A Mysterious Epenthesis

Sonority

Will Styler - LIGN 111

We’ve already talked about Syllables

We’ve seen lots of restrictions on what can go inside them

• “No complex codas”

• “CVC only”

• “Only certain codas”

• “CV, damnit!”

Today, we’ll talk about one last kind of restriction

Why is [kɹ] a legal onset in English, but *[ɹk] isn’t?

• Why [pl], but not [lp]?

• [sl], but not [ls]?

• [sn], but not [ns]?

There’s more to this than just “CVC”

Sonority

Sonority Hierarchy

A language-specific ranking of sounds which determines the legality of onsets and codas

Syllables have an expected sonority pattern

The more sonorous a segment, the closer it should live to the nucleus!

Languages Rank Segments in terms of their sonority

In English…

• Glides > /r/ > /l/ > Nasals > Voiced Fricatives > Voiced Stops/Voiceless Fricatives > Voiceless Stops

So, we can look at the hierarchy to determine syllable legality!

Cat

Smell

Malt

Plump

Creams

… but …

Msell

Matl

Lpupm

Rceasm

Phonetics? In my phonology?

Mind you, there’s more to life than Sonority

Kmalp

Sticks

Final coronal obstruents are special in English

• [s d t θ z] can combine with prior stops or fricatives

• … and can be the third element in the coda

The Appendix

• This issue has led some to propose an additional element of the syllable, the ‘appendix’

• Not part of the onset, coda, or rhyme, but attaches directly to the syllable node

… but that’s beside the point!

• (and beside the syllable :D)

Sonority is useful!

• It helps explain some odd patterns

• It lets us cope when CCV is sometimes OK

• It gives us the tools we need for our dataset

Go Forth and Sonorize