GROUP 3

SYLLABLES
LÂM QUỐC ANH
STUDENTS: NGUYỄN THỊ HUỲNH NHƯ
NGUYỄN THỊ NGỌC HIẾU
TRÀ CÔNG DANH
NGUYỄN CHÍ LINH

1
 Syllables
1. Definition & the nature of syllables

2. The structure of English syllables

3. Weak syllables
4. Reasons to learn Weak form

2
 Definition
• A syllable is a unit of speech that
includes one vowel sound

• There is a syllable for each vowel

sound in a word.

• Recognizing the syllabic pattern can help the

reader overcome the need to sound out each
phoneme one at a time.

3
 Definition
E.g:
The word "water"
- is composed of two syllables: wa and ter.
A syllable is typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most
often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins
(typically, consonants)

4
 Definition
• Syllables are usually described as consisting
of a centre which has little or no obstruction
to airflow and which sounds comparatively
loud;
• Before and after this centre (at the beginning
and end of the syllable), there will be greater
obstruction to airflow and/or less loud sound.

5
 The nature of syllables
• A minimum syllable is a single vowel in isolation
e.g. are /ɑ:/ or /ɒ:/ err /ə:/
• Some syllables have an onset. That is they have more
than just silence preceding the centre of the syllable.
e.g. my /maɪ/
• Some syllables may have no onset but have a coda
(termination).
e.g. on /ɒn/
• Some syllabes have both an onset and a termination.
e.g. meat /mi:t/
 The structure of syllables

There are some parts of syllables

 The parts are onset and rhyme; within
the rhyme we find the nucleus and coda
 Not all syllables have all parts; the
smallest possible syllable contains a
nucleus only
 A syllable may or may not have an onset
and a coda
 The structure of syllables
 Onset: the beginning sounds of the syllable; the ones
preceding the nucleus. These are always consonants in
English. The nucleus is a vowel in most cases, although
the consonants /r/, /l/, /m/, /n/ and the velar nasal (the
'ng' sound) can also be the nucleus of a syllable.
 Rhyme: the rest of the syllable, after the onset. The
rhyme can also be divided up: Rhyme = nucleus + coda
 Nucleus (peak): Is the core or essential part of a
syllable. A nucleus must be preset in order for ea syllable
to be presente. kMost syllable are vowels.
 Coda: is the last of the syllable, it could be
consonants.
Structure of English syllables

Syllable

Rhyme

Onset Peak Coda

(nucleus)

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 * The syllable node at
Ex: FLOP the top of the tree
branches into Onset
and Rhyme
Syllable + The Onset node
branches because it
clap contains two
consonants /f/ and /l/
+ The Rhyme node
branches because this
Rhyme
syllable has both a
nucleus and a coda

Peak
Onset (nucleus) Coda

c l a p
10
Syllable Division
Syllable division

extra

?
• e.kstr@
• ek.str@
• eks.tr@
• ekst.r@
• ekstr.@
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 Syllable Division
Syllable division rule # 1; VC / CV

• nap/kin frus/trate (frust/rate)

• mas/cot
•
• kin/der/gar/ten
•
• ap/pen/dix
• “When two (three) consonants come
together between two vowels, split them
up.”
 VC CV

rabbit
 Syllable division rule # 2; V/ CV
V / CV (70%)
• ho/tel oc/to/pus
• me/ter u/ten/sil
• o/zone por/cu/pine
mu/sic cal/cu/late
“When one consonant comes between
two vowels, split them up before the
vowel.” (70% of the time)
 V C V

ti ger
 Syllable division rule # 3; VC/V
V C/V (30%)

• cabin ca/bin cab/in

• camel ca/mel cam/el

• “When one consonant comes
between two vowels, split them up
after the vowel.” (30% of the time)
 V C V

cam el
 Syllable division rule # 4; VC/ Cle
V/Cle

Final Stable Syllable

• bub [ble ta [ble men [tion

• han [dle ti [tle man [sion
• driz [zle cra [dle fu [ture
• gar [gle sta [ble man [age

• “Take off the Final Stable Syllable first

 V C l e

tur tle
 Weak Syllable
Definition:
+ Weak forms are syllable sounds that become
unstressed in connected speech and are often then
pronounced as a schwa

+ A very important component of natural and fluent

English

Ex. What do you want to do this evening?

=> In the sentence above, the first “do” is a weak
form and the second is stressed.
 Weak Syllable
EX:
* In the word “father” /'fɑ:ðə/
- The second syllable, which is weak, is shorter than
the first, less loud and has a vowel that cannot occur
in strong syllables.

* In the word “bottle” /'bɔtl/

- The weak second syllable contains no vowel at all,
but consists entirely of the consonants “l”.
 Common Spellings
Weak form Strong Form

‘a’ attend /ə'tend/ character /'kæriktə/

‘ar’ particular /pəˈtɪkjələ(r)/ March /mɑ:t∫/

‘ate’ intimate /ˈɪntɪmət/ mate /meɪt/

‘o’ carrot /ˈkærət/ potato /pəˈteɪtoʊ/

‘or’ forget /fəˈɡet/ mortgage /ˈmɒːrɡɪdʒ/

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 Common Spellings
Weak form Strong form

‘e’ Violet /ˈvaɪələt/ Settlement /setlmənt/

‘u’ Autumn /ˈɔːtəm/ Butter /ˈbʌtə(r)/

‘er’ Perhaps /pəˈhæps/ Merge /mɜːdʒ/

‘ough’ Thorough /ˈθʌrə/ Though /ðəʊ/

‘ou’ Callous /ˈkæləs/ Could /kʊd/

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 Reasons for learning
Weakform words
+ Improve your listenining skills, especially to
understand native speakers.

+ Improve your speaking skills. If you want to

speak naturally, you should pronounce weak forms
correctly

+ Failure on weak forms will affect your English

rhythm

+ You will avoid misunderstandings.

 Intventory of weak form words

- Articles : a, an, the

- Conjunctions: as, and, but, than, that

- Prepositions: at, for, from, of , to

- Auxiliary and modal verbs: am is are,

was were, have, has, do, had, does, would,
must, can will shall

- Pronouns: he, him, her, us, them, there

 PRACTICE

A: Will you be at the meeting on Friday?

/wɪl jə bi ət ðə ˈmi:tɪŋ ɔ:n ˈfraɪdeɪ/
B: Yes. Will you be there?
/jes. w ɪl ju: bi ðeə/

A: Look! It's him /lʊk. Itz hɪm/

B: Where? I can't see him
/wer? aɪ kɑːnt si: ɪm/
 PRACTICE
1. Are you comming?
/ə juːˈkʌmɪŋ/
2. Who was that?
/huːwəz ðæt/
3. You can stay here if you like?
/juːkən steɪ hɪr ɪf juːlaɪk/

4. He's already gone to work

/hiz ɔːlˈredi ɡɒn tə wɜːrk/
THANKS FOR
YOUR
ATTENTION