The concept of a phonetic syllable. Syllable theories

(R.R. Kaspransky, pp. 76-85)

The theory of syllables has long attracted the attention of philologists. Another ancient grammarian Priscian Caesar's(c. 500 BC) gave a definition of a syllable, according to which a syllable is a combination of sounds that are pronounced sub uno aceentu et uno spiritu. He was interested in the syllable, first of all, from the standpoint of metrics.

Priscian of Caesarea(lat. Priscianus Caesariensis) - Roman grammarian, originally from Caesarea in Mauritania, lived around 500 AD. e. The greatest of his works is the Institutiones Grammaticae ("Grammatical Instructions") - a textbook of the Latin language in 18 volumes. In the Middle Ages, it was the most widespread guide to the Latin language and served as the basis for the latest works on Latin philology .

Roman philologists developed a coherent theory of poetic speech based on the syllabic structure of the word.

In the 60-70s of the 19th century, the problem of syllable attracted the attention of linguists and phoneticians. Since human speech can be considered as a physiological, organo-genetic, psychological and acoustic phenomenon, attempts have been made to explain the nature of the syllable from all these points of view.

There are more than a dozen theories or interpretations of the syllable. Let's look at the most famous of them.

3.1.Expiratory or aspiratory . As the name itself suggests, this theory is based on the physiological process of exhalation when speaking. German phonetician Eduard Sievers

Eduard Sievers(German Eduard Sievers; November 25, 1850, Lippoldsberg - March 30, 1932, Leipzig) - German philologist and Germanist. Graduated from the University of Leipzig (1870). Professor in Jena (since 1871), Tübingen (since 1883), Halle (since 1887) and Leipzig (since 1892). The main works are devoted to phonetics and grammar, and the history of the German language, Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon grammar, speech psychology, stylistics and textual criticism. He was engaged in the research and publication of monuments of Germanic languages ​​and monuments of German literature. Editor of the journal "Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur" (1891-1906, 1924-1931).

calls a syllable that part of a word that is pronounced with one impulse of exhaled air. According to this theory, speaking does not occur as a uniform "flow" of air and uniform production of sounds one after another, but in the form of portions of exhaled air, which produce not a single sound, but a group of sounds more closely related to each other than the sounds produced by the next one. a push of air.

This theory is the oldest and, perhaps, the most understandable and close to us. Priscian also gave a similar definition (“with one emphasis and one exhalation”), and we ourselves

We often observe this phenomenon when we need to pronounce a word separately, i.e. by syllables, as well as during group speaking, chanting, etc. Therefore, examples are hardly needed to illustrate this theory.

3. 2 . Sonority theory

Founder: Jens Otto Harri Jespersen

(Jens Otto Harry Jespersen; July 16, 1860, Randers - April 30, 1943, Copenhagen) - Danish linguist.

He graduated from the University of Copenhagen, then continued his education at Oxford University. In 1893-1925. Professor of English at the University of Copenhagen.

Author of an English textbook (1895, 19 editions), which is based on lively spoken language. He reflected his understanding of grammar as a living and developing whole in “The Philosophy of Grammar” (1924). Jespersen is the author of the “theory of progress” in language, according to which all language changes are aimed at facilitating the conditions of communication and are therefore progressive. He created the project for the international artificial language Novial, and previously participated in the development of IDO.

Jespersen's works had a significant influence on the development of linguistics in the 20th century. He contributed to the formation of the Danish linguistic school (among his students, in particular, Louis Leonor Hammerich).

This theory is based on the acoustic nature of speech sounds, i.e. a syllable is associated with sonority or the degree of sonority of sound types. For example,

the group of voiceless plosives are minimally sonorant sounds.

o The vowels [o, a] are maximally sonorant.

o All consonants have a lesser degree of sonority than any vowel sound.

o Among consonants, sonorant consonants are naturally more sonorant than others,

o Among noisy consonants, voiced ones have a greater degree of sonority than voiceless ones,

o among the deaf, fricatives are more sonorous, etc.

