It is generally known that speech is a continuum. However it can be broken into minimal pronounceable units into which sounds show a tendency to cluster or group. These smallest phonetic groups are given the names of syllables. Being the smallest pronounceable units, the syllables are capable of forming language units of greater magnitude: morphemes, words and phrases. The study of the syllable has for a long time occupied an important place in linguistics as a field of theoretical investigation. A considerable body of experimental work has been done but we have to admit that the problem of the syllable is still an open question in linguistics and phonetics.

Syllable formation in English is based on the phonological opposition vowel-consonant. Vowels are usually syllabic while consonants are not with the exceptions of [l], [m], [n], which become syllabic in a final position preceded by a consonant or between two final consonants: bottle [ | b ɒ tl], bottom [ | b ɒ tm], button [ | b ʌ tn]. Many English words may be pronounced with a neutral vowel before the final sonorant, in which case the latter becomes non-syllabic. Cf. [ 'ra v l]andə ɪ ə [ 'ra vl]arrival, ['spe l]and ['spe l]special.ə ɪ ʃə ʃ These are only words which are spelt with a vowel letter before the final sonorant. Compare radical which may be pronounced ['ræd kl]ɪ or ['ræd k l]ɪ ə , with miracle which has only one pronunciation, namely ['m r kl]ɪ ə . However, there are many words in English which are spelt with a vowel letter before the final sonorant and yet have only one pronunciation — that with a syllabic final sonorant, e. g. capital [….pitl], garden […………..dn], 'pardon [………dn], eaten ['i:tn], button ['b...tn], lesson ['lesn], season ['si:zn]. Since no rules can be formulated as to which words spelt with a vowel letter before the final sonorant may be pronounced with a neutral vowel sound in the last syllable, the learner of English is recommended to make the final sonorant always syllabic in such words.

The first attempts to examine syllables were made before our era by AncientGreeks in connection with their interest in the problems of rhetoric and versification.Experimental investigations of the problems of the nature of the syllable, itsstructure, the division of words into syllables appeared at the beginning of the 20thcentury due to the first laboratories of experimental phonetics opened in Paris, St.Petersburg and other countries and cities of the world.Various theories of syllable formation and syllable division exist. One of thefirst was the so-called expiratory theory, according to which each syllable isaccompanied by an uninterrupted act of exhalation (Silvers E.). The experimentaldata showed that several syllables might be pronounced within one act of exhalationand the expiratory theory considered to be wrong because it was experimentallyproved that in many cases two or more syllables were pronounced within one act ofexhalation. Rather spread was sonority theory, according to which the main feature of thesyllable is sonority, the stressed syllable forms a peak of sonority (Esperson A.). Thevariations of the sonority of the vowels in different in the word made it difficult todefine the boundaries between the syllables.

The theory of muscular tension was elaborated by P. Roudet, M. Grammontand others and completed by L.V. Shcherba, according to whom sounds in connectedspeech are pronounced with alternative intensification of intensification and

slackening of muscular tension. Each peak of intensification forms a syllable. L.V.Shcherba’s concept about the three forms of the syllables helped to solve the problemof the syllable division.

One of the latest theories of syllabic formation is the energetic theory.According to this theory a syllable was defined as a single portion of energy (FinkinN.I.), as a minimal portion of energy (Stepanov U.S.). The energetic theory does not deny the theory of muscular tension. There exists a direct connection between the muscle tension of the organs of speech impulses of energy as any nerve and muscular process causes energetic process. The energetic theory is rather widespread and acknowledged by numerous linguists, but still the nature of the syllable impulse was not quite clear and required further investigations.

The main principles of syllable formation and division are universal, i. e. similar in all the syllabic languages but the rules of syllable formation and the division of words into syllables may be different in different languages. At present experimental investigations of the nature and structure of the syllable continued with the help of modern acoustic devices and special computer programmes.

