Debrecen08

Introductory course in Syllable Structure

Ben Hermans

This is a course in syllable structure. All the important questions in this domain of phonological theorizing that have occupied phonologists for decades will be discussed at an introductory level. These questions are the following. Why is it necessary to postulate a phonological constituent such as the syllable? What is the internal structure of this constituent and how does this relate to the classical distinctions ‘heavy syllable’ versus ‘light syllable’? What is the best way to represent sonority? What is the attested typology, that is, how do languages differ from each other, and how can we best account for the attested variation? What is the nature of the notorious ‘Coda Constraint’? And last but not least, why do word-final consonants, very often at least, act as if they are at the beginning of a word, rather than at the end, as one might expect.

The handouts for this course can be found here

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