According to this theory, sonority (Schallfülle) is directly proportional to the size (volume) of the resonator cavity. O. Jespersen identifies 8 gradations of sonority (in order of increasing sonority: (Table for demonstration)

Syllable. The Greek philosopher Plato (IV century BC) said: “It seems funny to me, Hermogenes, that things become clear if you depict them through letters and syllables; however, it is inevitably so.”

A syllable is a phonetic-phonological unit that occupies an intermediate position between sound and speech tact. Several features of a syllable as a phonetic unit are distinguished. From the point of view of speech motor control, a syllable is a minimal chain of sounds. A syllable is the shortest articulatory

a unit that combines in its structure a vowel (or other sound) as a peak and one or more marginal consonants.

The division of the speech stream into syllables is observed in all languages ​​of the world. The syllable everywhere acts as a minimum pronunciation (articulative) unit i n i c a r e c h i. It can consist of either one sound or several sounds adjacent in the speech chain and in a certain way combined into some kind of indivisible (from a pronunciation point of view) whole.

In non-phonemic languages ​​(for example, Chinese), a syllable has a constitutive function, and along with it (like a phoneme) differentiating and identifying functions, acting as a minimal exponent of a morpheme or word. Here, in principle, the linear boundaries of a syllable

(syllabophonemes, or syllabems) and morphemes/words are the same. Morphemic sutures within a syllable are not possible. It should be noted that almost all are simple, i.e. monomorphemic, words in Chinese are monosyllabic. Polysyllabic words tend to be polymorphemic. These are overwhelmingly complex words. Thus, a Chinese syllable is often an exponent of a morpheme and, at the same time, a simple word.

A syllable is constructed in such languages ​​according to the canonical model: initial syllabic consonant (initial) + final part of the syllable (final, or rhyme). The final may include: a non-syllabic vowel (medial) + a syllabic vowel (central) + a final consonantal element (terminal). The initial, as well as any of the elements of the final, may be absent (zero).

Examples from Chinese: shuang 1 “frost”, chang 4 “sing”, guo “country, state”, en 1 “mercy”, e 4 “hungry” (the number indicates the tone number). The classification of syllables is usually built in the form of a table, where initials are indicated vertically and finals horizontally. In this case, empty cells are inevitable.

The list of syllables in non-phonemic languages ​​is finite. Thus, in the Chinese language, with 22 finals and 36 finals, the theoretically possible number of syllables is 792. In reality, there are about 414 syllables. Assuming that each of them can, in principle, be tinted, i.e. to be a physical carrier of the prosodema of one of the 4 differential tones (this is their number in the Beijing dialect, on which the pronunciation of the Chinese national language - Putonghua is based), the number of distinguishable syllables is equal to 1324 units.

In non-syllabic languages, the syllable is not phonologically loaded. Its boundaries may or may not coincide with the boundaries of the morpheme (morph). The morpheme can be monosyllabic (|table|) or polysyllabic (|hor|shad|ka|). Its length may be less than the length of the syllable (|tra|v-a|, |v-sta-t|).

Thus, in non-syllabic languages, a morpheme boundary can occur within a syllable and a syllabic boundary within a morpheme. Several morphemes (|sh-l-a|) or words (|v_dom|) can be realized within one syllable. During inflection, syllable boundaries can move (|tra[va| ~ |trav|), an open syllable can alternate with a closed one. Polynomial combinations of consonants are possible at the beginning and/or at the end of words (and syllables): splash, Zavolzhsk. Nothing like this is observed in syllabic languages. Therefore, the number of possible syllables in phonemic languages ​​is difficult to calculate.

However, in relation to the syllable of non-syllabic languages, one can approach not only from a narrowly phonetic, but also from a phonological point of view. The phonological approach to a syllable is based on taking into account the rules of compatibility of phonemes existing in a given language and a certain order of their occurrence at the absolute beginning and absolute end within one syllable. An ideal model of a phonological syllable for a given phonemic language can be constructed, with which combinations of phonemes actually occurring in this language are then correlated. According to L.V. Bondarko, the ideal model of a Russian phonological syllable can be represented as FFESVSFEF (where V denotes the syllabic vowel phoneme, F - fricative phoneme, E - plosive phoneme, S - sonant). The observed cases either fully correspond to the ideal model or do not fully implement it.

