I. Syllable A. Syllable Nucleus II. Syllabics A. Structure 1. onset 2. nucleus 3. Coda B. Syllabic Consonants

1. SYLLABI
CS

2. Syllables are chunks of
sound and can be just
letter or group of letters,
the sound that matters.

3. SYLLABLE NUCLEUS
- most often a vowel with optional
initial and final margins (typically
consonants)

4. SYLLABICS
• refers to the characteristic of a word that is
segmented by its sounds that can function
as the nucleus of a syllable
• The nucleus of the word is called the
syllabic

5. STRUCTURE
In most theories of phonology, the
general structure of a syllable consist
of three segments:
1) Onset
2) Nucleus
3) Coda

6. ONSET
- is the consonant sound or sounds at
the beginning of a syllable, occurring
before the nucleus
- is optional

7. NUCLEUS
- is usually the vowel in the middle of a
syllable
- is usually a vowel, in the form of
a monophthong, diphthong, or triphthong, but
sometimes is a syllabic consonant
- obligatory in most languages

8. SYLLABIC CONSONANTS
- are [m], [n], [ŋ], [l], [r]
- usually similar to vowels in duration, and can
carry tone
- we indicate consonant sounds syllabic by
placing a small vertical line beneath the consonant
symbol
- any unmarked consonant sound is assumed to
be non syllabic

9. CODA
- comprises the consonant sounds
of a syllable that follow the nucleus
- is optional in some languages