Check syllables in a word

Syllable Counter online tool to count the number of syllables for any word or sentence.

Online Syllable Counter Tool

It is a free and instant syllable counter that is capable of handling any kind of text. It calculates the number of syllables as per the vowel patterns in the provided text. Overall, the syllable word counter’s result is very reliable because efforts are taken continuously to improve this tool and provide more reliable results.

What is Syllable Counter?

Syllable Counter is a straightforward and free online tool to count syllables. This tool aims to calculate the total number of syllables in a word or a sentence. This tool is highly beneficial while writing poems, poetry, and sonnets. Moreover, students can use it to get to improve their English grammar and increase their understanding.

How does this tool work?

Syllable Counter operates with a simple algorithm that allows the calculation of the total number of syllables. Contentious improvements are being made to enhance the accuracy of this tool. You have to paste or write the content in the given text area. The tool will automatically calculate the number of syllables in the content and immediately display them.

Importance

This tool makes it easier for users to counter the total number of syllables in a text like poetry and sonnets. Understanding and counting manually can be quite challenging because you must be familiar with proper rules and know whether a word is a monosyllable, disyllable, trisyllable, or a polysyllable.
Students can practice more and more using this tool for free and becoming an expert over time. Similarly, teachers can use this tool to design practice exercises, like identifying the type of words, total number of syllables, and other activities.

I am including a solution that works «okay» in R. Far from perfect.

countSyllablesInWord = function(words)
  {
  #word = "super";
  n.words = length(words);
  result = list();
  for(j in 1:n.words)
    {
    word = words[j];
    vowels = c("a","e","i","o","u","y");
    
    word.vec = strsplit(word,"")[[1]];
    word.vec;
    
    n.char = length(word.vec);
    
    is.vowel = is.element(tolower(word.vec), vowels);
    n.vowels = sum(is.vowel);
    
    
    # nontrivial problem 
    if(n.vowels <= 1)
      {
      syllables = 1;
      str = word;
      } else {
              # syllables = 0;
              previous = "C";
              # on average ? 
              str = "";
              n.hyphen = 0;
        
              for(i in 1:n.char)
                {
                my.char = word.vec[i];
                my.vowel = is.vowel[i];
                if(my.vowel)
                  {
                  if(previous == "C")
                    {
                    if(i == 1)
                      {
                      str = paste0(my.char, "-");
                      n.hyphen = 1 + n.hyphen;
                      } else {
                              if(i < n.char)
                                {
                                if(n.vowels > (n.hyphen + 1))
                                  {
                                  str = paste0(str, my.char, "-");
                                  n.hyphen = 1 + n.hyphen;
                                  } else {
                                           str = paste0(str, my.char);
                                          }
                                } else {
                                        str = paste0(str, my.char);
                                        }
                              }
                     # syllables = 1 + syllables;
                     previous = "V";
                    } else {  # "VV"
                          # assume what  ?  vowel team?
                          str = paste0(str, my.char);
                          }
            
                } else {
                            str = paste0(str, my.char);
                            previous = "C";
                            }
                #
                }
        
              syllables = 1 + n.hyphen;
              }
  
      result[[j]] = list("syllables" = syllables, "vowels" = n.vowels, "word" = str);
      }
  
  if(n.words == 1) { result[[1]]; } else { result; }
  }

Here are some results:

my.count = countSyllablesInWord(c("America", "beautiful", "spacious", "skies", "amber", "waves", "grain", "purple", "mountains", "majesty"));

my.count.df = data.frame(matrix(unlist(my.count), ncol=3, byrow=TRUE));
colnames(my.count.df) = names(my.count[[1]]);

my.count.df;

#    syllables vowels         word
# 1          4      4   A-me-ri-ca
# 2          4      5 be-auti-fu-l
# 3          3      4   spa-ci-ous
# 4          2      2       ski-es
# 5          2      2       a-mber
# 6          2      2       wa-ves
# 7          2      2       gra-in
# 8          2      2      pu-rple
# 9          3      4  mo-unta-ins
# 10         3      3    ma-je-sty

I didn’t realize how big of a «rabbit hole» this is, seems so easy.


