Questions tagged [syllables]
A unit of organisation for a sequence of speech sounds. Consists of a nucleus with optional preceding onset and optional following coda.
107
questions
0
votes
2
answers
59
views
Do we know how many distinct syllables are there in Arabic?
This answer cites some numbers for the count of distinct syllables of a couple of languages.
And I read on brilliant.org that more distinct syllables mean more knowledge transfered per second.
Is ...
- 1,355
3
votes
2
answers
85
views
Does 'z' act as a coda or onset in the syllable structure for the word crazy?
I am working on drawing the syllable structure for the word crazy. So far within kreizi, ei and i are nucliet, kr is an onset, but I am stuck on the 'z'. There are many words that start with z in the ...
1
vote
1
answer
75
views
What are the rules for creating multiple syllable words in Tibetan without tsheg?
I was under the assumption that all Tibetan syllables were marked with a tsheg, but now after talking with someone from Tibet, I learn that there are many cases where this is not true, such as pema (...
- 4,198
1
vote
2
answers
131
views
Single syllable breakdown of the word strawberry in IPA
My intro linguistics class was doing a demonstration of how to break up single syllables into their vowel trees. We came up with three different interrpretations and were looking for more opinions.
...
- 11
1
vote
2
answers
112
views
Is there an automatic way to divide French words into syllables/morphemes?
Context:
I am trying to come up with a way to divide French words into syllables, phonemes, morphemes, or any other individually pronounceable/meaningful sub-unit in order to model word corruption in ...
- 11
0
votes
2
answers
169
views
In languages that allow vowel hiatus, what rules prevent the formation of words consisting only of four or more consecutive syllabic vowels?
For those who came in late, vowel hiatus is a common term for the occurrence of consecutive vowel sounds each of which serves as the nucleus of a syllable. For example, in the word “chaotic” we see ...
- 8,691
2
votes
1
answer
103
views
What is the term for the duration ratio between the vowel and the coda?
A syllable consists of three parts: The onset, the nucleus (which is usually a vowel), and the coda. The onset and the coda are optional, or may come in consonant clusters, but for the purpose of this ...
- 327
1
vote
1
answer
178
views
Are there languages where all syllables start with a consonant and end in a vowel?
This is a relaxed version of this question Are there any languages that only allow CV syllables? asking for strictly CV-languages. Here I want to know if there are languages with the phonology CC*VV*, ...
- 29.6k
2
votes
1
answer
46
views
How do you write the phonological rule for if something occurs before a stressed syllable?
I have the notion that /t/ and /th/ (aspirated [t]) are complementary allophones. How would I write the rule that an aspirated t occurs at the beginning of a word and the beginning of a stressed ...
- 35
1
vote
1
answer
86
views
How are codas before null onsets differentiated from onsets?
That is, how do people tell ...VC V... from ...V CV... in languages that have such a distinction?
I haven't been able to find anything regarding this.
- 21
0
votes
1
answer
50
views
Deducing syllable structure from sonority curve and phonotactics
When I take the sonority curve of `Tuesdays' (/tuzdeɪz/) I have a peak at /u/ and another one at /eɪ/. Between the two peaks I have /zd/, why should the /z/ belong to the first syllable and the /d/ to ...
- 141
2
votes
1
answer
153
views
How To Solve UKLO Mandombe Problem
Premise
I was looking at a two-part problem from the 2021 UKLO titled "Mandombe". UKLO is a linguistics olympiad, which is mostly a code-breaking competition. In this problem, we were given ...
0
votes
2
answers
68
views
Can an onset of a syllable be CV?
Hypothetically speaking, can a CVVC sequence be segmented into a CV onset, a V nucleus and a C coda?
Or is it the case that the VV will always be the nucleus?
- 11
0
votes
1
answer
79
views
How to distinguish between hiatus and a diphthong?
Recently I've been thinking about the difference hiatus and diphthongs.
in my native language there are no phonemic diphthongs but phonetic diphthongs do occur e.g "კაი" ("okay") /...
-5
votes
1
answer
73
views
What is the name of the thing that the tongue does on the syllable pri in Classical Latin, Spanish, Italian, and Brazilian Portuguese? [duplicate]
What is the name of the thing that the tongue does on the syllable pri in Classical Latin, Spanish, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, and possibility other Romance languages?
Since Classical Latin has ...
3
votes
1
answer
328
views
Violations of sonority sequencing principle in English
What accounts for these violations of the sonority sequencing principle in English: /strɛŋkθ/, /fʌdʒ/ （both have fricatives after stops in the coda)
Wikipedia says
In native English words, no phoneme ...
