




shapes and constraints






parts of a syllable






A good general work on phonology is:
Spencer, Andrew (1996), Phonology, Blackwell.

2. Spencer, p. 80

Syl"la*ble (?), n. [OE. sillable, OF. sillabe, F. syllabe, L. syllaba, Gr. that which is held together, several letters taken together so as to form one sound, a syllable, fr. to take together; with + to take; cf. Skr. labh, rabh. Cf. Lemma, Dilemma.]


An elementary sound, or a combination of elementary sounds, uttered together, or with a single effort or impulse of the voice, and constituting a word or a part of a word. In other terms, it is a vowel or a diphtong, either by itself or flanked by one or more consonants, the whole produced by a single impulse or utterance. One of the liquids, l, m, n, may fill the place of a vowel in a syllable. Adjoining syllables in a word or phrase need not to be marked off by a pause, but only by such an abatement and renewal, or reenforcement, of the stress as to give the feeling of separate impulses. See Guide to Pronunciation, §275.


In writing and printing, a part of a word, separated from the rest, and capable of being pronounced by a single impulse of the voice. It may or may not correspond to a syllable in the spoken language.

Withouten vice [i. e. mistake] of syllable or letter. Chaucer.


A small part of a sentence or discourse; anything concise or short; a particle.

Before any syllable of the law of God was written. Hooker.

Who dare speak One syllable against him? Shak.


© Webster 1913.

Syl"la*ble, v. t.

To pronounce the syllables of; to utter; to articulate.



© Webster 1913.

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