ABSTRACT
Knowledge of English syllable structure is invaluable in the teaching and learning of L2 pronunciation (Jenkins, 2002; Major, 2001) and, as documented in the literature, learners often have difficulties in perceiving and producing syllabic constituents such as onsets and codas (e.g. Cardoso, 2011a; Carlisle, 2006). Without receiving training or materials that explain how syllables work and their role in L2 development, language instructors and non-native English speakers are unlikely to fully recognize the extent to which these constituents may affect L2 phonological acquisition. For instance, instructors may incorrectly believe that their students are struggling with a particular consonant (e.g. the onset /g/ in ‘good’) when, in fact, the problem relates to the perception and/or production of that sound in a not-yet-acquired syllable position (e.g. when /g/ syllabifies as a coda, as in ‘dog’). Surprisingly, research on this suprasegmental component is rarely transferred to pronunciation texts (including teacher-oriented publications), despite being a highly investigated topic in phonology (e.g. Cardoso, 2011a, 2011b; Carlisle, 2006), and one of the features that trigger foreign accents (Major, 2001) and affect mutual intelligibility (Jenkins, 2002). This chapter introduces the English syllable structure and its constituents, reviews the literature on the subject from both theoretical and applied standpoints, and argues for a more prominent place for the syllable in the L2 pronunciation curriculum, one that emphasizes current research on the acquisition of the L2 syllable in production and perception. These include the effects of first and second language phonotactics, place and manner of articulation, position within the word, sonority, saliency and frequency. The chapter ends with a discussion of the pedagogical implications for materials development, and some of the challenges and directions for future research with the aim of motivating the investigation of this prosodic constituent in L2 pronunciation studies.