The syllable as a phonetic unit (regardless of its phonological status) attracts special attention from linguists because many sound changes occur within the boundaries of the syllable and at the junctions of syllables and that, first of all, the syllable (or chain of syllables) is the physical carrier of prosodic characteristics.

From a phonetic point of view, based on the presence or absence of a consonant before a vowel and after a vowel, closed syllables are distinguished (|syllable|, |growth|) and open (|but|, |evil|), covered (|son|, |hundred| ) and uncovered (|he|). There are also short and long syllables, stressed and unstressed.

General phonetics and studies of speech disorders indicate that the deep articulatory unit is the CV syllable. The consonant following the syllable apex is less closely related to the vowel than the consonant (or group of consonants) that precedes it.

Researchers try to explain the phonetic nature of a syllable either on the basis of acoustic theories, according to which a syllable increases and decreases in volume (or sonority), or on the basis of articulatory theories, which reduce the formation of a syllable to a respiratory impulse or to an increase and decrease in muscle tension.

Psychologically, it is easier to divide the speech flow not into sounds, but into syllables. Syllables are the smallest pronunciation unit, an indivisible unity. This definition is based on data from experimental phonetics and is confirmed from a medical point of view (for example, in cases of aphasia).

The practical division of the speech stream into syllables is not controversial, but the definition of a syllable and its nature is difficult.

Syllable theory

Modern linguistics knows several theories that define the nature of a syllable from different points of view.

The expiratory theory defines a syllable as a combination of sounds pronounced by one exhalation push, and each exhalation push leads to the formation of a syllable. Indeed, the exhaled stream of air is the basis for the emergence of a syllable, since it vibrates the vocal cords. However, the coincidence of syllable boundaries and expiratory impulses does not always occur, for example, beard, linguistics, human etc. During one phonation period, a whole series of syllables are usually pronounced, syllable formation is achieved by pulsating narrowing and expansion of the duct for the air stream.

The expiratory theory is based on only one factor of syllable formation and therefore cannot interpret the phenomenon of syllable formation in all its complexity.

The sonorous theory is based on the acoustic criterion of syllable formation. Sonority is the degree of sonority. A syllable is understood by supporters of the sonorant theory as a combination of a more sonorous (sonorous) element with a less sonorous one. Linguist Jespersen, who developed the sonority theory, proved that there is a relative sonority of all sounds in a language. Voiceless noisy consonants have the least sonority, while vowel sounds have the greatest sonority. Consequently, any sound could act as a syllable-forming sound.

In fact, sonority is characteristic only of vowels and sonants. Voiced noisy ones are characterized not by sonority, but by “vocality,” i.e. the predominance of the voice, whereas with sonority we are talking only about the presence of a voice. The admixture of voice in voiced noisy ones is so great that they do not have the ability to form syllables. The sonorant theory, based on anthropophonic studies of all sounds, approached the isolation of a syllable only acoustically.

The sonorant theory of the syllable had great success in the science of the past. Some linguists believed that it was possible to combine existing theories of syllables, take something from expiratory theory and, based on sonorant theory, explain the nature of syllables in most languages.

Later, a third theory was put forward to explain the nature of the syllable - the theory of muscle tension (Shcherba, Fouche, Grammon). A syllable, said the supporters of this theory, is pronounced with a single muscular tension, and our entire speech is a chain of tensions, a chain of impulses. Each impulse is characterized by three phases (strength, peak and weakening), which are associated with the strengthening and weakening of sonority. The character of a syllable can be depicted schematically as an “arc of muscle tension.” At the same time, it would seem that one can easily find the boundaries of syllables and easily explain the structural features of syllables characteristic of a particular language.

Each of the syllable theories has its own weaknesses. Today, the following explanation of the pronunciation commonality of the elements of a syllable can be accepted: a syllable is the result of the execution of a single control articulatory program. Both vowels and consonants are only parts of a syllable as a larger sound formation. Recognition of neighboring elements of a syllable as certain phonemes occurs largely due to information about the phonetic properties of preceding and subsequent segments.

