Els conceptes síl·laba, vocal i consonant en els diccionaris DGLC, DCVB, GDLC i DIEC

Abstract

There are two ideas of the notions studied. The most usual concerns the articulation (vowels: sonority and timber; consonants, sound caused by a closure or a friction). This proposal is clear, though the nasal and liquid phonemes also fit the definition of vowels. The idea less spread conceives vowels as the most perceptible phoneme in a syllable. The DCVB (1926-1968) uses this proposal to justify an intuitive assertion (syllable: “peak of prominence”). The theoretical contributions of DCVB have not been included in ulterior dictionaries, while the precise idea concerning the articulation of sounds made in the DGLC (1932) has been impoverished in the GDLC and DIEC dictionaries. This hypothesis is useful in order to demonstrate that there is a perceptible gradation between phonemes (a: the most perceptible one; voiceless plosive phonemes are just the opposite). This gradation makes possible that a phoneme can act either as a vowel or as a consonant (i, u and the liquid ones).