English minimal pair words by syllabification
Are there English minimal pairs created by different syllabification, specifically of lexical words?
phonology phonetics syllables lexicon minimal-pairs
asked yesterday
GJCGJC
332212
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Are there English minimal pairs created by different syllabification, specifically of lexical words?
phonology phonetics syllables lexicon minimal-pairs
asked yesterday
GJCGJC
332212
Sure; nitrate, night rate, and Nye trait, for instance.
– John Lawler
yesterday
Night rate and Nye trait are phrases, not words
– GJC
yesterday
Only according to English spelling. You'd be hard pressed to find phonetic criteria that distinguish them.
– John Lawler
yesterday
And I scream versus ice cream is a famous example. (I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.) But it's not a single word.
– Peter Shor
yesterday
add a comment |
Are there English minimal pairs created by different syllabification, specifically of lexical words?
phonology phonetics syllables lexicon minimal-pairs
asked yesterday
GJCGJC
332212
Are there English minimal pairs created by different syllabification, specifically of lexical words?
phonology phonetics syllables lexicon minimal-pairs
phonology phonetics syllables lexicon minimal-pairs
asked yesterday
GJCGJC
332212
asked yesterday
GJCGJC
332212
edited yesterday
GJC
asked yesterday
GJCGJC
332212
asked yesterday
GJCGJC
332212
asked yesterday
GJCGJC
332212
332212
Sure; nitrate, night rate, and Nye trait, for instance.
– John Lawler
yesterday
Night rate and Nye trait are phrases, not words
– GJC
yesterday
Only according to English spelling. You'd be hard pressed to find phonetic criteria that distinguish them.
– John Lawler
yesterday
And I scream versus ice cream is a famous example. (I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.) But it's not a single word.
– Peter Shor
yesterday
add a comment |
Sure; nitrate, night rate, and Nye trait, for instance.
– John Lawler
yesterday
Night rate and Nye trait are phrases, not words
– GJC
yesterday
Only according to English spelling. You'd be hard pressed to find phonetic criteria that distinguish them.
– John Lawler
yesterday
And I scream versus ice cream is a famous example. (I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.) But it's not a single word.
– Peter Shor
yesterday
Sure; nitrate, night rate, and Nye trait, for instance.
– John Lawler
yesterday
Sure; nitrate, night rate, and Nye trait, for instance.
– John Lawler
yesterday
Night rate and Nye trait are phrases, not words
– GJC
yesterday
Night rate and Nye trait are phrases, not words
– GJC
yesterday
Only according to English spelling. You'd be hard pressed to find phonetic criteria that distinguish them.
– John Lawler
yesterday
Only according to English spelling. You'd be hard pressed to find phonetic criteria that distinguish them.
– John Lawler
yesterday
And I scream versus ice cream is a famous example. (I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.) But it's not a single word.
– Peter Shor
yesterday
And I scream versus ice cream is a famous example. (I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.) But it's not a single word.
– Peter Shor
yesterday
add a comment |
1 Answer
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In theory, this should be possible, but I can't think of a specific example.
As long as you include compound words in your definition of "lexical word", you could have a pair like sauce.pan vs. "saw.span", where the first would tend to have a phonetically shorter vowel in the initial syllable, while the second would have a less aspirated plosive in the onset of the final syllable.
In John Wells' article on "Syllabification and allophony", he gives the near-minimal pair of selfish vs. shellfish, and argues that the first is self.ish while the second is shell.fish. Aside from the difference in the first consonant, I think that some people might argue that "selfish" is actually syllabified as "sel.fish" and that the difference in pronunciation relative to "shell.fish" is due to the absence of tertiary stress on the last syllable (e.g. ˈshellˌfish vs. ˈsel.fish). Wells doesn't think that tertiary stress is necessary, but other linguists do make use of the concept. That's why I think the clearest example would consist of a pair of compound words.
answered 14 hours ago
sumelicsumelic
49.8k8117223
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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In theory, this should be possible, but I can't think of a specific example.
As long as you include compound words in your definition of "lexical word", you could have a pair like sauce.pan vs. "saw.span", where the first would tend to have a phonetically shorter vowel in the initial syllable, while the second would have a less aspirated plosive in the onset of the final syllable.