Principles of syllabification

In linguistics, there is a point of view according to which the syllable as a real unit of speech flow is characterized by an increase and decrease in tone, or sonority, achieved through the combination of the most tonal sounds with the least tonal or noisy ones. The syllable boundary occurs in places where the tone falls.

A syllable consists of phonemes, some of which act as a carrier of semantic distinctive features, as a core, as a syllabic-forming element of a syllable, or (in the terminology of N.S. Trubetskoy) is a syllabic carrier. Depending on the language, syllable carriers can be: 1) vowel; 2) diphthong, triphthong; 3) consonant; 4) multiphonemic group “vowel + consonant”.

“There is not a single language in which vowels do not function as syllable carriers. In most languages ​​of the world, vowels are the only possible carriers of a syllable.”

Among consonants, only sonants can be syllabic carriers, i.e. phonemes r, l and nasals. Thus, for ancient Indo-European languages, the presence of syllabic l and r, as well as hypothetical m and n, was recorded.

Sonants can act as syllabics or as non-syllabic consonants, depending on the sound environment, i.e. can function in the phoneme system in two versions. For example, in Sanskrit, r and l appear as syllabics in position after consonants (pitrn "fathers", krta "made"), whereas in all other environments they are non-syllabicers (pitar "father", kar "to do").

Types of syllabics are realized in different ways in different languages, depending on the laws of the phonological system of the language.

There are no sufficiently convincing theories explaining the mechanism of syllable division. Reliance on one or another set of rules is not always reliable due to the incomplete support of these rules by the results of experimental phonetic research. The intuition of a native speaker is not always convincing and correct. Therefore, it is necessary to study more thoroughly the mechanisms of speech formation in order to find, along with the answer, what combines sounds into one syllable, also the answer, which delimits one syllable from another.

Syllable structure

In each language, syllables are differentiated by structure and by highlighting them in different ways within the word.

In terms of structure, a syllable is said to be open if it ends in a syllabic element (usually a vowel) or closed if it ends in a non-syllabic element (usually a consonant). “At the same time, syllables ending with sonorant consonants can be called half-open (this is important for understanding the syllable division); uncovered (beginning with a vowel) and covered (beginning with a consonant).” For example, in the word hand two open (and covered) syllables (syllable type CV=), in the word move there is a closed syllable (CVC type).

The structural features of the syllables of the Turkish language explain the occurrence of such a characteristic phenomenon for the Turkish language as palatalization of consonants.

Each language has its own set of structural types of syllables, both closed and open. Some languages ​​are characterized by the presence of several consonants at the beginning of a syllable, for example, in the Pashto language there may be three consonants at the beginning (a CCCV syllable). In other languages, consonant clusters at the beginning of a syllable are avoided, for example, in Persian, Arabic, and also in Chinese.

The structural types of syllables in tonal languages ​​are unique. A syllable in them can consist of one, two, three or four elements. For example, in Chinese, a syllable may contain one or two elements (such syllables make up a quarter of the total syllabary composition of the Chinese language) and even three or four elements (the majority of Chinese syllables).

In the structural type of syllables characteristic of the Chinese language, the first sound is a consonant, the second is a non-syllabic narrow vowel, the third is a syllabic vowel and the fourth is a non-syllabic vowel or final sonant (which in Chinese acts as the second element of a diphthong). In Vietnamese, as in some dialects of Chinese (for example, Cantonese), the fourth element of a syllable is a consonant.

Most often, the top, or core, of a syllable is formed by one or another vowel sound, and consonants are located on the periphery of the syllable. Wed. gingerbread(the hyphen indicates the syllable division), do-mik, rip-off. Often a syllable consists of one vowel (i.e. the periphery turns out to be zero). At the same time, syllables are possible that do not contain a vowel sound at all. In Russian, such syllables are often found in the fluent conversational style of pronunciation, for example in the words shelf(if pronounced without the second vowel). In these syllables, the core consists of syllabic or syllabic sonants. Noisy syllable-forming ones are less common, for example [s] in Russian interjection shh! There are languages ​​in which syllabic sonants are a normal occurrence in any word category and in any style of pronunciation. So, in Czech there is a syllabic [r], for example, in prst‘finger’, in disyllabic (with emphasis on the first syllable) vrba'willow', Brno‘city of Brno’, syllabic [l] in vlk'wolf'; in Serbo-Croatian syllabic [r] rt'Cape'.

