University of Kufa

Faculty of Arts
Department of
English Language

The Syllable
Presentation paper Prepared by
Zainab Ali Munaf

Submitted to
Asst. Prof. Hassan Hadi AlKaabi, Ph.D.

2023-2024

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 Contents

1. Introduction
2. English syllable
2.1. Definitions
2.2. The Structure Of The English Syllable
2.3. The Nature Of The Syllable
3. Six Syllable Types
4. Strong Vs. Week Syllables
References

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 1. Introduction
It is believed that syllable is a very important unit, that is, it is found
in all languages and in all words. Most of us think that even by not knowing
what a syllable is, we can identify or count how many syllables are in a
certain word. For instance, speakers of English would generally agree that
meadow, dangerous and antidisestablishmentarianism (allegedly the longest
word in the language) have two, three and twelve syllables respectively. It
could perhaps be helpful, but we will find difficulties on dividing the
syllables accurately. So, we will need knowledge of it. (McMahon, 2002).

2. English syllable
2.1. Definitions
The term "syllable", in its broadest sense, is studied from the phonetic
and phonological point of view since it represents one of the basic
components in phonetics and phonology. (Fallows ,1980:76).

Crystal (1985:164) believes that syllable is an element of speech that acts as

a unit of rhythm, which is noticeable in English pronunciation and
consisting of a vowel, a syllable consonant or a vowel plus consonant
combination.

Roach (2002:66) states that the Syllable is a unit consisting of a

compulsory vowel or a syllabic consonant and maybe preceded and/or
followed by a one or more consonant sounds. For example, sit consists
onset[s]+nucleus[I]+coda[?t]]; therefore [ I ] + [?t ] represent the rhyme part
of the syllable as in figure (1).

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 Figure (1)

The alphabet consists of 26 letters, five of which are always vowels: a, e, i, o,

and u. All vowel sounds are made with the mouth open.
With an open mouth, the sound is not blocked or cut off in any way ( Neuhaus,
2016). The best definition, there for, of a syllable is " a single vowel sound,
with or without one or more consonants." (Hewitt & Beach, 1889 : 578).

2.2. The Structure Of The English Syllable (Form)

Technically, Roach (1998:73) classifies the syllable as the followings:
• Minimum syllable: consists of center only, the center is preceded and
followed by silence e.g. are /-a:-/, err /-e:-/, or /-o:-/. They are all
preceded and followed by silence. Isolated sound such as (m), which is
sometime produced to indicate agreement, must also be regarded as
syllable.

Figure (2)

• Onset: - It is the consonant sound(s) which precede the peak (the

vowel), such as /k/ in /ka:/ car.
• Rhyme: - It is the combination of the Peak (vowel) and the Coda within
the syllable, such as; /eim/ in the word /seim/ “same”.

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 • Peak (nucleus): - It is the vowel sound or syllabic consonant that
stands as the compulsory component of the syllable.
• Coda (Termination): - It is the consonant sound(s) that follow the
peak.
The structure of the syllable can be shown as follows:

Figure (3) (Roach, 1998:73)

Both the onset and coda can consist of more than one consonant, also
known as a consonant cluster.
• Consonant Cluster: - it is the situation when two or more consonants
coming together in the same syllable. Such as; Strong /strɒŋg/ /str/
and /ŋg/ are both consonant clusters. (Yule 2006:47).

2.3. The Nature Of The Syllable

A syllable can be studied on both the phonetic and phonological
levels of analysis; just like how we defined sounds from both perspectives.
(Roach 1998:67)
It might be defined as follows:
▪ Phonetically: syllables are usually described as consisting of a center
which has little or no obstruction to airflow and which sounds
comparatively loud; before and after this center that is to say at the

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 beginning and end of the syllable, there will be greater obstruction to
airflow and less loud sounds. E.g. cat / kæt/, the vowel /æ/ is the
„center‟ or the „peak‟ at which little obstruction takes place, whereas
we have complete obstruction to the airflow for surrounding plosives
/k/and /t/.
▪ Phonologically: The syllable is a unit of spoken language consisting
of a single uninterrupted sound. 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 syllable paint /peΙnt/, the diphthong /eΙ/is the nuclear
element (peak), while initial consonant /p/ and the final cluster /nt/ are
the marginal elements. See Table (2) that proves that they are complex
units on page 8.

3. Six Syllable Types (Function)

Most English language words can be broken down into smaller parts,
making these words easier to read. There are six syllable types that make this
possible: closed, open, silent e, vowel pair, r-controlled, and final stable
syllable.
▪ A closed vowel: it has a short vowel sound. There is a consonant after
the vowel. Examples of words that have a closed syllable are hat,
stomp, in, and plant.
▪ An open vowel syllable type: it has a long vowel sound. These words
have only one vowel in the word and no other letters after the vowel to
stop the sound. “An open vowel is long because it has nothing to stop
it.” Examples of words that have an open syllable are so, me, hi, and
she.

