The Syllable

The Syllable

            While analyzing speech, we will have to consider units higher than individual speech sounds. A syllable means,

“The unit that is next in

hierarchy to the speech

sound is the syllables.”  

            A word is made up of one or more syllable. A word which contains only one syllable is called monosyllabic word. e.g.

girl /g:l/, go-/gau/.

            Sometimes words have two syllables are called disyllabic words. e.g. doc-tor, pen-cil, tea-cher. Some words have three syllables are called Trysyllable. e.g. re-me-mber, pho-ne-tics. Some words consists more than three syllables are called polysyllable words. e.g. exa-mi-na-tion, po-pu-la-tion, re-la-tion-ship

Composition of the Syllable:-

            A syllable is composed by one or more than one speech sound. It means vowels and consonants are found together in one syllable. e.g. any-/e-ni/, relate-/ri-leit/.

Nucleus: The Vowel in a syllable is central element which is called the nucleus of the syllable. The nucleus of a syllable is symbolized as ‘V’ e.g.  bee/bi:/, fate-/fait/.

Releasing consonant: A consonant sound with which a syllable begins is called the releasing consonant. e.g. Remember-/ri-mæm-ba/,

Arresting consonants: A consonant sound that comes at the end of a syllable, called an arresting consonant. The releasing and arresting consonants are symbolized as ‘C’. e.g.  under-/^n-d/

            In this way, the nucleus obligatory elements of a syllable and the releasing and arresting consonants are marginal elements. e.g. cat- /kæt/.

            /æ/ is nucleus. /k/ is realizing and /t/ is arresting consonant. This word has structure of CVC. The syllables have various structures like V, VC, CV, CVC, CCVV, CCCVC, CVCC, CVCCC, CVCCCC. Let’s discuss of these structure in detail.

Some syllables have only the nucleus. They have the structure V. e.g.

I -/ai/ Oh- /u/, eye-/ai/, ah-/a:/

The first syllables of the following words have the structure ‘V’

honest-/o-nist/ earnest-/:nist/ Apply-/plai/, order-/o:-d/

Some syllables have the nucleus and an arresting consonant. They have the structure VC.  

Am-/æm/ Up-/p/ all-/:/, ass-/æs/e.g. 

The first syllables of the following words have the structure ‘VC’.

under/^n-d/, engage-/in-geid₃/, amber- /æm-b/

Some syllables have a releasing consonant, the nucleus and an arresting consonant. They have the structure CVC. e.g. Boat - /but/   Come = /k^m/,  some/s^m/, gone/gn/ 

Some syllables have the nucleus and a releasing consonant. They have the structure CV.  e.g.

Be-/bi:/, She-/si:/, see-/si/ go-/gut /.  

The first syllables of the following words have the structure ‘CV’. Matter-/mæ-t/ Latter-læ-t/ 

Some syllables have two releasing consonant, the nucleus and an arresting consonant. They have the structure CCVC. Skin-/skin/, spin-/spin/, skip/skip/, skill-/skil/.  

Some syllables have three releasing consonants, the nucleus and an arresting consonant. They have the structure CCCVC. scream= /skri:m/, screen=/skri:n/

 Some syllables have a releasing consonant, the nucleus, two arresting consonants and have the structure of CVCC. Band-/bnd/, bold-/buld box-/bks/ fox-/fks/     

 Some syllables have a releasing consonant, the nucleus and three arresting consonants making the structure CVCCC.  tents-/tents/ tempt-/tempt/, links/links/.

 Some syllables have a releasing consonant, the nucleus and four arresting consonants making the structure CVCCCC. e.g. tempts-/tempts/, texts/teksts/.

The sequence of Consonants in a syllable:-

Consonant Clusters

English Language allows upto three consonants to begin a syllable and upto four consonants to end a syllable. Such a sequence of consonant of the beginning or at the end of a syllable is called consonants clusters. But this sequence of consonants should occur within a syllable and without a vowel between. e.g.  scream= /skri:m/, tents-/tents/.

Abutting consonants

A sequence of consonants which does not occur within a syllable. It means among them one is a releasing consonant and another is an arresting consonant are called abutting consonant. e.g.

Member/mæm-bar/, chamber/ t¦æm-bar/, 

            In above word, /m/, /b/ are not consonant cluster because /m/ is the arresting consonant of first syllable while /b/ is a releasing consonant of the second syllable.

Open syllable and closed syllable

 A syllable that ends in a consonant is called a closed consonant. e.g. bad, good, dog, add, bind, and camp. The syllable ends in a vowel is called open syllable. e.g. tea, go, bee, be, she, crow, saw and grow

Syllable consonants

            Generally, the nucleus is a vowel and the marginal elements are consonants, but in some consonants occur central nucleus position. Such consonants are called syllabic consonants. e.g.

Kettle-/ke-tl/,  cattle-/kæ- t;/, little-/li-tl/,

subtle-/s^-lt/, sudden-/s^-dn/, ridden-/ri-dn/

            In all above words the second syllable ends with /l/ and /n/ consonance. These consonants occupy the nuclease position in such words, so they are called syllabic consonants and will be marked as /v/. So the structure of second syllable is marked as /cv/. It is remarkable that among the English consonants /m/, /n/, /l/ and /r/ occupy the nucleus position in some syllable.

            A syllable is the hallmark feature to make a word. It is also important for word accent because the accent is marked according to the syllable in a word.