Theory of phonetics

Theory IV. The theory of muscular tension by L. V. Shcherba. The point is that in most languages there is a syllabic phoneme in the centre of the syllable which is usually a vowel phoneme or, in some languages, a sonorant. The phonemes preceding or following the syllable peak are called marginal. The energy, that is the tension of articulation, increases within the range of prevocalic consonants and then decreases within the range of postvocalic consonants. Therefore the syllable can be defined as an arc of articulatory (or muscular) tension.
A. Vassilyev has modified this theory. The point is that the syllable like any other
pronounceable unit can be characterized by three physical parameters: pitch, intensity and length. Within the range of the syllable these parameters vary from minimum on the prevocalic consonants to maximum on the centre of the syllable, then there is another decrease within the postvocalic consonants. If we take into consideration the tension of articulation and the above mentioned acoustic data on the speech production level the syllable can be treated as an arc of articulatory effort.
T heory V. A syllable is defined as a wave of explosion – implosion. By explosion we mean the tendency and the movement of speech organs towards a more open position. Implosion – is the movement of speech organs towards a more closed position. For example,
• r - i i - t • • t – n • silence 1, 2 - waves
1 2 2 voicless consonants are nearby.
['rItn] written
This theory doesn’t work in some consonantal clusters where it is hard to tell which consonant is more open and which tendency we face. It also can be hardly applied to vocalic clusters because the question about which of the vowels is more open is not correct.
Not a single theory is universal. It is very difficult to find a universal theory which would explain all the cases including all the controversial aspects. As a definition for the term “syllable” there can be suggested the following one:
A syllable is a speech segment between the two, restricted by the two, placed between the two minimal openings of speech organs; which is the minimal unit of speech and it is characterized by an increase of sonority.