phonology homework

Syllables and Sonority

Sonority

� Sonority is an important but vague concept in phonology

� The sonority of a segment is correlated with many things

– Loudness/intensity

– Jaw openness

– Vowel-like-ness

� Segments can be arranged along a scale from more to less sonorous

Vowels > Glides > Liquids > Nasals > Obstruents 5 4 3 2 1

Syllables

� Syllable structure

σ

Onset Rime

Nucleus Coda

– Nucleus is mandatory

– Onset and coda are optional

� Principles related to syllables

– Onset: languages do not like syllables without onsets

– NoCoda: languages do not like syllables with codas

– Sonority Sequencing Generalization (SSG): sonority should increase through the onset to the nucleus and decrease from the nucleus through the coda

⇒ The bigger the sonority increase/decrease, the better

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� How are these principles manifested in phonological patterns?

– Static patterns: sometimes a language obeys a principle absolutely

– Rules: sometimes a rule changes a structure that violates one of these principles into a structure that satisfies it

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