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▪ A silent e syllable type: it has a soundless e at the end of the word that
makes the first vowel long and creates a vowel-consonant-e spelling
pattern. It is often refer to this syllable type as “magic e” or “sneaky e”
since the final e gives its voice to the other vowel (Moats & Sedita,
2006). Examples of words that have a silent e syllable type are game,
hope, ripe, and stale.
▪ A vowel pair syllable type: also referred to as a vowel team or a vowel
diagraph, has two vowels next to each other in a word (Carreker, 2005).
Usually, the vowels combine to make one sound, such as in the words
team, week, pail, and goat.
▪ The R-controlled syllable type: the vowel sound is neither long nor
short. The letter r makes the vowel sound distorted or bends the sound
when it immediately follows a vowel (Carreker, 2005). ir, and ur.
Although the spelling is different, each spelling sound is pronounced
by making the sound /r/, such as in the words her, bird, and turn. Words
containing ar, such as in start, far, and arm, have the vowel sound /ar/.
Words containing or, such as fork, storm, and born, have the vowel
sound /or/.
▪ Final stable syllable: (Carreker, 2005). The word final means last, so
it will always be the last syllable in a base word or a word with no
suffixes. The word stable means unchanging, so it will always be the
same. The word syllable means a word or a word part with one vowel
sound. Final stable syllable include these endings: -ble, -fle, -gle, - dle,
-ple, and other word endings. Examples of final stable syllable words
are stumble, ruffle, giggle, candle, and sample. Similar to the r-
controlled syllable type, words with a final stable syllable do not have
a true vowel sound. Table 1 shows each of the six syllable types, along
with examples.

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 Table (1) Six syllable types

4. Strong Vs. Week Syllables (context)

Phoneticians have found that it is useful to make a distinction
between syllables that have more prominent nucleus and less prominent
nucleus .In this respect they divided syllables into strong and weak syllables.
Table (2) The comparison between strong and weak .

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Generally, strong syllables can have in its centre any long vowel, like the
first syllable of the word “father” [f’a:ðǝ] or diphthong as the first syllable
of the Word “daily” [d’eIlI] except the vowel [ǝ], whereas weak syllables
can only have the following types of nucleus (Roach, 1999:76).
➢ The vowel “ schwa”
➢ A close front unrounded vowel in the general area of i: and I;
➢ A close back rounded vowel in the general area of u:
➢ A syllabic consonant.
• Examples
1. The syllable is weak when it has the short vowel /ə/ (Schwa).
- Example: better /betə/ - The second syllable is weak.
2. The syllable is weak when it has the close front unrounded vowel /i/.
- Example: city /sɪti/ - The second syllable is weak.
3. The syllable is weak when it has the close back rounded vowel /u/.
- Example: thank you /θæŋk ju/ - The second syllable is weak.
4. The syllable is weak when it has a syllabic consonant /m, n, ŋ, l, r/.
- Example: couple /kʌpl/ - The second syllable is weak.
5. The syllable is weak when it ends with the short vowel /ɪ/ and the
next syllable starts with a consonant.
- Example: design /dɪzaɪn/ - The first syllable is weak. (Roach,
1998:75)

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 References
Crystal, D.(1985). What is Linguistics?. London: Edward Arnold.

Carreker, S. (2005). Teaching reading: Accurate decoding and fluency. In J. R. Birsh (Ed.),
Multisensory Teaching of basic language skills (pp. 213-255). Baltimore, MD: Brookes
Publishing.

Fallows, D.(1980)”Experimental Evidence For English Syllabification and Syllable Structure

“.Linguistics.Vol. 17,No. 1,309-317.

Hewitt, H. M., Beach, G. (1889). A Manual of Our Mother Tongue. United Kingdom: Hughes.

Laver, J.(1994).Principles of Phonetics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Light, J., & McNaughton, D. (2012). Literacy instruction for individuals with autism, cerebral
palsy, down syndrome and other disabilities. Retrieved from
http://aacliteracy.psu.edu/index.php/page/show/id/9/index.html

McMahon, A. M. S. (2002). An Introduction to English Phonology. Edinburgh University Press.

Moats, L., & Sedita, J. (2006). LETRS: Language essentials for teachers of reading and
spelling. Boston, MA: Sopris West

Roach, P. (2002) A Little Encyclopedia of Phonetics. ".www.linguistics.reading.ac.uk/staff

/cup/c.nq.

Roach, P. (1998) English Phonetics and Phonology. 2nd ed., UK, CUP.

Roach, P.(1999).English Phonetics and Phonology :A Practical Course.(2nd. Ed.). Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Yule, G., The study of Language. 3rd ed., Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2006.

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