Syllabification of American English: Evidence from a Large-scale Experiment. Part II

Abstract

4990 bi-syllabic English words were syllabified by about 22 native speakers who choose between different slash divisions (e.g. photon: FOW / TAHN, FOWT / AHN). Results for test items with one medial consonant are reported in Eddington, Treiman, & Elzinga (2013). In the present paper, the regression analysis of words with two, three, and four medial consonants are discussed. A model in which syllables are made to be as word-like as possible is supported; syllables are made that begin and end in the same phonemes and graphemes that are legal word-initially and finally. Syllabifications also coincide with morphological boundaries. In words with two medial consonants, stressed syllables attract consonants, and a sonorant first consonant is more likely to be placed in the coda than an obstruent. Clusters comprised of /s/C differ from other two consonant clusters that are legal word-initially; the former tend to be divided between syllables while the latter are placed in the onset.