Analyzing Sound Patterns An Introduction to Phonology

Syllable

Beginning with this unit, we shift the lens from segmental phenomena to syllable and syllable-related phonological processes. Syllables are phonological units; they organize sounds into larger constituents, similar to phrasal units such as verb phrases in syntax. There are four chapters in this unit. Chapter 9 considers the distribution of syllable in Ponapean and shows that syllables, when examined in relation to where they can appear in a word (i.e. initial, medial, and final) exhibit restrictions. Not all attested syllable types can freely appear in these positions. Ponapean syllables, like segments, are subject to distributional restrictions. This chapter demonstrates how to identify such restrictions and to analyze them via the rule and templatic theories of syllables. Chapter 10 changes the focus from examining syllable itself to analyzing syllable-related problems. Building on what we learned about Ponapean syllables, this chapter explains how requirements on Ponapean syllables help us understand vowel epenthesis: why it occurs and where epenthesis takes places. This chapter evaluates the rule and templatic theories of syllable construction against Ponapean epenthesis and discusses how and where they differ. Starting in Chapter 11, we introduce Optimality Theory (OT), a theory that uses constraints and constraint ranking as opposed to rules and rule ordering in Derivational Theory (DT). Using Ponapean as an example, we demonstrate how OT can explain its syllable distribution and epenthesis. This OT analysis shows how different requirements on syllables can be expressed as constraints and how constraint ranking can account for both the distribution of syllables and vowel epenthesis, an alternation problem. Finally, in Chapter 12, we examine three segmental processes in Diola-Fogny and show how they can be traced to one requirement on syllable. This chapter highlights one key argument against the rule-based DT in favor of the constraint-based OT. Together, the four chapters of this unit showcase not only different phonological problems but also distinct and competing analyses of these problems. In addition, they cover a range of concepts: that is, syllable, onset, rime, nucleus, coda, mora, constraint, constraint ranking, markedness vs. faithfulness constraints, and so on.