Phonology

Phonologists puzzle over how sounds combine.

phonetics - the physical features of sounds

phonology - the rules how sounds combine

Syllables

vary in structures and sizes ⇒ difficult to define phonetically

"phonotatics" : some kinds of restrictions on possible combinations of sounds

"segmenting" : seperating speech into words, then to individual sounds...

consonant-vowel structure (CV structure) forms syllable ($\sigma$)

using upside-down trees to analyze

'onset' : 聲母(開始的音) optional preferred

'rhyme' : 韻母

'nucleus' : 音節核

'coda' : 音節尾 optional

or (eg. Arabic)

Body - onset, nucleus

coda

響度層級

(non-high) vowel > high vowel > liquids(r,l) > nasals > fricatives > stops(d t)

Sonority Profile (or Principle) :

Syllable sturcture are arranged in an order of rising and falling sonority around nucleus vowel
Syllable ⇒ a constituent of segments with ONE segment (i.e., the nucleus) with a sonority peak
- English allows [s] to occur at the most peripheral onset position

<aside> 🌎 The sonority profile largely determines a language’s phonotactic constraints.

</aside>

A tendency in speaking, not obligatorily enforced.