vowel | intersyllabic sounds | boundary | examples | notes |
I. Short stressed | a) single consonant | within the consonant | le ən rı m | |
b) consonant cluster | between the consonants | ek1|s2|t3|rə wın|dəυ rıŋ|kl | In case of intervocalic clusters we use the distributional criterion: the combination of consonants belongs to the following syllable, if such combinations are typical of English. | |
II. Short unstressed, long, diphthong | a) single consonant | before the consonant | melə|dı k:|nə leı|bl | |
b) consonant cluster | maximally close to the vowel | ə|dres ık|spektıd fα:|stə peı|trən |
! The so-called thriphthongs in English are disyllabic combinations, because they contain two vowel phonemes: faı|ə.
Ex. 1 (from Test your pronunciation Unit 7, disc)
How many syllables?