The syllable is each phoneme or that set of phonemes that we pronounce in a single emission or blow of voice when we say a word. It can be made up of one or more phonemes, which we represent with vowels and consonants. The vowels alone can constitute syllables: love (a-mor), idea (i-de-a), gold (o-ro), unique (ú-ni-co); whereas the consonants to form as such, they have to be united to a vowel to be able to constitute a syllable.
What is the syllable
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It is considered as each phoneme with which the words are made, pronounced in a single voice emission. In our language, this can be made up of one or more vowels, which can be accompanied by one or more consonants.
Of these, the easiest to distinguish and separate are those made up of a consonant and a vowel. Example: the word photo, which is made up of the phonemes photo-to. According to the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy, the syllable is the unit of the language composed of one or more articulated sounds, grouped around the loudest, which is generally a vowel.
In some languages, there is a minimal structure, called mora, which is the unit that measures the syllabic weight or duration of the sound segments of it. Accordingly, one can speak of light and heavy syllables. The short or light ones end in a short vowel, having a single blackberry (o-jo); long or heavy ones end in a consonant, so they have two blackberries (pa-n).
The consonant components that precede the vowel nucleus are called the head; and those who succeed him form the coda. To define and syllable a word, it is necessary to meet certain criteria:
- Have at least one vowel.
- If there is a consonant between two vowels, that consonant joins the second vowel (la-ta).
- When there is a pair of consonants between two vowels, each vowel joins each consonant (at-las), except for the inseparable consonant groups br, bl, cn, cr, cl, dr, fl, fr, gr, gl, ll, pl, pr, tr, rr, ch.
- If there are three consonants between two vowels, the first consonant joins the first vowel and the other two to the second (en-sam-blar).
- The h preceded or succeeded by another consonant must be divided (except for c) and does not destroy diphthongs either.
- Diphthongs do not separate (ai, au, ei, eu, ia, io, ou, ia, ua, ie, ue, oi, uo, ui, iu, ay, ey, oy) unless the closed vowel is tilde.
- The triphthongs do not separate either, the vowel groups iai, iei, uai, uei, uau, iau, uay, uey being inseparable.
Syllabic nucleus
In Spanish, every phoneme has to be built around a vowel, which constitutes the syllabic nucleus. This can be presented accompanied by other vowels in a position before or after it. In Spanish, the nucleus is a vowel and is preceded by the initial phase called attack. It is considered that the obligatory constituent of a syllable (the other elements can be dispensed with) is the nucleus, which can be formed only by a syllabic vowel without the presence of a consonant.
The vowels a, eyo (strong vowels) will always be nuclei of this, and the vowels i and y will be so as long as they are not accompanied by another vowel.
Example: Sun, its syllabic nucleus being the letter o.
Marginal
They are those vowels that accompany the vowel that makes up the syllabic nucleus.
Example: Pie, a monosyllable word, whose marginal has been the vowel i.
Vowel Peak
They are the vowels that carry the syllables, so they are the combination between the syllabic nucleus and the marginal ones. If there is only one vowel in the syllable, it is said to be a simple top; and if it contains two or three vowels, it is said to be a compound top.
Example of a simple peak: Pencil, a word composed of two simple peaks (pencil).
Example of compound top: Hound, word composed of a simple top, a compound one and finally a simple one (sa-bue-so).
Classification of syllables
They are classified according to their pronunciation and structure. According to this, we have:
Stressed or unstressed syllables
Every word, considered in isolation, has a syllable that is articulated with greater musical pitch, duration and intensity than the rest: it is the stressed syllable, bearing the accent. Depending on the type and structure of the word, they will have an accent or their accent will be implicit. The same word can only have a single stressed syllable.
The unstressed are those that are pronounced with less intensity than the tonic. A word can be composed of one or more unstressed words, although their presence is not essential in all the words that exist, as is the case with monosyllable words.
Examples: Friend = a (unstressed) - my (tonic) - go (unstressed).