On the other hand, a syllable may contain two vowels, as in it. Maus ‘mouse’, and even three, as in Vietnamese ngoai'outside'. In these cases, one of the vowels (in our example [a]) forms the core of the syllable, and the other or others form its periphery. “Peripheral” vowels are called non-syllabic vowels: [u], [i], etc.

As we see, the presence of the opposition “vowels: consonants” does not yet provide the key to understanding the nature of the syllable. If, however, we take into account some other oppositions, all the sounds will line up in the following row (scale of sonority, or sonority): wide - medium - narrow vowels - sonants - voiced fricatives - voiced stops - voiceless fricatives and stops. From the beginning of this scale to its end, the typicality gradually decreases, and then the very possibility of using sounds as the core of a syllable, and the typicality of their use as the periphery gradually increases.

The stated state of affairs served as the basis for the sonorant theory of the syllable, according to which in a syllable the sound of relatively greater sonority forms the core, and sounds of lesser sonority constitute the periphery. This theory is widespread, but it does not solve the question of the place of syllable division, and also cannot explain such cases as mosses, Mga, lies, blush(each of these words has one syllable, but two “peaks of sonority” - on the initial sonant and on the vowel).

Another theory of the syllable - the theory of muscular tension - was most fully developed in Russian linguistics by L.V. Shcherboy. It is known that the general muscular tension of the speech apparatus (“diffuse tension”) characterizes vowels in contrast to consonants, and among consonants it is more characteristic of sonants than noisy ones. At the same time, the degree of muscular tension can vary significantly within the utterance of one sound and, in particular, within a consonant, which is responsible for the closer adjacency of consonants and groups of consonants to either the subsequent or the preceding vowel. In the light of Shcherba’s theory, a syllable is considered as a segment of sound pronounced by one impulse of muscular tension of the pronunciation apparatus. It is the unity of the impulse that explains the indivisibility of the syllable from a pronunciation point of view.

So, the syllabic structure of speech is based on a kind of pulsation, on alternating moments of increase and decrease in muscular tension, and most often a parallel increase and decrease in sonority also occurs. Thus, the syllable has a very important function related to the organization of the sound matter of the language. We emphasize that each language has its own typical syllable patterns and characteristic restrictions on the use of certain sounds in certain positions in a syllable. Thus, in many languages, for example in Finnish (except for modern borrowings), a syllable never begins with a group of consonants.

In languages ​​like Russian, English or French, syllabic boundaries in a word: 1) are not related to its semantic division into morphemes; and 2) are mobile in the formation of grammatical forms. Wed. house, But home, home etc. - /m/ moved to the next syllable, the root of the word turned out to be “torn” between two syllables, and within the second syllable the ending and part of the root were connected. Even function words, in particular prepositions, behave in combination with a significant word in the same way as morphemes within a word: from the window pronounced /a-ta-kn`a/. Significant words in Russian text are somewhat more often (but also not always) separated from each other by syllable boundaries. In French, syllable divisions are not even connected with the boundaries between independent significant words, cf. notre adventure/ no-tra-va:-t`y:r/ ‘our adventure’, tout est encore l`a/tu-te-ta:-kor-l`a/ ‘everything is still there’.

There are, however, languages ​​in which a syllable is a stable sound formation that does not change either its composition or its boundaries in the flow of speech. Such languages ​​- Chinese, Burmese, Vietnamese and some others - are called syllabic, or

lang uages ​​and syllabic structure. For example, Burma. /lin/ ‘husband’ when attaching a morpheme with the meaning of dates. Case - /a/ does not “give” its final consonant to the second syllable, but retains it within the first syllable /lin-a/ ‘husband’ (although initial /n/ does occur in Burmese). In languages ​​of this type, a syllable usually acts as an exponent of a separate morpheme and, in any case, is never broken by a “morpheme suture”. Therefore, in syllabic languages, the minimum phonological unit is not a phoneme, but a whole syllable - syllabema, or - if we take into account the possibility of alternations within a syllable - its components participating in the alternation, the so-called and i ts i'a l ь (initial consonant of a syllable, for example /n/, in Vietnam above. ngo`ai‘outside’) and final (the rest of the syllable as a single whole, for example Vietnamese /uai/ from ngo`ai or Burman. / in/ from /lin/).