################ hackathon #######


# https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunning_fog_index
# THIS is a CLASSIFIER PROBLEM ...
# https://stackoverflow.com/questions/405161/detecting-syllables-in-a-word



# http://www.speech.cs.cmu.edu/cgi-bin/cmudict
# http://www.syllablecount.com/syllables/


  # https://enchantedlearning.com/consonantblends/index.shtml
  # start.digraphs = c("bl", "br", "ch", "cl", "cr", "dr", 
  #                   "fl", "fr", "gl", "gr", "pl", "pr",
  #                   "sc", "sh", "sk", "sl", "sm", "sn",
  #                   "sp", "st", "sw", "th", "tr", "tw",
  #                   "wh", "wr");
  # start.trigraphs = c("sch", "scr", "shr", "sph", "spl",
  #                     "spr", "squ", "str", "thr");
  # 
  # 
  # 
  # end.digraphs = c("ch","sh","th","ng","dge","tch");
  # 
  # ile
  # 
  # farmer
  # ar er
  # 
  # vowel teams ... beaver1
  # 
  # 
  # # "able"
  # # http://www.abcfastphonics.com/letter-blends/blend-cial.html
  # blends = c("augh", "ough", "tien", "ture", "tion", "cial", "cian", 
  #             "ck", "ct", "dge", "dis", "ed", "ex", "ful", 
  #             "gh", "ng", "ous", "kn", "ment", "mis", );
  # 
  # glue = c("ld", "st", "nd", "ld", "ng", "nk", 
  #           "lk", "lm", "lp", "lt", "ly", "mp", "nce", "nch", 
  #           "nse", "nt", "ph", "psy", "pt", "re", )
  # 
  # 
  # start.graphs = c("bl, br, ch, ck, cl, cr, dr, fl, fr, gh, gl, gr, ng, ph, pl, pr, qu, sc, sh, sk, sl, sm, sn, sp, st, sw, th, tr, tw, wh, wr");
  # 
  # # https://mantra4changeblog.wordpress.com/2017/05/01/consonant-digraphs/
  # digraphs.start = c("ch","sh","th","wh","ph","qu");
  # digraphs.end = c("ch","sh","th","ng","dge","tch");
  # # https://www.education.com/worksheet/article/beginning-consonant-blends/
  # blends.start = c("pl", "gr", "gl", "pr",
  #                 
  # blends.end = c("lk","nk","nt",
  # 
  # 
  # # https://sarahsnippets.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/ScreenShot2019-07-08at8.24.51PM-817x1024.png
  # # Monte     Mon-te
  # # Sophia    So-phi-a
  # # American  A-mer-i-can
  # 
  # n.vowels = 0;
  # for(i in 1:n.char)
  #   {
  #   my.char = word.vec[i];
  # 
  # 
  # 
  # 
  # 
  # n.syll = 0;
  # str = "";
  # 
  # previous = "C"; # consonant vs "V" vowel
  # 
  # for(i in 1:n.char)
  #   {
  #   my.char = word.vec[i];
  #   
  #   my.vowel = is.element(tolower(my.char), vowels);
  #   if(my.vowel)
  #     {
  #     n.vowels = 1 + n.vowels;
  #     if(previous == "C")
  #       {
  #       if(i == 1)
  #         {
  #         str = paste0(my.char, "-");
  #         } else {
  #                 if(n.syll > 1)
  #                   {
  #                   str = paste0(str, "-", my.char);
  #                   } else {
  #                          str = paste0(str, my.char);
  #                         }
  #                 }
  #        n.syll = 1 + n.syll;
  #        previous = "V";
  #       } 
  #     
  #   } else {
  #               str = paste0(str, my.char);
  #               previous = "C";
  #               }
  #   #
  #   }
  # 
  # 
  # 
  # 
## https://jzimba.blogspot.com/2017/07/an-algorithm-for-counting-syllables.html
# AIDE   1
# IDEA   3
# IDEAS  2
# IDEE   2
# IDE   1
# AIDA   2
# PROUSTIAN 3
# CHRISTIAN 3
# CLICHE  1
# HALIDE  2
# TELEPHONE 3
# TELEPHONY 4
# DUE   1
# IDEAL  2
# DEE   1
# UREA  3
# VACUO  3
# SEANCE  1
# SAILED  1
# RIBBED  1
# MOPED  1
# BLESSED  1
# AGED  1
# TOTED  2
# WARRED  1
# UNDERFED 2
# JADED  2
# INBRED  2
# BRED  1
# RED   1
# STATES  1
# TASTES  1
# TESTES  1
# UTILIZES  4

