Closed syllable
Dictionary-reference book linguistic terms. Ed. 2nd. - M.: Enlightenment. Rosenthal D. E., Telenkova M. A.. 1976 .
See what a “closed syllable” is in other dictionaries:
SYLLABLE, syllable, plural. syllables, syllables, husband. 1. A sound or combination of sounds in a word, pronounced with one exhalation (ling.). Open syllable (ending in a vowel). Closed syllable (ending with a consonant). Divide words into syllables. 2 units only Style,… … Dictionary Ushakova
I. 1) Physiologically (from the educational point of view), a sound or several sounds are pronounced with one impulse of exhaled air. 2) Acoustically (from the sonority side), a segment of speech in which one sound stands out the most... ... Dictionary of linguistic terms
syllable- I a; pl. syllables/gi, o/v; m. see also. by syllables, syllabic Sound or combination of sounds in a word, pronounced with one impulse of exhaled air. Divide words into syllables. The emphasis is on the last syllable. Closed syllable. (ending in a consonant) ... Dictionary of many expressions
1. SYLLABLE, a; pl. syllables, ov; m. A sound or combination of sounds in a word, pronounced with one impulse of exhaled air. Divide words into syllables. The emphasis is on the last syllable. Closed village (ending in a consonant). Open s. (ending with... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
SYLLABLE, a, plural. and, ov, husband. A sound or combination of sounds produced by a single impulse of exhaled air. Divide words into syllables. Read syllable by syllable. Shock s. Open s. (ending in a vowel sound). Closed village (ending in a consonant).… … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary
The minimum pronunciation unit of speech, consisting of one or more sounds that form a close phonetic unity. An open syllable ends with a vowel, a closed consonant ends with sounds... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
SYLLABLE 1, a, plural. and, ov, m. a sound or combination of sounds pronounced by one impulse of exhaled air. Divide words into syllables. Read syllable by syllable. Shock s. Open s. (ending in a vowel sound). Closed village (ending in a consonant).… … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary
First, let's find out what's different open syllable in English language from closed and using examples, let's see how to correctly read letters in a particular syllable.
Open syllable in English
If a word ends in a vowel, it is an open syllable.
name - name
my - mine
take - take
You have probably already noticed that in almost all cases, the vowel letter e at the end of a word is silent (not readable). Let's now take a closer look at how to correctly read vowels in an open stressed syllable.
In an open syllable, all vowels are read as in the alphabet. The exception is the letter y. There are 6 vowels in total in the alphabet. Let's look at each of them in the table below.
English vowels and examples of their pronunciation in words
Aa
name - name
lake - lake
say - say
As you already noticed, the last vowel in English word not readable. It only says that the first vowel in a word should be read as in the alphabet.
Ee
be - to be
me - me
settle - bench
In most prepositions we pronounce the last vowel, as in the example with the prepositions be (to be) and me (me).
II
nice - to be
like - me
line - bench
Oo
no - no
nose - nose
go - go, drive
Uu
mute - mute
tune - tune
Yy
my - mine
skype - skype
The vowel y in an English word conveys sound despite the fact that its transcription is .
Closed syllable in English.
If a word ends with a consonant, then it is closed syllable.
pen - pen
good [ɡʊd] - good
sit - sit
Let's look at the rules for reading each vowel separately in closed syllable in English.
English vowels and examples of their pronunciation in a closed syllable
Aa
bad - bad
dad - dad
back - back
black - black
flat - apartment
The letter Aa in a closed stressed syllable is read as the sound [æ]. This sound is similar to something between Russian A and E. In the examples you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound. Practice well before moving on to the next letter.
Oo
stop - stop
box - box
from - from, from
shop - store
hot - hot
Letter Oo in a closed stressed syllable is read as the sound [ə]. This sound is similar to the Russian sound O, but in Russian, when we pronounce O, we extend our lips forward; in English, when pronouncing the sound [ə], our lips do not extend forward. In the examples you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound.
II
big - big
film - film
milk - milk
sit - sit
fish - fish
The letter Ii in a closed stressed syllable is read as the sound [I]. This sound is similar to the Russian sound I. In the examples you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound.
Ee
best - best
bed - bed
dress - dress
egg - egg
get - receive
The letter Ee in a closed stressed syllable is read as the sound [e]. This sound is similar to the Russian sound E. In the examples you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound.
Uu
cup - cup
sun - sun
run - run
fun - fun
up - up
The letter Uu in a closed stressed syllable is read as the sound [ʌ]. This sound is similar to the Russian A sound, but in English it is more intense. In the examples you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound.