When studying syllables and syllable division, the following concepts are important: open and closed syllables; and long and short syllables.

An open syllable is one that ends with a syllabic sound (i.e., there is no “posterior periphery”), for example, all syllables in Russian Mother, Czech vr-ba. A closed syllable is one that ends with a non-syllabic sound, for example mother, give me. There are languages ​​(English, French, German, etc.) that widely use open and closed syllables, and, on the other hand, languages ​​in which only open syllables are possible. At a certain stage of its development, the language of the open syllable was Common Slavic (Proto-Slavic) - the common ancestor of modern Slavic languages. Modern Japanese is close to this type. In modern Slavic languages, including Russian, open syllables are used much more widely than closed ones: intervocalic groups of consonants usually extend to the next syllable, for example i-zba, a-kter etc. The correctness of such syllable division is confirmed, in particular, by the fact that even the first consonant of an intervocalic group accommodates the subsequent vowel, and not the preceding one (for example, to the hut, actor we have rounded [z] [k]). Only at the ends of words are closed syllables widely represented in the Russian language.

Syllable in tonal languages

Until recently, the theory of syllables was developed mainly on the material of Western European and Slavic languages. In these languages, the phonetic division of a word into syllables does not coincide with the morphological division of the word. For example, if the word hand divided from a phonetic point of view, it has two open syllables and four phonemes ( hand). If to the division of the word hand approach from a morphological point of view, then the boundaries of division will go elsewhere, and we will single out two morphemes ( hand). Here we observe two possible approaches to word division - phonetic and morphological. The phonetic division of a word into syllables does not coincide with the morphological division. Syllables are not associated with a specific meaning. This is typical, for example, for the languages ​​of the Indo-European family.

However, if we turn to a number of eastern languages ​​(Chinese, Thai, Burmese or Vietnamese), primarily to the tonal Far Eastern languages, then the role of the syllable there is special. In European languages, words are formed from sounds, and a single sound can be a morpheme, whereas in Chinese and similar languages, words are formed from syllables, and the disignator of a morpheme cannot be represented by a unit smaller than a syllable. Thus, the phonetic unit (syllable) and the morphological unit (morpheme) are mutually correlated. The boundary of a syllable and a morpheme coincides. Semantic divisibility in these languages ​​does not go beyond the syllable, and in connection with this, the syllable is always associated with a certain meaning. The syllable here serves as the sound shell of morphemes. Thus, the syllable in tonal languages ​​is not only the most important phonetic, but also a vocabulary and morphological unit.

A syllable is both a segmental and a supersegmental unit. Syllable like segmental a unit is a specific segment of a speech chain. In a syllable like supersegmental In a unit, one sound is syllabic (or syllabic-forming), it is the top of the syllable, the remaining sounds in the syllable are non-syllabic. However, not all sounds can form a syllable. Instant sounds are not suitable for this function, i.e. plosives and affricates. Continuous ones can be syllabic according to the degree of sonority, first of all the most sonorant - vowels, secondly - sonorant consonants, and finally - fricatives.

According to their sound structure, syllables can be divided into open(ends with a syllabic sound) and closed(ends with a non-syllabic sound), while syllables ending with sonorant consonants can be called half-open; naked(beginning with a syllabic sound) and covered(beginning with a non-syllabic sound).

There are also syllables that have more than one vowel. The combination of two vowels within one syllable is called diphthong, while one of these two vowels will be syllabic, the other non-syllabic. The syllabic vowel will be the one that has the longest duration and which can be stressed, although the latter is not necessary, because Diphthongs can also occur in unstressed syllables. If the first vowel in a diphthong is syllabic, then it is descending diphthong, but if the second vowel is syllabic, then it is ascending diphthong. Diphthongs are alien to the Russian language, therefore, borrowing words with diphthongs from other languages, Russians decompose them into two syllabics monophthong, as a result of which an extra syllable is obtained, or they turn a non-syllabic vowel of a diphthong into a consonant, adjusting it to their combinations.

