The length hierarchy and the graphematic syllable

Abstract

Minuscules of the Roman alphabet can be subcategorized into graphemes with length (for example 〈b〉) and graphemes without length (for example 〈o〉). While plosives, which correspond to graphemes with length, occur at the syllable edge, vowels, corresponding to graphemes without length, constitute the syllable core. Based on these observations, a length hierarchy is established in which the feature ‘length’ becomes scalar. This hierarchy operates on graphematic grounds exclusively, thus being independent of phonological properties. Still alength sequencing principleas the ordering principle of the graphematic syllable can be formulated analogous to the phonologicalsonority sequencing principle. The length sequencing principle may be considered a typological feature to serve further descriptions of different graphematic systems based on the Roman alphabet. Data from German and English will be discussed. Keywords:graphematic syllable; graphotactics; length sequencing principle; length hierarchy; letter shape; sonority

Rhythmic constraints in handwriting. A review of Pagliarini et al. (2017)

“…The letters of burle written in cursive script differ in length: <b> and <l> are long letters with ascenders, <u>, <r> and <e> are short letters without ascender or descender. According to Primus (2004) and Fuhrhop et al (2011) letter length is a cue to syllable structure. This difference is neutralized in block capital letters.…”