SYLLABLE-FORMING SONORANTS IN MODERN ENGLISH: PHONETIC VARIABILITY, CONTEXTUAL CONDITIONING, AND PEDAGOGICAL REFORM
Abstract
The phonological status and phonetic realization of syllable-forming sonorants (/l/, /n/, /m/) in Modern English present a persistent challenge in both theoretical description and language pedagogy. While traditionally described as a distinct phonological feature, their surface manifestation exhibits significant gradient phonetic variability, often ranging from a fully syllabic consonant to a mere vocalic offglide, heavily influenced by phonological context, prosodic structure, and speech tempo. This paper provides a critical theoretical review of contemporary acoustic and articulatory phonetic studies concerning these sonorants in different environments. The analysis confirms that the syllabicity of post-vocalic sonorants is gradient rather than categorical, demonstrating a persistent mismatch between phonological abstraction and phonetic reality. The paper expands upon the insufficient detail often provided for /m/ and addresses the critical phenomenon of sonorant devoicing. It is argued that explicit pedagogical instruction focusing on this systematic variability can significantly improve L2 learners' listening comprehension and pronunciation naturalness, advocating for a necessary shift beyond rigid phonemic representations.
Keywords
syllable-forming sonorants, English phonetics, phonology, phonetic variability, pronunciation teaching, gradient syllabicity, acoustic analysis
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