And for good measure, a simple kincaid readability function … syllables is a list of counts returned from the first function …

Since my function is a bit biased towards more syllables, that will give an inflated readability score … which for now is fine … if the goal is to make text more readable, this is not the worst thing.

computeReadability = function(n.sentences, n.words, syllables=NULL)
  {
  n = length(syllables);
  n.syllables = 0;
  for(i in 1:n)
    {
    my.syllable = syllables[[i]];
    n.syllables = my.syllable$syllables + n.syllables;
    }
  # Flesch Reading Ease (FRE):
  FRE = 206.835 - 1.015 * (n.words/n.sentences) - 84.6 * (n.syllables/n.words);
  # Flesh-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL):
  FKGL = 0.39 * (n.words/n.sentences) + 11.8 * (n.syllables/n.words) - 15.59; 
  # FKGL = -0.384236 * FRE - 20.7164 * (n.syllables/n.words) + 63.88355;
  # FKGL = -0.13948  * FRE + 0.24843 * (n.words/n.sentences) + 13.25934;
  
  list("FRE" = FRE, "FKGL" = FKGL); 
  }

Showing how to split the syllables of ‘syllable’.

Syllabification or syllabication is the separation of a word into syllables, whether spoken or written. The written separation is usually marked by a hyphen when using English orthography (e.g., syl-la-ble) and with a period when transcribing in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For presentation purposes, typographers may use an interpunct, or a special-purpose «hyphenation point».

At the end of a line, a word is separated in writing into parts conventionally called «syllables» if it does not fit and if moving it to the next line would make the first line much shorter than the others. This can be a particular problem with very long words. Word processing has automated the process of justification, making syllabification of shorter words often superfluous.


A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of speech sounds typically made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with optional initial and final margins (typically, consonants). Syllables are often considered the phonological «building blocks» of words. They can influence the rhythm of a language, its prosody, its poetic metre and its stress patterns. Speech can usually be divided up into a whole number of syllables: for example, the word ignite is made of two syllables: ig and nite.
Syllabic writing began several hundred years before the first letters. The earliest recorded syllables are on tablets written around 2800 BC in the Sumerian city of Ur. This shift from pictograms to syllables has been called «the most important advance in the history of writing».A word that consists of a single syllable (like English dog) is called a monosyllable (and is said to be monosyllabic). Similar terms include disyllable (and disyllabic; also bisyllable and bisyllabic) for a word of two syllables; trisyllable (and trisyllabic) for a word of three syllables; and polysyllable (and polysyllabic), which may refer either to a word of more than three syllables or to any word of more than one syllable.

Description above from the Wikipedia article «syllable», licenced under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

What are the syllables in English. Slogan making in English

как определить сколько слогов в английском слове

Before we begin to understand what an open and closed syllable is, I would like to warn you right away — in English, reading rules have so many exceptions that it is better to just remember reading as many words as possible, and read the rest by analogy.

But at school they teach the rules and give grades. In order to apply the rules correctly, first we will deal with the syllables.

In English, as well as in Russian, words are divided into syllables. Very often, in order to correctly read a vowel in a syllable, it is necessary to determine the type of syllable — an open or closed syllable.

Let’s take the usual Russian word “book»We divide it into syllables: BOOK… Both syllables end in a vowel sound, which means that both syllables OPEN.

Let’s take the word “trap«, We divide into syllables: TRAP… In this example, both syllables end in a consonant sound, which means that both CLOSED.

But defining the syllable of an English syllable is not as easy as in Russian. A typical English word contains 2, maximum 3 syllables, so it is not difficult to find a syllable.

If you take the floor name, then you might think that there are 2 syllables in it, but we all know that this is read, that is, there is one syllable. Let’s take a closer look at why everything is so.

Open syllable1. If there is no consonant in the syllable after the vowel.

For example: go, no, ago, my, hi, be, me.

2. If after the vowel there is immediately «e» at the end of the word

For example: pie, lie, toe, blue, bye, dye.

