Syllable formation in English is based on the phonological opposition vowel – consonant. Vowels are usually syllabic while consonants are not, with the exceptions of /l/, /m/, /ŋ/, which become syllabic if they occur in an unstressed final position preceded by a noise consonant, e.g. /`lıtl/ little, blossom, garden.
4 types of syllables:
- open (no) CV
- closed (odd) VC
- covered (note) CV(C)
- uncovered (oh, oak) V(C)
The number of syllables in English word can vary from one to eight.
Syllable division
The sounds of language can be grouped into syllables according to the rules of phonotactics. The problem of syllable division exists only in case of intervocalic consonants and their clusters like in the words city, agree, extra, etc.
2 possible variants:
- the point of syllable division is after the intervocalic consonant;
- the point of syllable division is inside the consonant.
The words such as agree, abrupt should be divided into syllables in the following way: /ə-`gri:/, /ə-`br∆pt/ because combinations /gr/-/br/ are permissible initial clusters. On the other hand, there’re clusters that can never be found in the word initial position and consequently should be broken by syllabic boundary: admire /əd-`maıə/, abhor / əb-`ho:/.
In the cases where the number of intervocalic consonants is 3, as in the word extra we have to state the possible points
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