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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation

Word made up of a single syllable but that contains 3 sonority peaks

Hi guys,
I'm studying sonority theory and I can't understand what words such as "sticks" are made up of a single syllable even though they contains multiple sonority peaks (3 in this case)
  

Top answer

Syllabification in English is determined by the vowels in a word, for example: word - one vowel, one syllable made - one vowel, one syllable up - one vowel, one syllable of - one vowel, one syllable a - one vowel, one syllable single - two vowels, two syllables (sin-gle) syllable - 3 vowels (y is a semi-vowel, considered to be a vowel when in the interior of a word or at the end of a word), 3 syllables (syl-la-ble) but - 1 vowel, 1 syllable that - 1 vowel, 1 syllable contains - 2 vowels (the combination ai, although it contains 2 vowels, functions like a single vowel), 2 syllables (con-tains) three - 1 vowel (the combination ee, although it contains 2 vowels, functions as a single vowel), 1syllable sonority - 4 vowels (y here functions as a vowel since it comes at the end of a word), 4 syllables (so-no-ri-ty) peaks - 1 vowel (the combinations ea, although it contains 2 vowels, functions as a single vowel), 1 syllable The word "sticks" has one vowel and therefore one syllable. I've never studied sonority theory, but I can see where in actual speech there are multiple "peaks" in sound in this word. There is the initial st sound, then the i sound, and finally the cks sound.

  • Syllabification in English is determined by the vowels in a word, for example: word - one vowel, one syllable made - one vowel, one syllable up - one vowel, one syllable of - one vowel, one syllable a - one vowel, one syllable single - two vowels, two syllables (sin-gle) syllable - 3 vowels (y is a semi-vowel, considered to be a vowel when in the interior of a word or at the end of a word), 3 syllables (syl-la-ble) but - 1 vowel, 1 syllable that - 1 vowel, 1 syllable contains - 2 vowels (the combination ai, although it contains 2 vowels, functions like a single vowel), 2 syllables (con-tains) three - 1 vowel (the combination ee, although it contains 2 vowels, functions as a single vowel), 1syllable sonority - 4 vowels (y here functions as a vowel since it comes at the end of a word), 4 syllables (so-no-ri-ty) peaks - 1 vowel (the combinations ea, although it contains 2 vowels, functions as a single vowel), 1 syllable The word "sticks" has one vowel and therefore one syllable.
  • I've never studied sonority theory, but I can see where in actual speech there are multiple "peaks" in sound in this word.
  • There is the initial st sound, then the i sound, and finally the cks sound.
  • Actually, though, one might say there are 4 "peaks," the third and fourth peaks being the ck and the final s (which is often "drawled out" in American speech) sounds.
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1 Answers
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Syllabification in English is determined by the vowels in a word, for example:

word - one vowel, one syllable

made - one vowel, one syllable

up - one vowel, one syllable

of - one vowel, one syllable

a - one vowel, one syllable

single - two vowels, two syllables (sin-gle)

syllable - 3 vowels (y is a semi-vowel, considered to be a vowel

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