3. If there is a consonant letter, but it is immediately followed by a «mute» vowel «e», which is not readable.

For example: name, blade, take, these, mine, time, type.

3. After the stressed vowel — consonant + le

For example: table, noble.

Remember !!! In an open syllable, vowels are read sameas they are called in.

Closed syllableIf in a syllable after a vowel there is one or more consonant letters (except for the letter r).

For example: bad, cat, vet, strip, stop, camp, battle, end, center, pink.

But in English there are «tricky» vowels and consonants. They can be read differently depending on how they are positioned in the word.

The pronunciation of words, in any language, is largely determined by the norms of syllabus. Having understood the main provisions, you will not only learn the rules of competent transfer, but also begin to better understand the language.

The practical necessity of slogan splitting

A syllable is a phonetic-phonological unit. Simply put, it stands out only during pronunciation, but does not play any role in semantic word formation. Therefore, this unit is called pronunciation.

The easiest way for native Russian speakers to understand the rules for dividing words in English is by analogy. The fact is that the norms for distinguishing syllables in both languages ​​are similar. The main similarity of syllabary definition is the leading role of vowels, they are called syllabic.

A simple way of dividing a word is told in elementary school. The hand is brought to the chin, after which the word is pronounced. The number of touches of the chin of the hand determines the number of syllables.

Slogan rules in English

Depending on the sound the word ends with, open syllables and closed ones are distinguished. Open ones always end in vowels. In addition, when a syllable is formed with a long stressed vowel or diphthong, it will also be open.

Closed syllables always end in a consonant. If the syllable is formed by a short vowel, it will also be closed.

The main feature of syllabic separation is the need to separate the word not from the beginning, but from the end. The rules for the division of the English language become clearer when studying specific examples.

1. As a rule, the number of syllables depends on the vowels used: po-ta-to.

2. The presence of one vowel already forms a syllable: a-bo-ut.

3. Two consonants on the border of a syllable are the basis for division into parts: po-et.

4. A word that has several vowels formed by a diphthong, ie. one sound, has only one syllable:, it cannot be divided into parts.

5. The appearance of a consonant at the border of syllable division leads to its allocation in the second syllable: i-ma-gine, if several consonants appear at the junction, then the first one belongs to one syllable, and the rest to another: ab-sent.

6. Syllables are formed by the combination –er, located after w: flow-er.

7. The appearance of the letter l on the border of syllables refers it to the next syllable, together with a nearby consonant: ta-ble.

8. Combinations of consonants ld and nd draw a syllable boundary before them: mi-ld, ki-nd.

Slogan making and its role:

1. Norms of correct transfer. It is thanks to the knowledge of the provisions of syllabus that you can competently divide words into parts that must be highlighted in the letter when wrapping between lines.

2. Criteria for dividing a word into components. In the English language, there is no single standard of syllabus division, therefore morphological, phonetic or spelling principles of division can be used.

3. Development of the language. The ongoing processes of correlation of syllable morphology set new parameters for the division of words.

We have outlined the basic rules for syllabus in the English language. In general, they are quite simple and not particularly difficult to master. Although, everyone who seeks to improve their language and write competently, it is necessary not only to learn them, but also to understand them.

A short and clear course on slogan splitting

The reading of a vowel depends on the letters adjacent to it and on the type of syllable in which it is located.

Open syllable

A syllable is considered open if it ends in a vowel (to-tal, ri-val, bi-ble, mo-tor). The vowel in this case gives a long sound — that is, it is read as in the alphabet. Words with a dumb «e» also belong to this type. For example:

Some monosyllabic words also represent open syllables. For example, me, she, he and no, so, go.

Closed syllable

The closed syllable is the most common spelling unit of the English language; it makes up about 50% of the syllables in the text. A closed syllable ends in one or more consonants, and the vowel is read briefly in this case.

In English, there are many closed-type monosyllabic words (cat, pin, hen). If a vowel is added to them, the consonant in front of it is doubled. This is done in order to avoid changing the sound. For example:

  • hat — hatter
  • pin — pinned
  • hot — hottest
  • red — reddish
  • cut — cutting

The syllable «vowel + r»

The third type of syllable is one in which the vowel is followed by the letter «r». At the same time, the vowel gives a long sound, and the «r» itself is not readable (c).

