syllable
Also known as syllab, syllabe
A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (margins, which are most often consonants). In phonology and studies of languages, syllables are often considered the "building blocks" of words. They can influence the rhythm of a language: its prosody or poetic metre. Properties such as stress, tone, and reduplication operate on syllables and their parts. Speech can usually be divided up into a whole number of syllables: for exa
AI overview
A syllable is a basic unit of speech made up of a vowel sound (the core) with optional consonant sounds before or after it, and these units combine to form words. Syllables matter because they influence how languages sound and rhythm, and properties like stress and tone operate at the syllable level.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
28 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Transcription
- Components
- Onset–nucleus–rime segmentation
- <span class="anchor" id="initial"></span><span class="anchor" id="medial"></span><span class="anchor" id="final"></span><span class="anchor" id="rime"></span><span class="anchor" id="Chinese"></span>Chinese segmentation
- Grouping of components
- Body
- Rime
- Weight
- Syllabification
- Ambisyllabicity
- Onset
- Onset cluster
- Null onset
- Nucleus
- Consonant nucleus
- Coda
- Open and closed
- Null coda
- Suprasegmental features
- Tone
- Accent
- History
- Crosslinguistic patterns
- Morphology
- See also
- References
- Sources and recommended reading
A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (margins, which are most often consonants). In phonology and studies of languages, syllables are often considered the "building blocks" of words. They can influence the rhythm of a language: its prosody or poetic metre. Properties such as stress, tone, and reduplication operate on syllables and their parts. Speech can usually be divided up into a whole number of syllables: for example, the word ignite is made of two syllables: ig and nite. Most languages of the world use relatively simple syllable structures that often alternate between vowels and consonants.
Despite being present in virtually all human languages, syllables still have no precise definition that is valid for all known languages. A common criterion for finding syllable boundaries is native-speaker intuition, but individuals sometimes disagree on them.