There are several syllable theories.

Expiratory the theory interprets a syllable as a sound combination that is pronounced 1 push exhaled air. But this theory does not explain all cases. For example, in the one-syllable word fusion one can observe two exhalations, and in the two-syllable au one can be observed.

In modern linguistics it is widely recognized sonorant syllable theory based on acoustic criteria. In relation to the Russian language, it was developed by Avanesov. According to this theory, a syllable is a wave of sonority, sonority. A syllable groups sounds with varying degrees of sonority. The most sonorous – syllabic sound, other sounds are non-syllabic. Vowels, as the most sonorous sounds, are usually syllabic. But, for example, [and] can be non-syllabic. Consonants are usually non-syllabic, but sometimes they can also be the top of a syllable. Syllabic consonants differ from non-syllabic consonants in greater tension: fricatives - by longitude, voiced plosives - by a long stop, voiceless plosives - by aspiration, tremulous - by multi-stress.

Sounds characterized by increased sonority and increased tension have a common feature: they have a general strength, intensity, which manifests itself in increasing the vibration amplitude. Taking into account this acoustic feature of syllabic and non-syllabic sounds, the theory of the syllable is based, which can be called dynamic . From the point of view of this theory syllable - wave of power, intensity. The strongest sound of a syllable is syllabic, less strong sounds are non-syllabic.

Shcherba, following the French linguist Gramman, developed the theory of various muscle tension syllabic and non-syllabic sounds. According to this theory, a syllable is formed rise and fall of muscle tension. At the top this wave syllabic sound. Based on the strength of muscle tension, they are distinguished strong-ended consonants in which tension increases towards the end, and strong initial, in which the tension weakens towards the end. Strong-final words form the beginning of a syllable, and strong-final words form the end of a syllable.

A phonetic syllable is a vowel or a combination of a vowel with one or more consonants, pronounced with one expiratory impulse. There are as many syllables in a word as there are vowels; two vowels cannot be within the same syllable. In phonetics, there are many theories that define the nature of a syllable from different points of view. Two of them can be considered dominant - aspiratory and sonorant. The aspiration theory defines a syllable as a combination of sounds pronounced by one expiratory impulse, and each expiratory impulse leads to the formation of a syllable. Indeed, the exhaled stream of air is the basis for the emergence of a syllable, since it vibrates the vocal cords. However, the coincidence of syllable boundaries and expiratory impulses does not always occur. During one phonation period, a number of syllables are usually pronounced, and syllable formation is achieved by pulsating narrowing and expansion of the duct for the air stream. The aspiration theory is based on only one factor of word formation and therefore cannot interpret the phenomenon of syllable formation in all its complexity. This theory was criticized from various sides, was considered almost rejected, but again recently became widespread thanks to the works of the American phonetician Stutson. According to his definition, "a syllable is a unit in the sense that it always consists of one expiratory impulse, which is usually made audible by a vowel and begins and ends with a consonant."

The basis of the sonorant theory is the acoustic criterion of word formation. Sonority is the degree of sonority. A syllable is understood by supporters of the sonorant theory as a combination of a more sonorant element with a less sonorant one - the linguist Jespersen, who developed the sonority theory, argued that in a language there is a relative sonority of all sounds. Voiceless noisy consonants have the least sonority, while vowel sounds have the greatest sonority. Consequently, any sound could act as a syllable-forming sound. In fact, sonority is characteristic only of vowels and sonants. Voiced noisy ones are characterized not by sonority, but by “vocality,” i.e. the predominance of the voice, whereas with sonority we are talking only about the presence of a voice. The admixture of noise in voiced noisy ones is so great that they do not have the ability to form syllables. The sonorant theory, based on anthropophonic studies of all sounds, approached the isolation of a syllable only acoustically. The sonorant theory of the syllable had great success in the science of the past. Some linguists believed that it was possible to combine existing theories of syllables, take something from aspiratory theory and, based on sonorant theory, explain the nature of syllables in most languages. E. Sievers adhered to this view: he considered these two theories not to be mutually exclusive. In his opinion, both types of syllables are possible, which he called sonorant and aspiratory; however, a syllable of any kind is a combination of sounds of varying degrees of sonority, only in one case we are talking about a difference in its own intensity, and in the other about a gradation of intensity due to the expiratory impulse. Thomson shared the same point of view. He believed that in some languages ​​aspiratory syllables predominate, and in others, sonorant syllables, although he pointed out that in most languages ​​the type of syllable is mixed. “Gradations in the strength of sounds,” he wrote, “giving an acoustic impression, are either due to differences in the fullness inherent in the sounds of speech themselves (syllables based on fullness), or are produced by an arbitrary effort of sound strength (dynamic syllables). In most languages both conditions are usually combined, i.e. greater fullness of sound is accompanied by an even stronger sound.”

