Unusual Syllabification Among Nollywood Actors: A Perceptual Analysis

Nkereke Essien

doi:10.7176/jlll/77-07

Abstract

This study examines the unusual syllabification among the Nollywood actors in their use of English while acting in various movies. The main purpose is to examine the cause of unusual syllabification that is usually observed among Nollywood actors. To carry out this analysis, a case study approach was used in the study and data were collected through playing and watching the movies. Attention was paid to unusual syllabification of words of different syllables by some actors. These words were jotted down and later analyzed by comparing them with actual syllabification using Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English which acts as the control. The theoretical framework used for the study is prominence/Sonority Theory with special emphasy on Sonority Sequencing Principles (SSP). Our finding revealed that there are instances of unusual syllabification of words by Nollywood actors. Keywords: Nollywood, Prominence Theory, Syllables, Syllabification. DOI: 10.7176/JLLL/77-08 Publication date: March 31 st 2021

Highlights

Non-native speakers of English such as Nigerians; and in this case, Nollyhood actors, are bound to experience challenges with English pronunciation due to inconsistencies between spoken and written English which accounts for wrong pronunciation of certain words by either extending or reducing some syllables in words
“unanswered questions” on how to decide on the division between syllables when we find a connected sequence of speech
The test items were twenty (20) words of different syllabification. These words were later compared with the actual syllabification in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

Summary

Introduction

Non-native speakers of English such as Nigerians; and in this case, Nollyhood actors, are bound to experience challenges with English pronunciation due to inconsistencies between spoken and written English which accounts for wrong pronunciation of certain words by either extending or reducing some syllables in words. Every English word consists of one or more syllables. A syllable or juncture is a combination or a set of one or more phonemes in a language consisting of a vowel with or without a consonant flanking the phoneme on either or both sides (Ufot 2009). A syllable is phonologically tonal or rhythmical unit of a word and a vowel phoneme is mandatory for a strong syllable. Syllable can be defined phonetically or phonologically. The basic phonetic constituents of the English syllable are the onset and the rhyme. The onset consists of one or more consonants before the vowels (that is the opening consonant of the syllable) while the rhyme (Rime) is further subdivided into the nucleus or peak (a vowel, regarded as the centre of the syllable) and codas. The syllable may be represented structurally : Figure 1: Syllable o onset rhyme peak coda

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Conclusion