Yy
gym - gym
myth - myth
rhythm - rhythm
The letter Yy in a closed stressed syllable is read the same as the letter Ii. This sound is similar to the Russian sound I. In the examples you can clearly hear how to pronounce this sound.
Useful
A diphthong is when one letter contains two sounds. For example, the letter a has two sounds.
Open closed syllable in English: exercises
Now let's practice a little. Choose which sound is present in the word.
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Hello, dear friends! Today I will tell you about the types of syllables in English. Some readers will now close the article and say that they do not want to go so deep into learning the language. There's no need to rush. Only at first glance it seems that the English read completely differently from how they write. In fact, there is logic everywhere. Once you know it, you can learn to read with confidence. So let's figure it out.
Why is transcription needed?
Many people no longer teach it at school and you don’t have to memorize these incomprehensible symbols, but there is one secret. It is important to learn division into syllables.
The rule is:
If a stressed vowel is followed by a consonant (except r), then we give it to the next, unstressed one. As in the word stu/dent. When pronouncing, you emphasize u more clearly. The emphasis falls on it. Therefore d goes into the second part. If there are two or more consonants after a stressed word, the first is taken by the stressed part of the word, and the second by the unstressed part (pat/tern).
Do you have any doubts? Open your dictionary. The upper comma in the transcription indicates emphasis.
Open and shut
Now you need to know how to determine the type of syllable. Many of you learned at school, but few will confidently say what an open syllable means. This is the one that ends with a vowel.
Why is the letter r special?
Because she does not obey general rules, but dictates her own. In the third type, it comes after the letter under stress and makes it long. Pay attention to fur (fёёё), fork (fook), serve (syoev). Syllable type 4 is similar to type 3, but after the r there is also the letter e. As in care, mere, more.
Let's put all the information in a table:
Therefore, I recommend subscribing to my blog and getting acquainted with other articles. You will also receive as a gift, completely free of charge, an excellent basic phrasebook in three languages, English, German and French. Its main advantage is that there is Russian transcription, so even without knowing the language, you can easily master colloquial phrases.
It would seem that for any person who has learned to read, there is nothing easier than dividing words into syllables. In practice, it turns out that this is not such an easy task; moreover, in order to correctly complete this task, you need to know some nuances. If you think about it, not everyone can even give a clear answer to the simple question: “What is a syllable?”
So what is this - a syllable?
As you know, every word consists of syllables, which, in turn, consist of letters. However, for a combination of letters to be a syllable, it must contain one vowel, which in itself can form a syllable. It is generally accepted that a syllable is the smallest pronounceable unit of speech or, more simply, a sound/sound combination pronounced in one exhalation. For example, the word “ya-blo-ko”. To pronounce it, you need to exhale three times, which means that this word consists of three syllables.
In our language, one syllable cannot contain more than one vowel. Therefore, the number of vowels in a word equals the number of syllables. Vowels are syllabic sounds (they create a syllable), while consonants are non-syllabic sounds (they cannot form a syllable).
Syllable theories
There are as many as four theories trying to explain what a syllable is.
- Exhalation theory. One of the most ancient. According to it, the number of syllables in a word is equal to the number of exhalations made when pronouncing it.
- Acoustic theory. It implies that a syllable is a combination of sounds with high and low volume. The vowel is louder, so it is capable of both independently forming a syllable and attracting consonants to itself, like less loud sounds.
- Articulatory theory. In this theory, the syllable is presented as the result of muscle tension, which increases towards the vowel and decreases towards the consonant.
- Dynamic theory. Explains the syllable as a complex phenomenon, which is influenced by a number of factors listed in previous theories.
It is worth noting that each of the above theories has its own disadvantages, as well as advantages, and none of them has been able to fully characterize the nature of the concept “syllable”.
Types of syllables
The word may consist of different quantities syllables - from one or more. It all depends on the vowels, for example: “sleep” - one syllable, “sno-vi-de-ni-e” - five. According to this category, they are divided into monosyllabic and polysyllabic.
If a word contains more than one syllable, then one of them is stressed, and it is called stressed (when pronounced, it is distinguished by the length and strength of its sound), and all the others are unstressed.
Depending on what sound the syllable ends with, they are open (for a vowel) and closed (for a consonant). For example, the word “za-vod”. In this case, the first syllable is open because it ends with the vowel “a,” while the second is closed because it ends with the consonant “d.”
How to correctly separate words into syllables?
First of all, it is worth clarifying that the division of words into phonetic syllables does not always coincide with the division for transfer. So, according to the rules of transfer, one letter cannot be separated, even if it is a vowel and is a syllable. However, if the word is divided into syllables, according to the rules of division, then a vowel not surrounded by consonants will form one full syllable. For example: the word “yu-la” phonetically has two syllables, but when transferred, this word will not be separated.