- 1,011
1
vote
0
answers
169
views
Full stops to indicate a syllable boundary?
Without syllable boundary:
ˈwʌt̚ ˈhæp ənd ||
With syllable boundary:
ˈwʌt̚ ˈhæp.ənd ||
However I have words that are two syllables and both syllables are stressed:
ˈsʌmˌθɪŋz‿ˈaʊt̚ ˈðɛəɹ ||
As you ...
- 395
1
vote
3
answers
140
views
How is the word 'second' phonologically split into syllables?
The Cambridge dictionary says that the word 'second' is uttered as /ˈsek.ənd/, in which the first syllable is /sek/ and the second is /ənd/. My question is thus the following: why doesn't this word ...
- 11
0
votes
0
answers
36
views
Scientific sources/ literature regarding (spanish) speech rate
I'm interested in scientific sources or literature regarding speech rate/ tempo of speech of the Spanish language. Do you know any?
Specifically, I'm looking for sources that compare the speech rate ...
- 1
1
vote
1
answer
160
views
Why is/was Gokana claimed to lack syllables?
Wikipedia says that Gokana has been argued to lack syllables, a radical claim because syllables are traditionally considered to be universal, offers no details, but points out that later the claim has ...
- 23
1
vote
1
answer
146
views
Mathematics of Rhyme (perfect, slant)
I have recently been working on some programming frameworks incorporating audio analysis of the English language, particularly whether words "rhyme" or not (pure rhyme, slant rhyme, etc.)
...
0
votes
1
answer
121
views
Are there any languages that have tones that shift over vowels in a single syllable?
I am wondering about tones. Specifically, wondering if there are cases where a tone shifts from one vowel to the next, perhaps in some language like Mandarin Chinese or Vietnamese, if not some African ...
- 4,198
1
vote
2
answers
157
views
Probability based algorithm to convert IPA into english language text
For a student job i'm creating a neural network-based method of determining the probability that two written names are referring to the same person (e.g. what is the probability that kelly m. refers ...
- 113
0
votes
0
answers
66
views
Proof of definite beginning and ending of syllables where three or more consonants in between?
(Note: I am not sure on how to phrase this question, so if you can, please edit for clarity)
So, recently a question came into my mind about whether we can actually define where syllables begin and ...
3
votes
2
answers
191
views
Is a long consonant counted as C or CC in syllable structure?
There are languages that have consonants that are a bit longer in duration i.e. the same as long vowels (e.g. like /iː/). So a long consonant is represented by writing /ː/ after it: long L = /lː/, ...
user30668
3
votes
2
answers
903
views
How do you bound a syllable / split a word into syllables programmatically?
What are the rules for bounding a syllable? I am trying to take IPA text and write software to automatically separate the syllables for the word. By trying I am still just thinking about how to do it. ...
- 4,198
1
vote
2
answers
192
views
How to syllabify 'behave' and 'behaviour'?
I'm well aware of the Maximal Onset Principle which says that 'intervocalic consonants should be syllabified as the onset of the following syllable as long as the Phonotactic constraints allow it'. I ...
- 1,379
0
votes
1
answer
393
views
Algorithms used for identifying the syllables in a Sanskrit word
Could anyone give a reference to the best book or website for learning the algorithms used for identifying the syllables in a Sanskrit word, in a completely unambiguous way, just from a piece of text? ...
- 3
0
votes
1
answer
138
views
Is there Wis-consin and Wi-sconsin?
This is so subtle that I don't know if I'm imagining it. I think I hear two different pronunciations of this word. Are these really distinguishable? Wikipedia says /wɪ ˈskɒnsɪn/, but their audio link ...
user12663
1
vote
0
answers
89
views
Moraic vs Non-Moraic Codas
What determines a coda to be moraic or non-moraic relative to stress? I am a little confused about this.
- 19
4
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Can languages restrict their number of distinct syllables when written by syllabaries?
Disclaimer: I am not a linguist, please provide any corrections for terminology.
From How languages compare with the number of different syllables from all words?, Yoon Mi Oh's thesis counted the ...
- 299
13
votes
2
answers
5k
views
How languages compare with the number of different syllables from all words?
Note: I am not a linguist, please provide any corrections for terminology.
I would like to find some approximate data (if it exists) comparing several languages with the number of different syllables ...
- 299
0
votes
1
answer
31
views
What is "metrically free elements"?
