SYLLABLE STRUCTURE AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF PHONEMES IN ENGLISH SYLLABLES

Citation
B. Kessler et R. Treiman, SYLLABLE STRUCTURE AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF PHONEMES IN ENGLISH SYLLABLES, Journal of memory and language, 37(3), 1997, pp. 295-311
Citations number
39
Categorie Soggetti
Psychology, Experimental","Language & Linguistics",Psychology
ISSN journal
0749596X
Volume
37
Issue
3
Year of publication
1997
Pages
295 - 311
Database
ISI
SICI code
0749-596X(1997)37:3<295:SSATDO>2.0.ZU;2-E
Abstract
In describing the phonotactics (patterning of phonemes) of English syl lables, linguists have focused on absolute restrictions concerning whi ch phonemes may occupy which slots of the syllable. To determine wheth er probabilistic patterns also exist, we analyzed the distributions of phonemes in a reasonably comprehensive list of uninflected English CV C (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, some 2001 words in all. The resul ts showed that there is a significant connection between the vowel and the following consonant (coda), with certain vowel-coda combinations being more frequent than expected by chance. In contrast, we did not f ind significant associations between the initial consonant (onset) and the vowel. These findings support the idea that English CVC syllables are composed of an onset and a vowel-coda rime. Implications for lexi cal processing are discussed. (C) 1997 Academic Press.