In John Wells' article on "Syllabification and allophony", he gives the near-minimal pair of selfish vs. shellfish, and argues that the first is self.ish while the second is shell.fish. Aside from the difference in the first consonant, I think that some people might argue that "selfish" is actually syllabified as "sel.fish" and that the difference in pronunciation relative to "shell.fish" is due to the absence of tertiary stress on the last syllable (e.g. ˈshellˌfish vs. ˈsel.fish). Wells doesn't think that tertiary stress is necessary, but other linguists do make use of the concept. That's why I think the clearest example would consist of a pair of compound words.
answered 14 hours ago
sumelicsumelic
49.8k8117223
add a comment |
In theory, this should be possible, but I can't think of a specific example.
As long as you include compound words in your definition of "lexical word", you could have a pair like sauce.pan vs. "saw.span", where the first would tend to have a phonetically shorter vowel in the initial syllable, while the second would have a less aspirated plosive in the onset of the final syllable.
In John Wells' article on "Syllabification and allophony", he gives the near-minimal pair of selfish vs. shellfish, and argues that the first is self.ish while the second is shell.fish. Aside from the difference in the first consonant, I think that some people might argue that "selfish" is actually syllabified as "sel.fish" and that the difference in pronunciation relative to "shell.fish" is due to the absence of tertiary stress on the last syllable (e.g. ˈshellˌfish vs. ˈsel.fish). Wells doesn't think that tertiary stress is necessary, but other linguists do make use of the concept. That's why I think the clearest example would consist of a pair of compound words.
answered 14 hours ago
sumelicsumelic
49.8k8117223
add a comment |
In theory, this should be possible, but I can't think of a specific example.
As long as you include compound words in your definition of "lexical word", you could have a pair like sauce.pan vs. "saw.span", where the first would tend to have a phonetically shorter vowel in the initial syllable, while the second would have a less aspirated plosive in the onset of the final syllable.
In John Wells' article on "Syllabification and allophony", he gives the near-minimal pair of selfish vs. shellfish, and argues that the first is self.ish while the second is shell.fish. Aside from the difference in the first consonant, I think that some people might argue that "selfish" is actually syllabified as "sel.fish" and that the difference in pronunciation relative to "shell.fish" is due to the absence of tertiary stress on the last syllable (e.g. ˈshellˌfish vs. ˈsel.fish). Wells doesn't think that tertiary stress is necessary, but other linguists do make use of the concept. That's why I think the clearest example would consist of a pair of compound words.
answered 14 hours ago
sumelicsumelic
49.8k8117223
In theory, this should be possible, but I can't think of a specific example.
As long as you include compound words in your definition of "lexical word", you could have a pair like sauce.pan vs. "saw.span", where the first would tend to have a phonetically shorter vowel in the initial syllable, while the second would have a less aspirated plosive in the onset of the final syllable.
In John Wells' article on "Syllabification and allophony", he gives the near-minimal pair of selfish vs. shellfish, and argues that the first is self.ish while the second is shell.fish. Aside from the difference in the first consonant, I think that some people might argue that "selfish" is actually syllabified as "sel.fish" and that the difference in pronunciation relative to "shell.fish" is due to the absence of tertiary stress on the last syllable (e.g. ˈshellˌfish vs. ˈsel.fish). Wells doesn't think that tertiary stress is necessary, but other linguists do make use of the concept. That's why I think the clearest example would consist of a pair of compound words.
answered 14 hours ago
sumelicsumelic
49.8k8117223
answered 14 hours ago
sumelicsumelic
49.8k8117223
answered 14 hours ago
sumelicsumelic
49.8k8117223
answered 14 hours ago
sumelicsumelic
49.8k8117223
49.8k8117223
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add a comment |
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Sure; nitrate, night rate, and Nye trait, for instance.
– John Lawler
yesterday
Night rate and Nye trait are phrases, not words
– GJC
yesterday
Only according to English spelling. You'd be hard pressed to find phonetic criteria that distinguish them.
– John Lawler
yesterday
And I scream versus ice cream is a famous example. (I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.) But it's not a single word.
– Peter Shor
yesterday