segmentation of syllables

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Hela  #423732  Wed, 26 Sep 07 08:47 AM
Dear teachers,


Is there a rule which explains how one should segment syllables?


For example I thought that "lateral, easily, reliability, laboratory" were divided this way :


la/te/ral
ea/si/ly
re/li/a/bi/li/ty
la/bo/ra/to/ry


but they seem to be segmented this way, why?
lat/er/al
eas/i/ly
re/li/a/bil/i/ty
lab/o/ra/to/ry

Have you got other tricky exemples, please?


How would you devide the follwing:


"a ttri bu te" or "at tri bu te" ?  "a ffect" oru "af fect" ?  "a pplause" or "ap plause" ? 
"a ppeal" or "ap peal" ? etc. 


Thank you very much for your help.


Hela

  
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Anonymous  #482830  Thu, 28 Feb 08 03:50 PM

Every dictionary shows you how words are divided up into syllables. That is your one-stop place for all syllable questions.

The rule is to follow the dictionary. :) The dictionary divides them based on proper pronunciation. I guess you'd have to be a native speaker to understand...I really don't know how to explain; it's just something that I know just because I know it. For example, with lateral, your way is wrong because people don't say it that way. We say lat-er-al. We'd never say la-tay-ral like you have it (I spelled it differently to emphasize the way it would sound if said your way. We wouldn't ever say reliba BI lity. We say reliability with the L quickly following the "bi" sound. Sorry, it's really hard to explain because you can't "hear" me pronouncing these words...so I'll just stick with my short answer: it's based on pronunciation. :)

  
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