As specified above, a word has exactly as many syllables as vowels. One vowel sound can act as a syllable, but if it contains more than one sound, then such a syllable will necessarily begin with a consonant. The above example - the word “yu-la” - is divided in this way, and not “yul-a”. This example demonstrates how the second vowel “a” attracts the “l” to itself.
If there are several consonants in a row in the middle of a word, they belong to the next syllable. This rule applies to cases with the same consonants and to cases with different non-syllable sounds. The word “oh-ch-ya-ny” illustrates both options. The letter “a” in the second syllable attracted a combination of different consonant letters - “tch”, and “y” - a double “nn”. There is one exception to this rule - for unpaired non-syllable sounds. If the first consonant in a letter combination is a voiced consonant (y, l, l, m, m, n, n, r', r), then it is separated along with the previous vowel. In the word “sklyanka” the letter “n” belongs to the first syllable, since it is an unpaired voiced consonant. And in the previous example - “oh-cha-ya-ny” - “n” moved to the beginning of the next syllable, according to general rule, since it was a paired sonorant.
Sometimes letter combinations of consonants in a letter mean several letters, but sound like one sound. In such cases, dividing the word into syllables and dividing for hyphenation will differ. Since the combination means one sound, these letters should not be separated when dividing them into syllables. However, when transferred, such letter combinations are separated. For example, the word “i-zzho-ga” has three syllables, but when transferred, this word will be divided as “izzho-ga”. In addition to the letter combination “zzh”, pronounced as one long sound [zh:], this rule also applies to the combinations “tsya” / “tsya”, in which “ts” / “ts” sound like [ts]. For example, it is correct to divide “u-chi-tsya” without breaking “ts”, but when transferring it will be “learn-tsya”.
As noted in the previous section, a syllable can be open or closed. There are significantly fewer closed syllables in the Russian language. As a rule, they are found only at the end of the word: “ha-ker”. In rare cases, closed syllables may appear in the middle of a word, provided that the syllable ends in an unpaired sonorant: “sum-ka”, but “bud-dka”.
How to correctly separate words for hyphenation
Having dealt with the question of what a syllable is, what types there are, and how to divide into them, it is worth turning your attention to the rules of word hyphenation. Indeed, despite their external similarity, these two processes do not always lead to the same result.
When dividing a word for hyphenation, the same principles are used as when dividing it into syllables, but it is worth paying attention to a number of nuances.
It is strictly forbidden to tear off one letter from a word, even if it is a vowel forming a syllable. This prohibition also applies to the transfer of a group of consonants without a vowel, with soft sign or y. For example, “a-ni-me” is divided into syllables like this, but it can only be transferred in this way: “ani-me”. As a result, when transferred, two syllables appear, although in reality there are three.
If two or more consonants are nearby, they can be divided at your discretion: “te-kstu-ra” or “tek-stu-ra”.
When paired consonants are between vowels, they are separated, except when these letters are part of the root at the junction with a suffix or prefix: “class-sy”, but “class-ny”. The same principle applies to the consonant at the end of the root of a word before a suffix - it is, of course, possible to tear off letters from the root when transferring, but it is not advisable: “Kyiv-skiy”. Similarly, with regard to the prefix: the last consonant included in its composition cannot be torn off: “under-crawl”. If the root begins with a vowel, you can either still separate the prefix itself, or transfer two syllables of the root together with it: “no-accident”, “no-accident”.
Abbreviations cannot be transferred, but complex abbreviated words can be transferred, but only by compound ones.
ABC by syllables
The syllable is of great practical importance when teaching children to read. From the very beginning, students learn the letters and syllables that can be combined. And subsequently, children gradually learn to construct words from syllables. First, children are taught to read words from simple open syllables - “ma”, “mo”, “mu” and the like, and soon the task is complicated. Most primers and methodological manuals, dedicated this issue, were built precisely according to this method.
Moreover, specifically for developing the ability to read syllables, some children's books are published with texts divided into syllables. This facilitates the reading process and helps to bring the ability to recognize syllables to automaticity.
The concept of “syllable” itself is not yet a fully studied subject of linguistics. At the same time, its practical significance is difficult to overestimate. After all, this small piece of the word helps not only to learn reading and writing rules, but also helps to understand many grammatical rules. We should also not forget that poetry exists thanks to syllable. After all, the main systems for creating rhymes are based precisely on the properties of this tiny phonetic-phonological unit. And although there are a lot of theories and studies devoted to it, the question of what a syllable is remains open.