If, using the sonorant theory, you count the number of syllables in words, then in many cases it will make it possible to obtain correct answers. By arranging, for example, by degree of sonority the sounds of the word Friday in full style (/p"atn"ica/) and in colloquial style (/p"atn"ca/), we obtain diagrams from which it is clear that the number of sonorant rises corresponds to the number of syllables . Such correspondence will not always be the case. Thus, in the Russian word shelf, pronounced in a colloquial style, the second vowel is lost, but the number of syllables remains equal to three, just like in the full style. As can be seen from the diagram, the number of sonority rises in this case is equal to only two. Why in this case we still have three syllables is impossible to explain from the point of view of sonorant theory. The weakness of the sonorant theory is that the degree of sonority of a particular sound is not a constant value. The same sound can be pronounced with different degrees sonority. In relation to the Russian language, a simplified version of the sonorant theory is given by R.I. Avanesov, who seeks to reveal the mechanism of syllable division, distinguishing three gradations of sonority for the Russian language, he writes: “The basic law of syllable division in the Russian language is that the non-initial syllable in the Russian language. is always built on the principle of ascending sonority, starting with the lowest sonority.

Later, a third theory was put forward to explain the nature of the syllable - the theory of muscular tension (Shcherba, Fouche, etc.). A syllable, said the supporters of this theory, is pronounced with a single muscular tension, and our entire speech is a chain of tensions, a chain of impulses. Each impulse is characterized by three phases (intensification, peak and weakening), which are associated with the strengthening and weakening of sonority. The character of a syllable can be depicted schematically as an “arc of muscle tension.” At the same time, it would seem that one can easily find the boundaries of syllables and easily explain the structural features of syllables characteristic of a particular language.

However, analyzing studies of muscular tension of the larynx, one can notice that the muscles of the larynx, having reached the tone necessary for vibration, immediately lose tension. The apex of the syllable is therefore accompanied by a weakening of the tension of the laryngeal muscles. The theory of muscle tension explains the complex phenomena of syllable formation only from the point of view of physiology, i.e. exclusively articulatory. So, the syllabic structure of speech is based on a kind of pulsation, on successive moments of increase and decrease in muscular tension, most often parallel to the increase and decrease of sonority. Thus, the syllable has a very important function related to the organization of the sound matter of the language. We emphasize that each language has its own typical syllable patterns and characteristic restrictions on the use of certain sounds in certain positions in the syllable.

1. Division of the speech stream into syllables Division of the speech stream into syllables is observed in all languages ​​of the world. The syllable everywhere acts as the minimum pronounceable unit of speech. It can consist of either one sound or several sounds adjacent in the speech chain and in a certain way combined into some kind of indivisible (from a pronunciation point of view) whole. The practical division of the speech stream into syllables does not cause controversy, but the definition of a syllable and its nature is difficult .

A syllable consists of phonemes, some of which act as a carrier of semantic distinctive features, as a core, as a syllable-forming element of a syllable, or as a syllable carrier. Depending on the language, the syllable carrier can be: vowel; diphthong, triphthong; consonant; multiphonemic group "vowel + consonant". “There is not a single language in which vowels do not function as syllable carriers. In most languages ​​of the world, vowels are the only possible syllable carriers of a word.”