SYLLABLE &
SYLLABIFICATION

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SYLLABLE: DEFINITIONS
• The concept of syllable is a unit at a higher

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level than that of the phoneme or sound
segment, yet distinct from that of the word or
morpheme (Gimson,1975:51) .
• A syllable is plainly a unit of sound that is
larger than a single segment and usually
smaller than a word, but it is not always easy
to define the number of syllables in a word or
to identify where one ends and the next
begins (Crystal,2006:71).
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 SYLLABLE:PHONETIC vs PHONOLOGICAL GROUNDS
• Phonetically syllables “are usually described as
consisting of a centre which has little or no

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o b s t r uc t io n t o a ir f l o w a nd whic h s o und s
comparatively loud; before and after that centre
(…) there will be greater obstruction to airflow
and/or less loud sound” (Roach, 2000: 70).
• In the monosyllable (one-syllable word) cat /kæt/,
the vowel /æ/ is the “centre” at which little
obstruction takes place, whereas we have
complete obstruction to the airflow for the
surrounding plosives /k/ and /t/.
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 SYLLABLE:PHONETIC vs PHONOLOGICAL GROUNDS
• Phonologically, this involve s the possible
combinations of English phonemes (or phonotactics).

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• Laver (1994: 114) defines the phonological syllable
as “a complex unit made up of nuclear and marginal
elements”.
• Nuclear elements are the vowels or syllabic
segments; marginal elements are the consonants or
non-syllabic segments.
• In the syllable paint /peɪnt/, the diphthong /eɪ/ is the
nuclear element, while initial consonant /p/ and the
final cluster /nt/ are marginal elements.
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 PROMINENCE THEORY

• Attempts have been made to provide physiological,
acoustic or auditory explanations and definitions of

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the syllable.
• According to the prominence theory, for example,
which is based mainly on auditory judgements, the
number of syllables in a word is determined by the
number of peaks of prominence.
• In the word entertaining /ˌentəˈteɪnɪŋ/ the peaks of
prominence are represented by the vowels /e ə eɪ ɪ/.
• H o w ev er , t h i s t h eo r y do es n o t h el p mu ch i n
discussions of syllable division.
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CHEST PULSE THEORY

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• The chest pulse theory discusses the syllable in
the context of muscular activities and lung
movements in the process of speech.
• Experiments have shown that the number of
chest pulses, accompanied by increase of air
pressure can determine the number of syllables
produced (Gimson, 1975: 56),
• thus allo wing to as s o ciate the numb e r o f
syllables with the number of chest pulses.
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CHEST PULSE THEORY
• This approach, however, cannot account for

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cases when two vowels occur one after the
other – for example in words like being /ˈbi:ɪŋ/
or playing /ˈpleɪɪŋ/ the second chest pulse
might be almost irrelevant and thus lead
erroneously to the conclusion that such English
words consist of one syllable only.

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 SONORITY THEORY
• Another approach is presented by sonority theory according
to which the pulses of pulmonic air stream in speech
“correspond to peaks in sonority” (Collins & Meer, 2008:283).

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• The sonority of a speech sound is discussed as “its relative
loudness compared to other sounds” and each syllable
corresponds to a peak in the flow rate of pulmonic air.
• Thus nuclear elements, or syllabic segments can be
described as intrinsically more sonorous than marginal, or
non-syllabic elements.
• Speech sounds can be ranked in terms of their intrinsic
sonority according to a sonority scale.
• According to the sonority hierarchy sounds are organized as
follows, from the least to the greatest:
• voiceless obstruents, voiced obstruents, nasals,
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liquids, glides, and vowels.
SYLLABLE STRUCTURE
•The syllable (conventionally marked as small Greek sigma: σ)
has two immediate constituents (it “branches” into two
elements, to put it in another way)–the Onset (O), which
includes any consonants that precede the nuclear element
(the vowel), and the Rhyme (R), which subsumes the nuclear
element (the vowel) as well as any marginal elements
(consonants) that might follow it.
•The Rhyme (R), in turn, further branches into Peak (P), also
known as Nucleus (N), and Coda (Co).
•The Peak (Nucleus), as the designation suggests, represents
the “nuclear” or most sonorous element in a syllable.
• The Coda includes all consonants that follow the Peak in a
syllable.
• Syllable structure may be represented graphically by means
of a “tree diagram” or “immediate constituent structure”. 9
 MINIMAL SYLLABLE
• In the case of cat /kæt/, the Onset, Peak and Coda each
consists of one segment: the consonant (C) /k/ occupies
the Onset, the vowel (V) /æ/ – the Peak, and the

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consonant /t/ is the Coda of this syllable. However, there
are syllables in English where either or both marginal
elements (i.e. O and/or Co) are absent – only the Peak is
an obligatory element in all languages, and in English both
the Onset and the Coda are optional.

