seen syllables as being waves of energy (“sonority”, in current parlance). • In the late 1940s, some students of Leonard Bloomfield tried out the idea of imposing syntactic structure on the syllable. The idea stuck.

  3. s rhyme onset coda nucleus s p r I n t

  4. Syllables • Onset, rhyme • Rhyme: nucleus (coda) • Onsets are strongly preferred over codas • Consonants in codas are weakened: think of what happens to r in many English dialects (car[kaa] versus red). Coda consonants are much longer. They affect stress patterns.

  5. Constraints • Languages put heavy constraints on what sequences of sounds can appear in the subparts of the syllable –

  6. English Onset s {p t k} {l r w j} What combinations do we not find word-initially?

  7. Setting up syllables (textbook) • Identify nuclei s s R R N N e k s t r i m

  8. Form maximal onsets s s R R O N N e k s t r i m

  9. Form codas s s R R O N N e k s t r i m

  10. Word-level construction Word s s R R O N N e k s t r i m

  11. Beyond the text: English • Understanding the flap formation context using syllables s s [D] (flap) t A tautosyllabic t becomes a flap

  12. How does a t get to be tautosyllabic? • Inside words, it happens obligatorily to a single consonant between a stressed and an unstressed syllable: s s s s V -stress V +stress C V -stress C V +stress We can simplify this notation a bit --

  13. How does a t get to be tautosyllabic? • Inside words, it happens obligatorily to a single consonant between a stressed and an unstressed syllable: s s V +stress C V -stress The dotted line means that this is what the rule accomplishes.

  14. Why? • Because a stressed syllable wants to avoid an empty rhyme. Think about short vowels in English which are not followed by a consonant.

  15. The rule is optional when the syllable on the left is unstressed, obligatory when it is stressed. s s V +stress C V -stress

  16. Across word boundaries… • Nothing resyllabifies a word-initial consonant (leftward…) • So word-initial t’s don’t flap. • Word-final t’s resyllabify optionally to vowel-initial words, regardless of stress: s s V C V

  17. First, word-internally, obligatory in this case (optional if syllable on left is unstressed) s s V +stress C V -stress s s Second (across word-boundaries): V C V

  18. Then flapping is condition thusly: s s [D] (flap) t,d A tautosyllabic t or d becomes a flap

  19. Tashlhiyt Berber …allows any sequence of phonemes, and divides the sequence up into waves of 2 and 3 letters based on inherent sonority t r g l+ t = t R . g L t ‘you locked’ t r g l + a s = t R g . l A s ‘you locked him’ i + l d i = i l . d i ‘he pulled’ t + l d i = t L . d i ‘she pulled’ t l w a t = t L . w a t

  20. Syllable conditions are the most common conditioning factors for segmental rules – the rules of allophony we’ve been talking about. • Vowels are very often affected by what follows, in their coda.

  21. ay-raising (“Canadian raising”) • Right, sight, bite, tight, tike, type • Ride, hide, time, tie, pie, arrive, hind ay →ʌy / _ [ -voice ]

  22. r áy t ə r r ʌy t ə r ay-raising r ʌy D ə r flapping Rule interaction: rider and writer r áy t ə r r áy D ə r flapping r áy D ə r ay-raising (nothing happens…) “bleeding” relationship between the rules

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