  • car
  • retreatment
  • girl [ɡɜːl]
  • here
  • turn

The doubled «r» does not affect the sound of the vowel. In this case, the syllable is read as closed. Compare:

  • smirk — mirror [ˈmɪrə]
  • curl — current [ˈkʌr (ə) nt]
  • port — torrent [ˈtɒr (ə) nt]

The syllable «vowel + re»

In a syllable of this type, the letter «r» is also not read, and the vowel forms a diphthong.

  • give
  • mers
  • hire [ˈhaɪə]
  • core
  • pure

The syllable «consonant + le»

Sometimes this syllable stands out separately — it occurs only at the end of a word. If -le is preceded by one consonant, the syllable is read as open. If there are two consonants in front of -le, it is read as closed. Compare:

  • table [ˈteɪbl] — dabble, title [ˈtaɪtl] — little [ˈlɪtl]
  • bugle — struggle [ˈstrʌɡl], rifle [ˈraɪfl] — sniffle [ˈsnɪfl]

Not every consonant is found in combination with -Le… Here are the ones that are typical for the English language:

  • -ble (bubble) -fle (rifle) -stle (whistle) -cle (cycle)
  • -gle (bugle) -tle (brittle) -ckle (pickle) -kle (tinkle)
  • -zle (dazzle) -dle (bridle) -ple (staple)

Vowel combinations (digraphs)

A digraph is a combination of two letters that are pronounced as one sound.In the case of vowels, it can be a long, short sound or a diphthong. Most often, digraphs are found in old Anglo-Saxon words, the pronunciation of which has undergone changes over hundreds of years: thief, boil, hay, boat, straw. They are read according to special rules, but they have many exceptions, so these words need to be learned gradually and systematically.

Basic vowel digraphs

Spelling Pronunciation Examples
ai / ai [eɪ] bait, hay
au / aw [ɔː] taunt, draw
ea [i:] meat, deal
[e] bread, steady
ee [i:] feed, reel
ei [eɪ] feint, vein
[i:] (after c) ceiling, receive
eu/ew [ju:] Feud, Strewn
ie [i:] thief, priest
oa [əʊ] coat, goal
oi/oy [ɔɪ] coin, toy
oo [u:] root, food
[ʊ] (before k) book, look
ou [aʊ] loud, noun
[u:] soup, ghoul
ow [aʊ] cow, howl
[oʊ] know, low

A vowel combination is not a digraph if the vowels belong to different syllables. In this case, the first vowel is read as in an open syllable, and the second is in an unstressed position and gives the sound [ə]. For example: lion [«laɪən], diet [ˈdaɪət].

To, you need to know the types of syllables in English. Knowing a few simple rules will take you one step closer to the desired pronunciation like native speakers.

Let’s first remember the basic things, a syllable is or several vowel sounds in combination with a consonant / consonant, which are pronounced with one push of exhaled air. There are four types of syllables: an open syllable, a closed syllable, and two conditionally open (or semi-closed) types of syllables.

Open and closed syllables in English are most common, so it is worth talking about them in more detail with examples and exceptions, but we will also tell you about the rest.

Closed syllables

This is the most common syllable. It ends in a consonant (one or more), and the vowel in the syllable is read briefly. We have selected a few examples for you to help you remember the rule better:

bad — bad
cat — cat
lip — lip
sad — sad
black — the blackExceptions:

As usual, this rule has a few exceptions to keep in mind:

Free lesson on the topic:

Irregular verbs of the English language: table, rules and examples

Discuss this topic with your personal tutor in a free online lesson at Skyeng School

Leave your contact details and we will contact you to register for the lesson

Source: https://domsireni.ru/otopitelnye-sistemy/kakie-byvayut-slogi-v-angliiskom-yazyke-slogodelenie-v-angliiskom/

Stress in English: how to determine the stressed syllable

как определить сколько слогов в английском слове

On this page you can familiarize yourself with the stress setting rule in English:

— two important rules for stating stress in English — dividing a word into syllables — designating a stressed syllable in transcription — rules for stressing the first syllable — rules for stressing the last syllable — rules for stressing the second syllable from the end — rules for stressing the third syllable from the end

— rules of stress in compound words

Pronunciation

In English, we don’t pronounce every syllable with the same strength. In each single word, the stress falls only on one syllable. We pronounce this syllable louder and clearerand everyone else quieter and less audible.

