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1i1i1iSyllableanditsnature
Thenatureofthesyllablecanbecomparedtothesituationwith
vowelsandconsonantsiCatford(1988:178)statesthatgenerally,
non-nativespeakersofagivenlanguagecanpointouthowmanysyl-
lablestheyhearinagivenwords,howevertheyareunabletodefine
syllableitselfiItisobviousthatsuchwordsasIsee’,Icar’orIman’have
onlyonesyllable,whileIwoman’,Itoday’orIpaper’aretwo-syllable
wordsandsooniHowever,Giegerich(1992:131)claimsthatinEng-
lishwehaveatleastafewwordsthatumayhavevariablepronuncia-
tionswithdifferentnumberofsyllables”iForinstance,suchwordas
Ibottling’maybeeitherpronouncedwithtwoorthreesyllables,while
Irealistic’withthreeorfouriTheauthorexplainsthatuinsomesuch
casesthedifferenceinthenumberofsyllablesmaybeamatterofwhat
thelistenerperceivesratherthanoneoftheactualpronunciation”
(ibid)i
AccordingtoCatford(1988:178-179),uadefinitionofthesyllable
forgeneralphoneticpurposes,hastotakeaccountofinitiatoryactivi-
ty”whichmeansthateverythingdependsonprolongingparticular
soundsandthepoweroftheso-calledIinitiator’iHence,wecanform
thefollowingdefinitionofthesyllableasuaminimalpulseofinitiatory
activityboundedbyamomentaryretardationoftheinitiator,either
self-imposedormoreusually,imposedbyaconsonantaltypeofarticu-
latorystructure”(ibid)i
Roach(2001:70)explainsthatitispossibletodecideuwhether
aparticularsoundwasavoweloraconsonantonphoneticgrounds(in
relationtohowmuchtheyobstructedtheairflow)oronphonological
grounds(vowelsandconsonantshavingdifferentdistributions)”iThe
authorclaimsthatuwefindasimilarsituationwiththesyllable,inthat
itmaybedefinedbothphoneticallyandphonologically”iPhonetically
heremeansuinrelationtothewayweproducesyllablesandtheway
theysound”(Roach:ibid)iHence,syllablesareoftendescribedasucon-
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