The Syllable in English and Arabic: a contrastive Study

2. The Syllable in Arabic 
2.1 Theories of the Syllable 
In Arabic, no theories are built in the strict sense of the word "theory." 
Yet, some traces are made by Hasan (1990: 170) assuming that syllables are 
chest pulses throughout speech, and Al-Hamad (2000: 209) who gives an 
approach to the syllable from three points of view: articulatory, the syllable is 
a group of sounds produced in one chest pulse; acoustic, the syllable is a 

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744
رتمؤلما عئاقو
ينلعلا
لولاا
وولعلل
ةيىاشىلاا
يضاترفلاا
ةعمالجا /ةيساسلاا ةيبترلا ةيلك /
ٌواعتلابو ةيرصيتشلما
عم
ةعماج /ةيساسلاا ةيبترلا ةيلك
راق يذ
02
- 
02
ٌاريزح
0202
و
( راعش تتح
ًكنتيل..... هلعتى
)
رتمؤلما عئاقو
ينلعلا
لولاا
وولعلل
ةيىاشىلاا
يضاترفلاا
/
ةيرصيتشلما ةعمالجا /ةيساسلاا ةيبترلا ةيلك
عم ٌواعتلابو
ةعماج /ةيساسلاا ةيبترلا ةيلك
راق يذ
02
 -
02
 
زح
ٌاري
0202
خيراتب
61
/
4
/
0202
ةيساسلاا ةيبترلا ةيلك ةلمج
ةيرصيتشلما ةعمالجا
sonority peak between two bases; functional, it is a sequence of consonants 
and vowels. 
2.2 The Nature of the Syllable 
A syllable is a universal unit found in all languages. The syllable 
plays an important role in the phonology of classical as well as 
colloquial Arabic. The description and analysis of the syllable in 
Arabic has been deeply rooted since old Arab grammarians studied it. 
The metrics of Arabic have been described in terms of consecutive 
vowels and consonants or, in other words, in syllables. Additionally, 
assignment of stress interacts not only with the number of the 
syllables in a word but also with the internal prosodic structure of the 
syllable. An analysis of stress must depend on the analysis of the 
syllable. The internal structure of the syllable has been described by 
many linguists in different views. Some descriptions were based on 
rules, templates and principles, some others were based on constraints 
(Beeston, 1970: 20-1).