The apprentice
Member
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2013
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- Spanish
- Home Country
- Dominican Republic
- Current Location
- Dominican Republic
Dear teachers and members:
Though prefixes and suffixes are grammatical units which keep their syntactical strutures in the syllable-splitting process, I consider myself the division of words into syllables in English a phonological phenomenon rather than an orthographical one.
According to what I have learned about the division of words into syllables, of all of the syllable-splitting rules one of the two basic ones are:
1) A word whose first syllable contains a short vowel in it ─ a closed syllable ─, this syllable must end with a consonant sound. It seems to me that the phonological aspect is the one which governs this rule; a vowel is short or long in sound, not because of its spelling:
Cabin /ˈkæb
ɪn/ is split as «cab-in»; Happen /ˈhæp
ən/ is split as «hap-pen»; Basket /ˈbæs
kɪt, ˈbɑ
skɪt/ is split as «bas-ket»
2) A word cannot end with a short syllable sound or a closed syllable; another phonological rule.
Easy /ˈi
zi/; Necessary /ˈnɛs
əˌsɛr
i/; Purgatory /ˈpɜr
gəˌtɔr
i/; Activity /ækˈtɪv
ɪ
ti/
I also want to focus in another important rule which states the following:
3) A word must be divided before the consonant prior to the diagraph LE, except in CKLE; the exception to this rule seems to be somewhat that of a spelling rule.
Table /ˈteɪ
bəl/ «ta-ble»; Middle /ˈmɪdəl/ «mid-dle»; Wrestle /ˈrɛs
əl/ «wres-tle»; Tickle /ˈtɪk
əl/ «tick-le»; Buckle /ˈbʌk
əl/ «buck-le»
OBSERVATIONS.
I found the following words divided as follows:
a) SYMBOLIC /sɪmˈbɒl
ɪk/ was divided up into «sym-bol-ic»
The first and second syllable are short, ─ the rule makes emphasis on the first syllable only ─, and the last one (IC) seems to be a suffix, but may not be; I'm not pretty sure.
b) EMIGRATE /ˈɛm
ɪˌgreɪt/ was divide up into «em-i-grate»
The first and the second syllable are short, but the second one was separated alone; I'm confused whether it is in accordance to the rule or not.
c) DECEASED /dɪˈsist/ was divide up into «de-ceased»
In this case DE is a prefix which keeps its morpheme.
d) IMMIGRANT /ˈɪm
ɪ
grənt/ was divide up into «im-mi-grant»
IM is a prefix, but ANT is a suffix in this word which was integrated to the preceding consonants cluster GR, thus forming the letters GRANT which may be a linking of sounds that become into a one syllable.
e) COUPLE /ˈkʌp
əl / was divided up into «cou-ple»
This case ─ as in DOUBLE too ─, only obeys one rule; the LE rule. The rule about the first closed syllable ─ a syllable with a short vowel in it at the beginning of a word ─ was not considered.
QUESTION:
It is possible to choose between two syllable-splitting rules for the one someone considers to be the appropriate one? I have learned that when we have twos evils is better to decide for the lesser one.
I ask for your help and assistance in this matter.
Though prefixes and suffixes are grammatical units which keep their syntactical strutures in the syllable-splitting process, I consider myself the division of words into syllables in English a phonological phenomenon rather than an orthographical one.
According to what I have learned about the division of words into syllables, of all of the syllable-splitting rules one of the two basic ones are:
1) A word whose first syllable contains a short vowel in it ─ a closed syllable ─, this syllable must end with a consonant sound. It seems to me that the phonological aspect is the one which governs this rule; a vowel is short or long in sound, not because of its spelling:
Cabin /ˈkæb
2) A word cannot end with a short syllable sound or a closed syllable; another phonological rule.
Easy /ˈi
I also want to focus in another important rule which states the following:
3) A word must be divided before the consonant prior to the diagraph LE, except in CKLE; the exception to this rule seems to be somewhat that of a spelling rule.
Table /ˈteɪ
OBSERVATIONS.
I found the following words divided as follows:
a) SYMBOLIC /sɪmˈbɒl
The first and second syllable are short, ─ the rule makes emphasis on the first syllable only ─, and the last one (IC) seems to be a suffix, but may not be; I'm not pretty sure.
b) EMIGRATE /ˈɛm
The first and the second syllable are short, but the second one was separated alone; I'm confused whether it is in accordance to the rule or not.
c) DECEASED /dɪˈsist/ was divide up into «de-ceased»
In this case DE is a prefix which keeps its morpheme.
d) IMMIGRANT /ˈɪm
IM is a prefix, but ANT is a suffix in this word which was integrated to the preceding consonants cluster GR, thus forming the letters GRANT which may be a linking of sounds that become into a one syllable.
e) COUPLE /ˈkʌp
This case ─ as in DOUBLE too ─, only obeys one rule; the LE rule. The rule about the first closed syllable ─ a syllable with a short vowel in it at the beginning of a word ─ was not considered.
QUESTION:
It is possible to choose between two syllable-splitting rules for the one someone considers to be the appropriate one? I have learned that when we have twos evils is better to decide for the lesser one.
I ask for your help and assistance in this matter.
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