Every syllable has a definite structure, or form, depending on the kind of speech-sound it ends in. There are two types of syllables distinguished from this point of view. (1) A syllable which ends in a vowel sound is called an open syllable, e.g. [ai] /, [hi:] he, [..ei] they. (2) A syllable which ends in a consonant sound is called a closed syllable, e.g. [it] it, [m…n] man. The open and closed syllables referred to here are phonetic syllables, i.e. syllables consisting of actually pronounced speech-sounds. Inseparably connected with syllable formation is the second aspect of the syllabic structure of words, namely syllable division, or syllable separation, i.e. the division of words into syllables. The linguistic importance of syllable division in different languages is in finding typology of syllables and syllable structure of meaningful units of a language, i. e. morphemes and words. It is the syllable division that determines the syllable structure of the language, its syllable typology. Syllabic structure of a language is patterned like its phonemic structure, which means that the sounds of a language can be grouped into syllables according to certain rules. The part of phonetics that deals with this aspect of a language is called phonotactics. Phonotactic possibilities of a language determine the rules of syllable division.

Syllable division:1. Checked vowels (short, under stress, before a voiceless consonant)

a) If we have only 1 consonant after the short, stressed vowel, the boundary (граница) goes within (внутри) this consonant:siti

b) If we have 2 consonants after the short, stressed vowel, the boundary goes between them

2. Unchecked vowels (long, diphthongs, short unstressed)a) If there is only 1 consonant after the unchecked vowel, the boundary goes

before it

b) If there are 2 consonants after the unchecked vowel, there are 2 possibilities:

If there are words beginning with this cluster, the boundary goes before it If there are no such words, the boundary goes between these 2 consonants

c) If we have more than 2 consonants after the vowel, the boundary should go maximally close to the vowel

d) If we have triphthongs, the boundary goes between the diphthong and the neutral sound

vowel intersyllabic sounds

boundary examples notes

I. Short stressed

a) single consonant

within the consonant

[ le ən]

[ rı m]

b) consonant cluster

between the consonants

[ ek1|s2|t3|rə]

[ wın|dəυ]

[ rıŋ|kl]

In case of intervocalic clusters we use the distributional criterion: the combination of consonants belongs to the following syllable, if such combinations are typical of English.

II. Short unstressed, long, diphthong

a) single consonant

before the consonant

[ melə|dı]

[ k :|nə]

[ leı|bl]

b) consonant cluster

maximally close to the vowel

[ə| dres]

[ık| spektıd]

[ fα:|stə]

[ peı|trən]

! The so-called thriphthongs in English are disyllabic combinations, because they

contain two vowel phonemes:[ faI |ə].

The first is constitutive function. It lies in its ability to be a part of a word itself. The syllables form language units of greater magnitude that is words,

morphemes, and utterances. It this respect two things should be emphasized. First, the syllable is the unit within which the relations between distinctive features of phonemes and their acoustic correlates are revealed. Second, within a syllable (or syllables) prosodic characteristics of speech are realized, which form the stress pattern of a word and the intonation structure of an utterance. In sum, the syllable is a specific minimal structure of both segmental and suprasegmental features.

In forming words and utterances the syllable performs the delimitative function which is inseparable from the constitutive function. Some syllables can occur only word-initially and others only word-finally: thus marking the boundaries between words. For instance, the syllables /dn/, /zl/, /stl/ cannot occur at the beginning of English words, and can only occur at the end or in the middle of words /g :-dn/, /pou-stl/ɑ

The other function is distinctive one. In this respect the syllable is characterized by its ability to differentiate words and word-forms. One minimal pare has been found in English to illustrate the word distinctive function in the syllabic: nitrate — night-rate. There analogical distinction between word combinations can be illustrated by many more examples: an aim - a name; an ice house - a nice house, etc. Sometimes the difference in syllable division may be the basic ground for differentiation in such pairs as /naItreIt/ nitrate - /naItreIt/ night-rate , / neIm/ ə a name – / n eIm/ ə an aim, /wIloun/ we’ll own – /wI loun/ we loan, /aI skri:m/ I scream – /aIs kri:m/ ice-cream , / naIs haus/ə a nice house – / naIshaus/ ə an ice house , /aIs :h r aIz/ ɔ ə I saw her eyes – /aI s :h r aIz / ɔ ə I saw her rise.

By way ofconclusion we could enumerate the following peculiarities of the syllabic structure ofEnglish which are relevant for learners of English: 1) syllabic boundary is inside intervocalic consonant preceded by a short checked vowel; 2) the sonorants [1], [m], [n] are syllabic, if they are preceded by noise consonants: little, blossom, sudden; 3) the typical and most fundamental syllable structure is of (C)CVCtype. Russian learners of English should be aware of the regularities governing the structure of monosyllabic and polysyllabic words. Wrong syllable division on the articulatory level may lead to inadequate perception of phrases and consequently to misunderstanding.