Attic = á (tonic) - ti (atonic) - co (atonic).
Open or closed syllables
Also called a free syllable, it is one that ends in a vowel, that is, it lacks a coda; while the locked or closed is one that ends in a consonant or has a coda. One is said to be open or closed according to the degree to which the speaker must open his mouth when pronouncing it.
Example: Specials = es (closed) - pe (open) - cia (open) - les (closed).
Simple or compound syllables
The simple or direct are those that are formed by one or two letters, forming a word or that can be part of another of two or more blows of voice. Compounds are those that have more than two letters between vowels and consonants and can be part of words with more than one syllable.
Simple examples: A; Yes; No; Cup, formed by two simple ones (ta-za).
Examples of compounds: Mis; Time; Us; Cross, formed by a compound and a simple (cross).
Syllabic division
According to the location of their stressed syllable, words can be classified into:
Sharp
They are those words whose stressed syllable is in the last phoneme. These types of words are also called oxytons.
Serious
They are the words whose stressed syllable is in the penultimate phoneme. They are also called as plain words.
Esdrújulas
They are the words whose stressed syllable is in the third to last phoneme.
Overdrives
They are the words whose stressed syllable is before the third to last phoneme. These words can be formed with adverbs of mode (with an adjective plus a suffix) and with verb forms almost always in imperative mode and two unstressed personal pronouns.
The rule establishes that almost all overdrugs have an accent, with the exception of those created with mode adverbs, when the original adjective does not have an accent.
Example of sobredrújula with adverbs of way with accent and without accent: Only and cowardly, where unique and cowardly would be the adjectives respectively; and mind the suffix.
Example of an overdrive with imperative verb forms: Júramelo, where me and unstressed personal pronouns are.
Classification of words according to the number of syllables
According to the number of phonemes, words can be classified as follows:
Monosyllables
They are those words that are formed by a single syllable or a simple one, and are pronounced in a single voice emission or a single phoneme.
Example: With, Las, Tres, Tren, He.
Disyllable
They are the words formed by two phonemes.
Example: Tre-ce, U-va, Vis-ta, Te-ner, Pla-to.
Trisyllables
They are the words made up of three phonemes.
Example: Ca-mi-no, Ro-drí-guez, Ce-lu-lar, Cas-ti-go, Pro-me-sa, Vam-pi-ro.
Tetrasyllables
They are the words that have four phonemes.
Example: A-se-si-no, Cua-ter-na-rio, Bi-blio-te-ca, Cam-pa-men-to, Per-ma-nen-te.
Polysyllables
They are the words that are made up of four or more phonemes.
Example: Ha-bi-li-do-so, De-so-xi-rri-bo-nu-clei-co, O-to-rri-no-la-rin-gó-lo-go, E-le- fan-tia-sis, Bi-li-rru-bi-na.
Examples of syllabic division
- Mor-fo-sin-ta-xis
- Nimbly
- Synthetic
- To surprise
- Lieutenant
- Health
- Acid
- Persian
- Ma-to
- Don
Grave word polysyllable.
Tetrasyllable word overdrive.
Tetrasyllable word esdrújula.
Sharp word trisyllable.
Grave word trisyllable.
Sharp word trisyllable.
Trisyllable word esdrújula.
Grave word bisyllable.
Sharp word bisyllable.
Monosyllable word.
Frequently Asked Questions about Syllable
What is a syllable for children?
It is the group of letters that are pronounced in a single voice stroke, such as: bread.
How are words classified according to syllables?
Words are classified according to the number of syllables in them: monosyllables, which are those that have a single syllable pronounced in a phoneme; bisyllables, which are those with two; trisyllables, which have three; tetrasyllable, which has four; and polysyllables, which have four or more voice strokes.How to separate a word into syllables?
To separate a word, the vowel groups that make up the diphthongs and triphthongs must be respected, as well as the rules of the inseparable consonant groups. There are pages on the Internet that serve as a syllable separator.
