rolandi@gollum.UUCP (Walter Rolandi) (07/06/88)
Can anyone provide me with a list of all the constituent syllables of English? Any ideas as to how one could produce such a list would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Walter Rolandi rolandi@gollum.UUCP rolandi@ncrcae.Columbia.NCR.COM NCR Advanced Systems Development, Columbia, SC
shorne@citron (Scott Horne) (07/07/88)
From article <125@gollum.UUCP>, by rolandi@gollum.UUCP (Walter Rolandi): > > Can anyone provide me with a list of all the constituent syllables of English? I've read that there are more than 8000 such syllables (DeFrancis, _The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy_, U. of Hawaii). Good luck compiling a list! (N.B.: Those are phonetically distinct syllabes, not graphically distinct.) Incidentally, Japanese has just over 100 syllables. --Scott Horne BITNET: PHORNE@CLEMSON (not working; please use another address) uucp: ....!gatech!hubcap!scarle!{hazel,citron,amber}!shorne (If that doesn't work, send to cchang@hubcap.clemson.edu) SnailMail: Scott Horne 812 Eleanor Dr. Florence, SC 29501 VoiceNet: 803 667-9848
stampe@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (David Stampe) (07/07/88)
If it's possible, rather than occurring, English syllables you want, you might look at diagrams for possible monosyllables, as in Zellig Harris, Methods in Structural Linguistics, U. Chicago Press, 195?. Stressed syllables in polysyllables are a subset of those in monosyllables. Unstressed syllables are a subset of stressed syllables, unless you take the consonantal nuclei in rubber, rubble, ribbon, rub'm to be distinct from the nuclei of brr, bull, bun, bum. Such diagrams are approximations, since the number of phonemes and especially the number of possible combinations into syllables differs somewhat among dialects and individuals. They usually admit hundreds of pronounceable but very peculiar syllables like trart, klilk, kwuw, smamp, oyj, awb. David (stampe@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu)
krista@ihlpa.ATT.COM (Anderson) (07/09/88)
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To Walter R.: I tried to send mail, but it bounced. I don't
have a list of English syllables, but I do have a list of consonant
clusters and vowels. If you want it, I'll post it; however, it is
about 250 lines.
Actually, I made the list when I was trying to understand why
a Navajo friend was having trouble with some English words.
I wrote all the English consonant clusters I could think
of, including those that occur only in the *final* positions of
words. I came up with about 197 consonants and consonant clusters!
And the list is probably not be conclusive.
Since Navajo has only about 35 consonants and clusters, of which
about 15 intersect the English set, I gained a lot of sympathy for
anybody learning English as a second language. I've heard that
Polish has a lot of clusters; anybody know how many? Cherokee has
only 13 consonants (no clusters), I seem to recall. Tlingit
(related to Navajo) is reputed to have a great many phonemes (50
compared to English 35); but these figures do not include clusters.
By the way, Cherokee is about the prettiest language I've ever
heard. It was once a tonal language, but the tones lost their
meaning in most words, at least in the western dialect. However, a
light, musical quality remains.
Shut me up, please! If you want the list, let me know.
Krista Anderson, ihnp4!ihlpa!krista, but we may be shutting down email?