Scribd
Upload
71 views

Syllable Structure in English: Lets Study It

This document discusses syllable structure in English. It explains that words can be broken down into units called syllables, which help segment speech into a rhythm of strong and weak beats. Syllables have four main parts - onset, rhyme, nucleus, and coda. Not all syllables have all parts. The nucleus, usually a vowel, is the core part that defines a syllable. Tree diagrams can represent a word's syllable structure by branching onset, rhyme, nucleus, and coda. Steps for determining syllable structure include identifying the nucleus, adding rhyme, and then onset and coda. Examples of open and closed syllables are provided.

Uploaded by

Trung Hậu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
71 views

Syllable Structure in English: Lets Study It

This document discusses syllable structure in English. It explains that words can be broken down into units called syllables, which help segment speech into a rhythm of strong and weak beats. Syllables have four main parts - onset, rhyme, nucleus, and coda. Not all syllables have all parts. The nucleus, usually a vowel, is the core part that defines a syllable. Tree diagrams can represent a word's syllable structure by branching onset, rhyme, nucleus, and coda. Steps for determining syllable structure include identifying the nucleus, adding rhyme, and then onset and coda. Examples of open and closed syllables are provided.

Uploaded by

Trung Hậu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 10

Syllable Structure in

English
Lets study it…
 Words can be cut up into units called
syllables.
 Humans seem to need syllables as a way of
segmenting the stream of speech and giving
it a rhythm of strong and weak beats.
 Syllables exist only to make speech easier for
the brain to process.
 A word contains at least one syllable.
Syllables and their parts
 The parts are onset and rhyme; within the
rhyme we find the nucleus and coda.
 Not all syllables have all parts; the smallest
possible syllable contains a nucleus only.
 A syllable may or may not have an onset and
a coda.
Onset (O)
 Onset: the beginning sounds of the syllable;
the ones preceding the nucleus. These are
always consonants in English. The nucleus
is  a vowel in most cases, although the
consonants [ r ], [ l ], [ m ], [ n ], and the velar
nasal (the 'ng' sound) can also be the
nucleus of a syllable.
Rhyme (R)
 Rhyme (or rime): the rest of the syllable,
after the onset (the underlined portions of the
words above). The rhyme can also be divided
up:

Rhyme = nucleus + coda
Nucleus (N)
 is the core or essential part of a syllable. A nucleus must be present
in order for a syllable to be present.
 In English and most other languages, most syllable nuclei are
vowels.
 The English liquids [ r  l ] and the nasals [ m  n ] can be the nuclei of
syllables under certain conditions. [ r ] can be a nucleus as easily as
a vowel, in any position: the words 'bird', have [ r ] as the nucleus; in
other words, there is no vowel in the pronunciation of these
syllables, even though they have one in the spelling.
  [brd]
 [ l ] and the nasals [ m n ] become syllable nuclei when they follow
an alveolar consonant in the last syllable of a word. This happens in
the relaxed or casual rather than very formal articulation of the word.
Compare casual vs. formal pronunciations of 'button', 'bottle',
'bottom'.
 Linguists often use tree diagrams to illustrate syllable structure.
'Flop', for example, would look like this (the word appears in IPA
symbols, not English spelling). 's' = 'syllable'; 'O' = 'onset'; 'R' =
'rhyme'; 'N' = 'nucleus'; 'C' = 'coda'. 
 The syllable node at the top of the tree branches into Onset and
Rhyme; the Onset node branches because it contains two
consonants, [ f ] and [ l ]. The Rhyme node branches because
this syllable has both a nucleus and a coda.
           σ
        /     \ 
      O     R 
      / \    /  \ 
     |   |   N C 
     |   |    |    | 
  [ f   l    a  p ]
Steps to determine the
diagram:
a. Determine the nucleus (N)
b. Add Rhyme ( R ) on the ordinate of the
nucleus
c. Determine the onset (O) and the coda (C).
a. If a syllable has the coda, it is called as
closed syllable
Example : cap, sit, man
a. If a syllable doesn’t have the coda it is
called as open syllable.
Example : he, she, me
Draw, the syllable structure of
the following words:
apron
basic
began
begin
depend
even
hotel

You might also like