Syllable | Speech - Encyclopedia Britannica

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External Websites

• Open Library Publishing Platform - Syllable Structure
• National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Adaptive Syllable Training Improves Phoneme Identification in Older Listeners with and without Hearing Loss
• Al-Mustaqbal University - Strong and weak syllables (PDF)
• CiteSeerx - Syllable-Based Large Vocabulary Continous Speech Recognition (PDF)
• BCCampus Publishing - Syllables
• Humanities LibreTexts - The Syllable
• Penn Arts and Sciences - Department of Linguistics - Syllable Structure
• Frontiers - Syllable Structure Universals and Native Language Interference in Second Language Perception and Production: Positional Asymmetry and Perceptual Links to Accentedness

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syllable, a segment of speech that consists of a vowel, with or without one or more accompanying consonant sounds immediately preceding or following—for example, a, I, out, too, cap, snap, check. A syllabic consonant, such as the final n sound in button and widen, also constitutes a syllable. Closed (checked) syllables are those that end in a consonant; open (free) syllables end in a vowel. The role that syllables play in the production of speech is a matter of considerable debate. So too is any more precise definition of the syllable in phonetics and phonology.