Onset Peak Coda

sea /si:/ /s/ /i:/ Ø

on /ɒn/ Ø /ɒ/ /n/

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eye /aɪ/ Ø /aɪ/ Ø
 SYLLABLE:

OBLIGATORY AND OPTIONAL PARTS

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Syllable structure is language specific (Katamba,1989:155).

Parts Description Optionality

Onset Initial segment of a syllable Optional

Rhyme Core of a syllable, consisting of a Obligatory

nucleus and coda (see below)

Nucleus Central segment of a syllable Obligatory

Coda Closing segment of a syllable Optional

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 SYLLABLES FROM ‘I’ TO ‘TWELFTHS’
• Some syllables are just vowels.
• There are monosyllables that have a much more

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complex structure in terms of possible consonants
(C) and vowels (V) that can go together, such as
• [twais] twice (CCVC),
• [list] list (CVCC),
• [strikt] strict (CCCVCC),
• [twelfθs] twelfths (CCVCCCC).
• The last example, with the maximum number of
final consonants allowed in English, is
morphologically complex: twelve + th + s (see
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Lodge,2009:117f).
 SYLLABLE BRANCHING
M an y ph on ologis t s en vis age B RANCHING,
HIE R AR CHICAL s ylla b le s t r u c t u r e . K a t a m b a

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(1989:153f) presented a revamped version of MULTI-
TIERED PHONOLOGICAL THEORY.
The syllable consists of Onset, Peak and Coda each
m ay f u rt h er b e b ran ch ed in t o t w o C- or V-
constituents respectively. Then we speak about
branching or complex Onsets etc. The English syllable
drowned /draʊnd/ is an example in which all three
elements branch.
As can be seen from the diagram, diphthongs
are treated as branching Peaks – each element of the
diphthong occupies a single V-slot. The case is quite
similar with “long vowels”: in terms of syllable
structure, they are interpreted as sequences of two
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identical V-elements – /i:/ is represented as V1 = [i] +
V 2 = [i], and /ɑ: ɔ: ɜ: u:/ are [ɑ+ɑ, ɔ+ɔ, ɜ+ɜ, u+u],
respectively.
 CLOSED AND OPEN SYLLABLES
• Syllables ending in a consonant, e.g. cat /kæt/, it /ɪt/, eat /i:t/,
are traditionally known as closed syllables, whereas those
ending in a vowel, as in sea /si:/ or eye /aɪ/, are called open. In

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terms of syllable structure, in closed syllables the Coda is
present, i.e. we have a branching Rhyme, while open ones have
non-branching Rhymes – the Coda element is absent. Syllable
Onset is irrelevant to this distinction.
• Recent phonological theories move to tackle this issue under
syllable WEIGHT. Syllables are heavy when the rhyme is
branched to contain (1) a long vowel or a diphthong, optionally
followed by one or more consonants, as in tea or (2)a short
vowel followed at least by one consonant ,as in ten. Light
syllables are those with no branched rhymes containing a
short vowel alone or a coda of no more than short consonant ,
as in a or pa. Light syllable are termed in phonological length as
a mora whereas heavy syllables are being greater than one 14
mora.
 SYLLABIFICATION
• Syllabification or syllabication is the separation of
a word into syllables, whether spoken or written. In

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some languages, the spoken syllables are also the
basis of syllabification in writing. However, possibly
due to the weak correspondence between sounds
and letters in the spelling of modern English,
written syllabification in English is based mostly on
etymological or morphological instead of phonetic
principles. For example, it is not possible to
syllabify "learning" as lear--ning according to the
correct syllabification of the living language.
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 SYLLABLE DIVISION
• There are still problems with • Another difficulty can be
phonetic description . Most seen in ‘extra’ /ekstrǝ/.
speakers of English feel that One problem is that by

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‘going’ /gǝuɪῃ/ consists of some definitions the /s/
two syllables: Roach (2000:77) in the middle , between
states that most speakers /k / and /t/, would be
co uld decide o n pho netic counted as a syllable,
grounds that the /u/ in the which most English
middle is the dividing point speakers would reject.
between the two syllables,
The most controversial
issue relates to where
s in c e th e ar tic u l atio n is the two syllables are to
slightly closer to obstructing be divided:
airflow than the vowel next • i- /e-kstrǝ/
to it.
• ii- /ek-strǝ/
• iii- /eks-trǝ/ 16
• iv- /ekst-rǝ/
• v- /ekstr- ǝ/
 MAXIMUM ONSET PRINCIPLE
• This principle states that where two syllables are to be
divided , any consonants between them should be
attached to the right-hand syllable, not the left as far as

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possible within the restrictions governing syllable onsets
and codas. This principle will reject the first and fifth
options of ‘extra’, leaving us with the other three ones (ii,
iii, and iv). Roach (2000:78) ,under the maximum onsets
rule ,chooses (ii) /ek-strǝ/. Thus, the syllable is the basic
phonotactic unit following particular phonotactic rules or
morpheme structure conditions (Katamba,1989:164f).

