Graphic representation of syllables in English
Syllable division in English
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1.3. Syllable division in English
Syllable division is another aspect of the syllabic structure of any language. It helps to establish the structure of meaningful language units (morphemes and words) and thus determines the syllabic characteristics of the language. The rules of syllable division are studied by a special branch of phonetics — phonotactics. It determines the patterns according to which phonemes are grouped into syllables. As it was mentioned above, both open and closed syllables form morphemes and words in English, but due to the specific structure of the language it is difficult in some cases to define the syllable boundary. It is predetermined by word stress in conjunction with the free or checked character of vowels. [5.443] There are the following rules for syllable division in the English language. I. Syllable division concerning stressed long monophthongs, diphthongs and diphthongoids doesn’t present any difficulty. These are free vowels which occur in a phonetically open syllable and the point of syllable division is right after them: carpet ['ka:-pıt], greeting ['gri:-tıŋ], taming ['teı-mıŋ]. II. Syllable division in case of short vowels manifests their checked character under stress. A short stressed vowel separated from the next vowel by a consonant or a consonant cluster always occurs in a closed syllable in order to retain its checked character: city ['sıtı], ekstra ['ekstrǩ]. The difficulty is to find the point of syllable division. It greatly depends on the number of consonant phonemes following the vowel. 1) When a short stressed vowel is followed by one consonant, there are two possibilities to determine the point of syllable division. It may be after or inside the intervocalic consonant: city ['sıt-ı] or ['sıŧı]. The results of instrumental analysis show that the point of syllable division in such words is inside the intervocalic consonant. It can be marked in transcription by putting a syllable boundary after the consonant serving as the point of syllable division and adding an apostrophe sign to the next consonant in order to fill the gap in notation: ['sıt-’ı]. 2) When a short stressed vowel is followed not by a single consonant, but by a consonant cluster, the rule for syllable division is different. In words like extra there may be several possibilities to determine syllable boundaries: ['ek-strǩ], ['eks-trǩ], or ['ekst-rǩ]. The division ['ek-strǩ] seems to be more natural. Instrumental analysis proves that a new pronunciation effort begins after the first consonant. Therefore such syllable division is fixed in pronunciation dictionaries. [6.766] It should be kept in mind that the pronunciation of the stressed short vowel in this case is checked, the transition from a vowel to a consonant is very close and there is no weakening of an articulatory effort towards the end of the syllable. Thus the syllable is closed. This rule for syllable division in the English language is very important for language teaching. Students should never confuse the Russian open stressed syllable in words like !"-#$ with the English closed stressed syllable in words like city ['sıŧı]. III. Syllable division concerning English pre-tonic unstressed vowels also depends on the number of consonants sepating them from the next stressed vowel, no matter whether it is a monophthong, a diphthong or a diphthongoid. 1) When an unstressed short vowel is separated from a succeeding stressed one by a single consonant, the syllable it belongs to is always open (before [bı-'fo:], idea [aı-'dıǩ]). 2) The case when vowels are separated by a cluster of two consonants is more difficult. The point of syllable division is determined with the help of phoneme distribution. If a consonant cluster is possible in the initial position, the syllable boundary lies before the cluster and the syllable is open; if it does not, the point of syllable division is between the consonants and the syllable is closed. [7. 