SYLLABLE
DEFINITION
• A syllable can be defined as, “any of the units into which a
word is divided, containing a vowel and usually one or more
consonants.” (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary)
OR
• A syllable is an uninterrupted segment of speech consisting of
a vowel sound, a diphthong, or a syllabic consonant, with or
without preceding or following consonant sounds.
A syllable is a basic unit of written and spoken language. It
is a unit consisting of uninterrupted sound that can be used
to make up words. For example, the word hotel has two
syllables: ho and tel (ho/tel).
EXAMPLES
Me /mi:/ one syllable
Better /betə/ two syllable
Advertise /æd/və/taiz/ three syllable
Advertisement /əd/vз:/tis/mənt/ four syllable
Syllables and Phonemes
• A syllable is a unit of sound. More specifically, it is a single
segment of uninterrupted sound that is typically produced with
a single pulse of air from the lungs. A syllable can form a
whole word or part of a word. Syllables differ from phonemes
in that a phoneme is the smallest unit of sound; the number of
syllables in a word is unrelated to the number of phonemes it
contains. For example: /b/, /k/, /t/, /ch/, /sh/ are all phonemes.
The word ‘chat’ is made up of three phonemes (/ch/ /a/ /t/).
The word ‘light’ is made up of three phonemes (/l/ /igh/ /t/).
However, both the words ‘chat’ and ‘light’ have only one
syllable each.
Counting Syllables
To find the number of syllables in a word, use the following steps:
1. Count the vowels in the word.
2. Subtract any silent vowels, (like the silent e at the end of a word,
or the second vowel when two vowels are together in a syllable)
3. Subtract one vowel from every diphthong (diphthongs only
count as one vowel sound.)
4. The number of vowels sounds left is the same as the number of
syllables.
The number of syllables that you hear when you pronounce a word
is the same as the number of vowels sounds heard. For example:
• The word came has 2 vowels, but the e is silent, leaving one
vowel sound and one syllable.
• The word outside has 4 vowels, but the e is silent and the ou is a
diphthong which counts as only one sound, so this word has only
two vowel sounds and therefore, two syllables.
Words Number of Syllables
dog dog 1
green green 1
quite quite 1
quiet qui-et 2
orange or-ange 2
table ta-ble 2
expensive ex-pen-sive 3
interesting in-te-res-ting 4
unrealistic un-rea-lis-tic 4
unexceptional un-ex-cep-tio-nal 5
SYLLABLE STRUCTURE
A syllable has the following elements:
1. ONSET: consisting of one consonant or consonant cluster-
e.g. pay, pray, spray
2. RIME: (Also written RHYME) consisting of a vowel which is
the ‘NUCLEUS’ of the syllable-
e.g. hut, cut, bird
3. CODA: consisting of one consonant or a consonant cluster-e.g.
cool, face ,rest
A syllable has three parts: onset, nucleus, and coda. The onset and the coda
are consonants, or consonant clusters, that appear at the beginning and the
end of the syllable respectively. The nucleus forms the core of the syllable;
it is most often a vowel, or a combination of vowels.
In the word “cat” for example, [c] is the syllable onset, [a] is the nucleus,
and [t] the coda. A syllable does not necessarily have an onset or a coda,
but a nucleus is always present. If a coda is present in a syllable, the
nucleus and the coda form a single unit called a rhyme; otherwise the
nucleus makes up the rhyme by itself e.g. I, In the word cat, [at] forms the
rhyme.
If a syllable has an onset and a nucleus but no coda it is known as an
OPEN SYLLABLE. When a coda is present it is known as a CLSOED
SYLLABLE.
SYLLABLE STRUCTURES IN ENGLISH
Kinds of Syllables
• There are six different kinds of syllables in English:
1. Closed Syllables: A closed syllable has one and only one
vowel, and it ends in a consonant. Examples include in, ask, truck,
sock, stretch, twelfth, and on.
2. Open Syllables: An open syllable has one and only one vowel,
and that vowel occurs at the end of the syllable. Examples
include no, she, I, a, and spry.
3. Silent-E Syllables: A silent-e syllable ends in an e, has one
and only one consonant before that e, and has one and only one
vowel before that consonant. Examples include ate, ice, tune,
slope, strobe, and these.
4. Vowel Combination Syllables: A vowel combination
syllable has a cluster of two or three vowels or a vowel-
consonant unit with a sound or sounds particular to that unit.
Examples include rain, day, see, veil, pie, piece, noise, toy,
cue, and true.
5. Vowel-R Syllables: A vowel-r syllable is one which
includes one and only one vowel followed by an r, or one
vowel followed by an r which is followed by a silent e, or a
vowel combination followed by an r. Examples include car,
or, care, ire, air, and deer.
6. Consonant-L-E Syllables: In these syllables, a consonant
is followed by le. The vowel sound in these syllables is the
schwa sound that occurs before the l. Examples include -ble,
-cle, -dle, -fle, and -gle.
