Juncture, in linguistics, is the manner of moving between two successive syllables in speech. An important type of juncture is the suprasegmental phonemic cue by means of which a listener can distinguish between two otherwise identical sequences of sounds that have different meanings.
Typology
There are several kinds of juncture, the most widely used typology of which is: ;plus juncture:Also known as open juncture, this is subdivided into internal open juncture and external open juncture. It is the juncture that occurs at word boundaries. In phonetic transcription open juncture is transcribed, hence the name plus juncture. ;close juncture:Also known as a normal transition, this is a transition between segments within a word. ;terminal juncture:Also known as falling, clause terminal or terminal contour, this is the juncture at the end of a clause or utterance with falling pitch before a silence. Other less common typologies exist, such as the division into plus, single bar, double bar, and double cross junctures, denoted,,, and respectively. These correspond to syllabification and differences in intonation, single bar being a level pitch before a break, double bar being an upturn in pitch and a break, and double cross being a downturn in pitch that usually comes at the end of an utterance.
Examples from English
In English, a syllable break at the plus juncture sometimes distinguishes otherwise homophonic phrases.
"a name" and "an aim"
"that stuff" and "that's tough"
"fork handles" and "four candles"
A word boundary preceded or followed by a syllable break is called an external open juncture. If there is no break, so that words on either side of the juncture are run together, the boundary is called an internal open juncture. The distinction between open and close juncture is the difference between " ", with the open juncture between and, and "", with close juncture between and. In some varieties of English, only the latter involves an affricate.
Oronyms
In recreational linguistics, an oronym is a pair of phrases which are homophonic. When pronounced without a pause between words, phrases which differ in meaning and spelling may share a similar pronunciation. An example is "ice cream" and "I scream" . The label oronym was suggested by Gyles Brandreth and first published in his book The Joy of Lex. The Two Ronniescomedy sketch "Four Candles" is entirely built around oronyms, including a taciturn customer's request for "fork handles" being misheard as "four candles". An older meaning of the wordoronym, used in the context of topographical nomenclature, is: toponym of a mountain.