According to the Free Element Condition, only metrically free elements may undergo metrical construction. But what is "metrically free elements"?
- 595
2
votes
1
answer
624
views
What is the difference between Minimal Onset Satisfaction and Onset Maximization Principle?
Since they both describe that onsets take priority over of codas, what is the difference between them?
- 595
1
vote
2
answers
379
views
Considering the English language, is there only one way to divide a word in syllables?
I should do a words analysis. More specifically given a word I should split it into syllables and I was wondering if, given a word, there is only one syllables subdivision. This is because I have read ...
- 11
3
votes
3
answers
356
views
Are the nasal portions of prenasalized consonants syllabic?
Prenasalized consonants occur in a number of natural languages. https://wikivisually.com/wiki/Prenasalized_consonant
When I hear someone pronounce a word that begins with a prenasalized consonant, ...
- 8,691
6
votes
2
answers
242
views
Does the analysis of syllables via mora imply that syllable duration is quantized?
From the wikipedia article:
"The definition of a mora varies. In 1968, American linguist James D.
McCawley defined it as "something of which a long syllable consists of
two and a short syllable ...
- 163
2
votes
4
answers
698
views
Source of syllable statistics of languages?
I wish to compare the syllable diversity and length distributiin of different languages. En-Fr to start with, phonetically even more than in writing.
I want to check the theory that short word short ...
- 205
4
votes
0
answers
1k
views
Does pre-fortis clipping only operate within a syllable? If not, what is its actual scope?
English is known to have a phenomenon of "pre-fortis clipping": in certain contexts, vowel and sonorant phonemes before a fortis/voiceless consonant are realized with shorter duration than the same ...
- 17.4k
2
votes
2
answers
200
views
Who are the first theorists to represent syllable structure as a hierarchical branching structure?
I have attached an example of this structure for the word 'dream', from Blevins' chapter in the Handbook of Phonological Theory, 1995.
- 31
7
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Why isn't intervocalic /ŋ/ analyzed as an onset in English?
I think that sɪ.ŋɪŋ does not seem too unreasonable as a syllabification of the word singing, so I'm a bit puzzled why that option for the syllabification of intervocalic /ŋ/ seems to be dismissed in ...
- 17.4k
7
votes
3
answers
910
views
What exactly is the definition of a syllable?
I do not consider myself a linguist. I just teach English to Japanese audience. So please excuse my ignorance if this is too basic a question.
What exactly is the definition of a syllable? What I ...
- 91
15
votes
1
answer
6k
views
How to split IPA spelling into syllables
First, please forgive my ignorance, I'm completely new to linguistics.
Given the IPA spelling for word, is it possible to programmatically split it into its sounds? So, for example, given the word "...
- 153
4
votes
2
answers
822
views
Is Swahili a Mora-counting language like Japanese?
I have this simple question on Kiswahili, a Bantu language.
As you know in english, we can not always define morae. it's completely different from Japanese morae system.
But when I learn Swahili, ...
- 41
2
votes
2
answers
255
views
What would be the hypothetical phonological range of canines based on their physiology?
There are all kinds of videos showcasing "talking" dogs like huskies jabbering away, but I'm curious: In theory (in a world where dogs could have human brains) what would they physiologically be ...
5
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Is there a "maximal coda principle"?
The "maximal onset principle" says that, in many (most) languages, consonants will attach to a syllable onset rather than a coda when given the choice. For example, "walking" /wakɪŋ/ in English is ...
- 62.6k
1
vote
2
answers
456
views
The Theory Against Syllables
I've seen people mention that some theoretical linguists even dispute the idea of syllables. Maybe, too, it is related to the problem Nuxalk poses to the theory of syllables, since they can have large ...
- 4,198
1
vote
2
answers
301
views
If a syllabic consonant can be a plosive
Wondering if a Syllabic Consonant can be a plosive such as t or p. Maybe Nuxalk has this feature, I don't know.
Basically if you would say something like /p't'p't'/ (where ' is for explosive), ...
- 4,198
5
votes
5
answers
3k
views
The difference between a regular consonant and a syllabic consonant
Trying to understand the difference between regular consonants and Syllabic Consonants. Two examples are from Danish.
[ð̩] skinnede
[l̩] solen
To start (for some context), the way I would naturally ...
- 4,198
-1
votes
1
answer
180
views
With how much certainty can we say that all languages have at least one word with a secondary stress?
Apparently is common, so I wanted to know just how much.