Syllable structure and stress

Syllables

Consonant clusters are rare in PhlE because of the influence of speakers L₁s which favour V, CV, VC and CVC syllables. Consonant clusters of the target language are dealt with in various ways. For initial clusters beginning with /s/ the basilect group adds a vowel before /s/: [is-tɑrt] for start; [is-tɑ-rɑt] for strut; and [is-ku-wir] for square. With final clusters of /s/ + consonant all groups drop the final consonant – thus [lɑs] for last. An alternate rule of breaking up clusters in the basilect is via vowel epenthesis: [ku-lut] for cloth; [di-ris] for dress and [tɑ-rɑp] for trap. The vowel harmony evident in the choice of epenthetic vowel follows a rule from Philippine languages.

The syllable structure of most Philippine languages also accounts in part for the non-existence of syllabic consonants in the mesolect and basilect varieties of PhlE and for its rare occurrence in the acrolect. Moreover, the absence of the vowel reduction rule in those two varieties likewise precludes the production of syllabic consonants. With the first two groups, vowels are given full value even if they occur in unstressed syllables. This contrasts with the acrolect group, which observes de-stressing of vowels rendering them [ɪ] or [ə] in unstressed syllables. The absence of vowel reduction has been a stable feature of PhlE. It may be attributed to the fact that on the whole Philippine languages are syllable-timed and not stress-timed like gAmE. The basilect and mesolect groups do not produce syllabic consonants. Instead, full forms are observed [mɑunten] for mountain; [gɑrden] for garden; [litεl] for little; and [bɑndεl] for bundle.

Since Philippine languages are syllable-timed, the individual syllables of words are generally pronounced distinctly in PhlE and the de-stressing of function words is usually not observed. This syllable-timed rhythm has in fact been found to be stable in the basilect and mesolect varieties. Moreover, the stress-timed rhythm of gAmE is one reason cited for the difficulty of Filipinos to make out what native speakers of gAmE say.