1242] For example, the words agree, abrupt should be divided into syllables in the following way: [ǩ-'grı], [ǩ-'brÙpt], because clusters [gr], [br] are possible at the beginning of English words (great, cry, break). The syllable boundary of the word admit is between [d] and [m]: [ǩd-'mıt] as the sound sequence [dm] doesn’t occur at the beginning of English words. IV. Syllable division of post tonic vowels (monophthongs, diphthongs and diphthongoids) separated from the following vowel by a consonant is a matter of no practical importance for language learners. Still most linguists state that it should be before the consonant: history ['hıs-tǩ-rı]. Syllable: definition Before we dive into the intricacies of syllables, let's begin with our syllable definition. You might already have a good idea of what a syllable is but just in case: A syllable is a unit of pronunciation that can join other syllables to form longer words or be a word in and of itself. Syllables must contain a singular vowel sound and may or may not have consonants before, after, or surrounding the vowel sound. To illustrate this, here are some brief examples of what a syllable can look like: The indefinite article "a" is a syllable (one vowel sound, with no consonants). The word "oven" has two syllables because it has two vowel sounds – "ov" /-ʌv/ + "en" /-ən/ (each of these syllables includes a vowel sound and a consonant). Many words consist of only one syllable, such as "run," "fruit," "bath," and "large." Each of these comprises a combination of one vowel sound and various consonants. Types of syllables in English Since you're an English Language student, we'll be focusing on the types of syllables in English rather than looking at syllables on a more global level. There are six key types of syllables in English: Closed syllable: syllables that end in a consonant and have a short vowel sound (e.g., In "picture," the first syllable, "pic" /pɪk/ ends in a consonant, and the /ɪ/ sound is short). Open syllable: syllables that end in a vowel and have a long vowel sound (e.g., In "zero," the last syllable "ro" /roʊ/ ends with the vowel sound /oʊ/, which is long). Vowel-consonant-e syllable: syllables that end with a long vowel, a consonant, and a silent -e (e.g., "Fate" is a one-syllable word which ends with a long -a /eɪ/, a consonant (t), and a silent -e). Diphthong (vowel team) syllable: syllables that include two consecutive vowels making a singular sound (e.g., in "shouting," the first syllable "shout" (ʃaʊt) includes an -o and a -u together that makes one sound - the diphthong /aʊ/). R-controlled syllable: syllables that end in at least one vowel followed by -r (e.g., In the name Peter, the end syllable "er" /ər/ consists of an -e followed by an -r.) R-controlled syllables are specific to rhotic accents, that is, accents where the -r is pronounced wherever it appears. In Standard American English, the -r at the end of r-controlled syllables is a rhotic /r/, which means it is more pronounced than the non-rhotic /r/ of Standard British English. In Standard British English, the -r at the end of most words and syllables ending in -r would make a schwa sound (ə) instead of a strong, rhotic /r/ sound. Therefore, non-rhotic British English (and other non-rhotic accents) does not include r-controlled syllables. There are some British accents that are rhotic, however, such as the Cornish and Devon accents, and there are a couple of American accents which are non-rhotic, such as the Chicago or Upstate New York accents. Consonant-le syllable: syllables that end with a consonant followed by -le (e.g., In "syllable," the last syllable "ble" /bəl/ ends with the consonant -b followed by -le.) Each of these syllable types follows the rule of having a singular vowel sound and either no consonants or a range of consonants before, after, or surrounding the vowel sound. Syllable: examples An example of a syllable is the word 'hello', which has two syllables: "hel" and "lo". To ensure each of these syllable types is cemented in our minds, let's look at a few more syllable examples for each type: Closed Syllables cat (/kæt/) napkin – nap(/næp/) + kin (/kɪn/) spin (/spɪn/) doughnut – dough + nut (/nʌt/) In all of these examples, the underlined syllables end with a consonant and have a short vowel sound. This is generally the first kind of syllable that children are taught to read; many early reading words follow the consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) pattern ("cat," "mat," "pin," "dip," "dog," etc.) Open Syllables go (/goʊ/) sky (/skaɪ/) we (/wi/) mosquito – mos + qui + to (/toʊ/) In all of these examples, the underlined syllables end in a vowel that has a long vowel sound. Vowel-Consonant-e Syllables plate (/pleɪt/) tame (/teɪm/) mite (/maɪt/) bone (/boʊn/) In all of these examples, the syllables underlined consist of a vowel, followed by a consonant, followed by a silent (or "magic") -e. The -e in each syllable elongates the sound of the vowels. Diphthong Syllables sky (skaɪ) trail (/treɪl/) spoiled - spoi (/spɔɪ/) + led In all of