syllable
IPA: sˈɪɫʌbʌɫ
noun
- (linguistics) A unit of human speech that is interpreted by the listener as a single sound, although syllables usually consist of one or more vowel sounds, either alone or combined with the sound of one or more consonants; a word consists of one or more syllables.
- The written representation of a given pronounced syllable.
- A small part of a sentence or discourse; anything concise or short; a particle.
verb
- (transitive, poetic) To utter in syllables.
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Examples of "syllable" in Sentences
- The stress is on the first syllable.
- The syllable miscount can be a mistake.
- In the first word of the second is syllable.
- The first syllable of the word is reduplicated.
- Elision is the omission of a sound or syllable in speech.
- The characteristic pronunciation of at the end of syllables.
- The words in both columns have the stress on the first syllable.
- In inflected words, stress lies on the last syllable of the verb stem.
- In other words, the tone is now the property of the word, not the syllable.
- _radical pitch varies from syllable to syllable_, forming a diatonic melody.
- This is the accidental transposition of syllables or sounds in a word or phrase.
- In English, the stress on a syllable is a matter of WEIGHT ... you press on the stressed syllable, you put some weight on it – you push it down ... you hit it.
- Which syllable is stressed is a major part of distinguishing these words when you hear them, as the actual endings added, “ic” and “er”, are themselves very short.
- Naming a town "Haag" would just be odd, as it needs an article (compare a town named "Hedge" in English speaking countries) and the single syllable is metrically awkward as well.
- Next, (in order to sustain his anti-_th_ theory,) he says, (Vol.III. p. 227,) that "the last syllable of 'murder,' then written _mur_th_er_, _seems to have been pronounced somewhat like the same syllable_ of the French _meurtre_."
- _terminating syllable, _ retains its distinct and intrinsic meaning, as much as when associated with a verb by juxtaposition: consequently, an "auxiliary verb" may form a part of a mood or tense, or passive verb, with as much propriety as a _terminating syllable_.
- But – and we come to a divergence – this method of counting does, in French practice, often do away with the rhythm so delightful to an English ear; in Chinese, no such violence occurs, as each syllable is a word and no collection of such words can fall into a metric pulse as French words can, and, in their Chansons, are permitted to do.
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