Syllable

• Syllable

  A group of sounds that are pronounced together, one or more speech sounds forming a single uninterrupted unit of utterance which may be a commonly recognized subdivision of a word or the whole of the word
• Syllable

  • Articulatorily, it is the minimal articulatory unit of the utterance
  • Auditorily, it is the smallest unit of perception: the listener identifies the whole of the syllable and after that the sounds which it contains
  • Phonologically, it is a structural unit which consists of a sequence of one or some phonemes of a language in numbers and arrangements permitted by the given language
• Functions of a syllable

  1. Constitutive function: syllables constitute words through the combination of their stress-loudness, duration-length, pitch-tone

  2. Distinctive function: the difference in the place of a syllabic boundary differentiates the meanings of the words and phrases

  3. Identificatory function: the listener can understand the exact meaning of the utterance only when the correct syllabic boundary is perceived
• Types of syllables in English by placement of vowels


  • Open: the Vowel is at the end, such a Syllable is articulated with the opening of the mouth by the end
  • Closed: which end in Consonant, at the end of such a Syllable the mouth is closed
• Types of syllables in English by placement of consonants


  • Covered at the beginning: the Consonant is at the beginning of the syllable
  • Covered at the end: the Consonant is at the end of a Syllable
• Syllable structure in terms of C and V (canonical forms)


  • Fully open: V
  • Fully closed (V between C): CVC, CCVC, CVCC, CCCVCC, CVCCC, CVCCCC
  • Covered at the beginning: CV, CCV, CCCV
  • Covered at the end (one C or more complete the syllable): VC, VCC, VCCC
• Classification of syllables by position in the word


  • From the beginning: INITIAL, MEDIAL, FINAL
  • From the end: ULTIMATE, PENULTIMATE, ANTEPENULTIMATE
• Classification of syllables by position in relation to stress


  • PRETONIC
  • TONIC
  • POSTTONIC
  • ATONIC
• Syllables in English

  • Structurally, the commonest types are VC and CVC
  • CV is considered to be the universal structure
  • The characteristic feature of English is monosyllabism: it contains between four and five thousand monosyllabic words
  • The limit for the number of syllables in a word in English is 8