these examples, the underlined syllables include two vowels together that make a singular vowel sound. R-Controlled Syllables fir (/fɜːr/) burr (/bɜːr/ plumber – plumb + er (/ər/) corridor – cor + ri + dor (/dər/) In all of these examples, the underlined syllables are made up of a vowel followed by an - r. To reiterate, r-controlled syllables are specific to rhotic accents. Non-rhotic accents do not have r-controlled syllables. Consonant-le Syllables turtle - tur + tle (/təl/) hurdle - hur + dle (/dəl/) maple - ma + ple (/pəl/) In all of these examples, the underlined syllables are formed by placing -le after a consonant. Syllable division If you aren't used to doing it, syllable division can sometimes be a bit tricky. What do we mean by 'syllable division'? Syllable division simply refers to the process of dividing a word into its constituent syllables. There are several ways to divide words into syllables, and these ways depend on the composition of the word. There are seven rules you can learn to make syllable division easier. Syllable rules The seven syllable rules mentioned above are as follows: A syllable can only have one vowel sound. Using this logic, you can divide words into syllables by looking at the vowel sounds. Vowels and vowel sounds are two different things. a vowel is one of the letters: a, e, i, o, u (and sometimes y) a vowel sound is the sound made by the vowel or vowels in a word The number of vowels in a word does not always equal the number of vowel sounds. For instance, words with a silent "-e," such as "rate" have two vowels (a and e) but only one vowel sound (eɪ). The word "plant" only has one vowel sound, so the word itself is only one syllable. The word "coriander," however, has four vowel sounds and is therefore divided into four syllables – "co" + "ri" + "an" + "der," where each syllable has a vowel sound. Dividing between two of the same consonant. If a word has two of the same consonant (e.g., "mopping"), you can divide the word into syllables between them (e.g., "mopping" becomes "mop" + "ping"). For this rule to work, the double consonant must have a vowel on either side. In the "mopping" example, there is an "-o" on one side of the double -p and an "-i" on the other. Divide according to the length of the vowel sound. Some vowel sounds are short, some are long, and some words include both. You can figure out where to divide a word into syllables depending on the kind of vowel sounds in that word. If the first vowel sound in a word is long, then the divide should come after the first vowel. For instance, in the word "deepen," the first vowel sound is the long -e, so the division into syllables would look like: "dee" + "pen." In this case, the middle consonant becomes attached to the second vowel sound. If the first vowel sound in a word is short, then the divide should come before the second vowel sound in the word. In the word "figure," the first vowel sound is the short -i, so the division into syllables would look like: "fig" + "ure". In this case, the middle consonant attaches to the first vowel sound. Divide between two vowels if they make different sounds. If a word has two vowels next to each other that produce two different sounds, then you should divide between these two vowels (e.g., "diet" becomes "di" + "et", and "diaspora" becomes "di" + "as" + "por" + "a"). Affixes become separate syllables. If a word has been inflected to include a prefix, suffix, or both, then these affixes become their own syllables (e.g., "endless" becomes "end" + "less" and "reread" becomes "re" + "read"). Compound words are always divided between the two words. If a word is made up of two or more other words, then there should be syllable divisions between them. "Cupcake": "cup" + "cake" "Something": "some" + "thing" "Sunflower": "sun" + "flow" + "er" (here, "flower" is split into two syllables because it includes two different vowel sounds - ˈflaʊ + ər ). Divide before consonant-le structures. If a word ends with a consonant followed by -le, then you should divide the word before the consonant preceding the -le (e.g., "needle" becomes "nee" + "dle" and "turtle" becomes "tur" + "tle"). By following these seven rules, you should be able to identify where a word should be divided into syllables. Names with two syllables For a bit of fun, we'll end this article by looking at some names with two syllables. This table shows the two-syllable names and how they can be divided into their constituent syllables in IPA (international phonetic alphabet).
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