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 STRONG AND WEAK SYLLABLES
• Any syllable with a vowel (except /ǝ,ɪ,u/) as its
peak or nucleus is strong. If the vowel is short, then

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the strong syllable will always have a coda as well,
as in seat /si:t/ and in /ɪn/. Strong syllables are
stressed.
• A weak syllable can only have one of a very small
number of possible peaks as in ‘postman’ /pǝustmǝn/.
At the end of a word, we may have a weak syllable
ending with a vowel (i.e., with no coda) , as in
‘better’/betǝ/, ‘happy’ /hæpɪ/, and ‘thank you’
/θæῃk ju/. We also find weak syllables in word-final
position with a coda if the vowel is /ǝ/, as in ‘open’ 18
/ǝupǝn/. Weak syllables are unstressed.
 AMBISYLLABIC
• When one consonant stands between vowels and it is
difficult to assign the consonant to one syllable or the

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other, as in ‘better’ /betǝ/ or ‘carry’/kæri/.
• Roach (2000:78) states that the consonant belongs to
both syllables.
• Phonologists used the term ambisyllabic for a consonant
in this situation.

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 SYLLABIC CONSONANTS
• A consonant is syllabic when (l), (r), or a
nasal) stands as the peak of the syllable

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instead of the vowel.
• It is usual to indicate that a consonant is
syllabic by means of a small vertical mark ( ̩),
as in :
• Cattle /kætḷ/
• Happen /hæpṇ/ and sometimes
/hæpṃ/
• Broken key /brǝukŋ ki:/
• Hungary /hʌŋɡŗɪ/ 20
 MORPHEME BOUNDARY CONDITION
•Morpheme boundaries such as those between the
elements of a compound normally the /p/ of fee-
paying to remain initial in the second syllable, so that

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there is no pre-fortis clipping of the /iː/ (compare
deep ). The same applies in reprint (n.) /ˈriː.prɪnt/
( c o m p a r e r e a p e r / ˈ r i ː p . ə / ) a nd p r e s u p p o s e
/ˌpriː.sə.ˈpəʊz/ (compare priest). There is pre-fortis
clipping of the /aɪ/ in hyphen /ˈhaɪf.ən/, but not of
that in high-faluting /ˌhaɪ.fə.ˈluːt.ɪŋ/. We need the
following as a condition on the main principle:
• In polymorphemic words, consonants belong to the
syllable appropriate to the morpheme of which they
f o rm a part. This applie s o nly to s y nchro nic, 21

psychologically real morphemes.

EQUALLY-GRADED SYLLABLES
• The only cases in English where immediately

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adjacent syllables have equal grade are those
involving weak vowels. They are governed by the
principle:
• Where adjacent syllables are of equal grade,
c o n s o n a n t s a r e ( a g a i n s u b j ec t t o s t a t ed
conditions) syllabified with the leftward syllable.
• The /t/ allophones in carpeting /ˈkɑːp.ɪt.ɪŋ/,
covetous /ˈkʌv.ɪt.əs/ and purity /ˈpjʊər.ət.ɪ/ make
this clear.
• 22
PHONOTACTIC
CONSTRAINTS
• The main syllabification principle does not operate in such a

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way as to lead to co n so n an t clu sters wh ich are
phonotactically ill-formed, according to the phonotactic
constraints (Wells,1990:76):
• P h o n o tactic co n s tr ain ts o n s y l l ab l e s tr u ctu r e (as
established with reference to monosyllables) are not
violated.
• This means, for example, that timber is syllabified as
/ˈtɪm.bə/, since /mb/ is not a possible final cluster: /b/
cannot be captured into the stressed syllable. Similarly,
anger is /ˈæŋ.gə/, at least in RP. But tender is /ˈtend.ə/,
/nd/ being a permitted cluster . Notice how neatly this fits
with permitted initial clusters: tumbler /ˈtʌm.blə/, English 23
/ˈɪŋ.glɪʃ/.