To count the number of syllables in words, we begin with the definition of the syllable. By definition, a syllable is a part of a word that contains a single vowel sound and that is pronounced as a unit. This definition can be adopted universally, but as we examined in the previous section, languages can differ on what counts as a single vowel sound or on the sound that is pronounced as a unit. Here we learn the concept of the syllable proper to English.
The core in the definition of the syllable is the single vowel sound. So, what is a single vowel sound? Consider the word ‘idea,’ which is pronounced /aɪdiə/. There are four distinct vowel sounds, but the word is a three-syllable word. The reason is that the first two vowel sounds /aɪ/ make only one syllable because the vowel is a special vowel, called a diphthong. In English, a diphthong is a vowel sound that has two perceived auditory vowel qualities, but is a phoneme. A phoneme is like an atom in chemistry, the smallest sound unit that cannot be divided any further. As a phoneme, a diphthong is always viewed as a ‘single vowel sound,’ making one syllable. American English has 5 diphthongs. The remaining vowel sounds of ‘idea,’ that is, /iə/, are two vowel phonemes, /i/ and /ə/, each making its own syllable. These vowels are called monophthongs, which means a vowel sound that has one perceived auditory vowel quality. American English has 10 monophthongs. So, when English people say ‘a single vowel sound’ they mean a vowel phoneme sound. In other words, the number of syllables of a word equals the number of vowel phoneme sounds. Consequently, to count syllables in the English way, we need to know the vowel phonemes of English.
15 vowel phonemes of American English
A single vowel sound means a vowel phoneme sound. English vowel phonemes can be grouped into monophthongs, diphthongs and even triphthongs. A monophthong is a vowel phoneme that has a single perceived auditory quality. A diphthong is a vowel phoneme that has two perceived auditory qualities. And a triphthong is a vowel phoneme that has three perceived auditory qualities. Triphthongs occur in British English due to its non-rhotic pronunciation. That is, in standard British English, the ‘r’ sound after a vowel in a syllable is not pronounced, and instead is pronounced as a schwa, /ə/. For this reason, the word ‘sour’ is viewed as containing a triphthong in British English: /saʊə/. American English, by contrast, is rhotic, meaning that the ‘r’ sound after a vowel in a syllable is fully pronounced as /ər/. That is, the schwa belongs to the consonant ‘r’ sound (This r sound is called the vocalic r, as it carries its own vowel sound). Regardless of the classification, diphthongs and triphthongs are viewed as single vowel sounds, and thus make one syllable.
As this book is mainly concerned with the American English prosody, we examine American vowel phonemes. American English has 10 monophthongs. These are the 10 monophthongs with example words where the phonemes occur:
10 monophthongs
/ɪ/ as in ship
/i/ as in sheep
/ɛ/ as in men
/æ/ as in man
/ʊ/ as in book
/u/ as in boot
/ɔ/ as in door
/ɑ/ as in car
/ʌ/ as in cup and
the schwa /ə/
American English has 5 diphthongs. These are the the 5 diphthongs with example words where the phonemes occur:
5 diphthongs
/eɪ/ as in say
/ɔɪ/ as in boy
/aɪ/ as in fly
/oʊ/ as in snow
/aʊ/ as in house
Based on this understanding, ‘cake’ ‘and ‘boat’ are one syllable words as their vowels are diphthongs, /eɪ/ and /oʊ/, respectively. ‘Outside’ is a two-syllable word as it contains just two diphthongs: /aʊ/ and /aɪ/.
Adjacent vowel letters
With adjacent vowel letters in words, the syllabication depends on whether they together are pronounced as a single vowel phoneme sound or not. If they together make a monophthong or a diphthong, they make one syllable. But if they make more than one vowel phoneme sound, we need to divide the adjacent vowel letters. For example, ‘reach’ is a one syllable word, and ‘react’ is a two syllable word. That is, in the case of ‘reach’, ‘ea’ together makes one vowel sound, /i/, so the word ‘reach’ has just one syllable. By contrast, in the case of ‘react’, ‘e’ and ‘a’ make two different vowel phoneme sounds, /i/ and /æ/. Thus, ‘react’ has two syllables: re-act (Syllables are divided by the hyphen (-) sign). This is another pair of examples: ‘brief’ and ‘client.’ ‘Brief' is pronounced /brif/, so it is a one syllable word. On the other hand, 'client' is pronounced /klaɪənt/, with two vowel phoneme sounds, /aɪ/ and /ə/, so it is a two- syllable word: cli-ent.
In the following words, the adjacent vowel letters together make one vowel phoneme sound. So they are monosyllabic words:
reach, proud, coat, boat, queen, queer, wooed
In the following words, the adjacent vowels make separate vowel phoneme sounds, making their own syllables:
2 syllable words: di-et, qui-et, re-act, sci-ence, cli-ent
3 syllable words: the-o-rem, me-te-or, i-de-a
4 syllable words: be-a-ti-fic, ac-tu-al-ly
Semi-vowels
Semi-vowels, /j/ and /w/, do not make single vowel sounds, and so they cannot make a syllable. When they occur with other consonants, they are treated as parts of consonant clusters. The following words begin with a consonant cluster that ends with /w/.
1 syllable words: switch, suede, twelve, dwarf, quite, squat, Guam, thwart
2 syllable words: ques-tion, gua-va
The following words begin with a consonant cluster that ends with /j/:
1 syllable words: pure, queue, cue, view, huge
2 syllable words: mu-sic, pu-pil, bu-reau, beau-ty, fu-ture, fu-el
3 syllable words: cu-ri-ous,
In the following examples, semivowel occurs in the middle of the words (Italicized letters make the semivowel sound):
2 syllable words: gen-ius on-ion, can-yon, re-quire
3 syllable words: o-pin-ion, com-pan-ion, do-min-ion Vir-gin-ia