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What is a syllable?

This is a discussion thread · 6 replies
:
Could you explain a syllable in detail using the words 'girl', 'go', ' rain', 'noisy', 'famous' ‘stream’ ,'hour', 'double' and 'prison'.

I wonder how many syllables those words have.

Thanks in advance.
Full Member134
:
syllable
Segment of speech usually consisting of a vowel with or without accompanying consonant sounds (e.g., a, I, out, too, cap, snap, check). A syllabic consonant, like the final n sound in button and widen, also constitutes a syllable. Closed (checked) syllables end in a consonant, open (free) syllables in a vowel. Syllables play an important role in the study of speech and in phonetics and phonology .

girl have 1
go have 1
rain 2
famous 2
hour 1
double 2
prison 2

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. These will be marked here as in ho/tel.

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 syllabl.e)
  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.

    5. 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 andone 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.

      • Six 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.
Full Member128
Anonymous:
A syllable is how many times a word can be broken into. For example explain has 2 syllables; ex/ plain.
:
Hi,

rain 2

No. A native speaker would say this is one syllable (unless he has some kind of strange accent, I suppose).

Clive

PS - I see that I am correcting a very old post.
Veteran Member61,687
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Anonymous:
[Y]A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speechsounds. Hope that helps bye!!!!!Emotion: wave
Anonymous:
How about reheat?
I so pose to pass this next week
:
Hi,

What do you think?

Clive
Moderator: A super-user who takes care of the forums. You have the ability to message a moderator privately should you wish. These users have a range of elevated privileges including the deletion, editing and movement of posts when needed.Teachers: Users in this role are certified teachers. This may include DELTA, CELTA, TESOL, TEFL qualified professionals. Email a scan of your qualification to an admin, if you wish to be considered.
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