An example of stress setting

Let’s consider this phenomenon in the following example — let’s take three words photograph, photographer и PhotoGraphic… Do they sound the same? No. This is because we strike one particular syllable, and each time it is different. Thus, the schematic representation of each of the words we have taken is different.

Schematic word image Common number of syllables Shocksyllable
PHO to GRAPH ‘. … 3 № 1
PHO TO GRAPHER … ‘. … 4 № 2
PHO TO GRAPH IC … … ‘. 4 № 3

This happens in all two or more complex words: TEACHer, JaPAN, CHINa, aBOVE, converSAtion, INteresting, imPORtant, deMAND, etc.

The importance of correct stress

Unstressed syllables are weak, quiet and less clear. Native speakers, perceiving someone’s speech by ear, are guided by drums syllables, not unstressed. Thus, if you correctly place the stress in words, you automatically improve your pronunciation and listening skills.

Stress rules in English

There are two extremely important rules for placing stress in English:

  1. One word — one main stressed syllable. (There cannot be two main stresses in one word (meaning main stress). If you hear two stresses, these are two words. In some words, the presence of a secondary stress is possible, but it is much weaker than the main stress and occurs only in long words.)
  2. The stress always falls on the vowel.

To understand the rules for stating stress, you need to understand how words are divided into syllables. Each word consists of a number of syllables: one, two, three or more syllables.

word number of syllables
dog dog 1
green green 1
quite quite 1
quiet quiet 2
Orange or-ange 2
backgammon ta-ble 2
expensive ex-pen-sive 3
interesting in-ter-est-ing 4
realistic re-al-is-tic 4
unexceptional un-ex-ception-al 5

Please note that (with a few rare exceptions) each syllable contains at least one vowela letter (a, e, i, o or u) or vowel.

Stress notation

There are a number of rules about which syllable is stressed. As you learn a new word, you also need to remember where the stress falls in it. If you are unsure, you need to consult the dictionary.

They all give a transcription, which denotes the phonetic spelling of the word. The stressed syllable is usually indicated by the apostrophe (‘), standing directly before or after stressed syllable.

However, these rules are quite complex and can vary from vocabulary to vocabulary.

Example: transcription: vocabulary A transcription: dictionaryB
PLAS TIC ‘. ‘.
/ plæs’tIk / / ‘plæs tIk /

Stress on the first syllable

Rule: Example:
Mostdisyllabic nouns PRESent, EXport, CHINA, TABLE
Mostdisyllabic adjectives PRESent, SLENder, CLEVer, HAPpy

 Accent on the last syllable

Rule: Example:
Mostdisyllabic verbs to preSENT, to export, to deCIDE, to beGIN

In English, there are a large number of disyllabic words whose meaning changes with the change of stress. So the word present, for example, consists of two syllables. If the stress falls on the first syllable, then it is a noun («gift») or an adjective («present»).

But if the stress falls on the second syllable, this word becomes a verb («to offer»). This group includes the following words, whose meaning directly depends on where the stress falls: export, import, contract и object.

Stress on the second syllable from the end

Rule: Example:
Words ending in -ic GRAPHic, geoGRAPHic, geoLOGic
Words ending in sion и production teleVIsion, reveLAtion

There are a number of words where native speakers disagree about where the stress is. For example, some say televisionwhile others say TELEvisionAnother example of a similar double standard: CONtroversy и conTROversy.

Stress on the third syllable from the end

Rule: Example:
Words ending in cy, ty, physical и gy deMOcracy, dependentBIlity, phoTOgraphy, geOLogy
Words ending in -to the CRItical, geoLOGical

Compound words

Rule: Example:
Complex of nounsstress falls on first часть BLACKbird, GREENhouse
Complex adjectivesstress falls on the second часть bad-TEMPERED, old-FASHioned
Complex verbsstress falls on the second часть to underSTAND, to overFLOW

Additional materials:

Source: https://www.activeenglish.ru/vocabulary/udarenie-v-anglijskom-jazyke-word-stress/

Lesson 8. Pronunciation of consonants [f] and [v]. Closed syllable in English

как определить сколько слогов в английском слове

Hello! In this lesson, we again return to consonant sounds and now we learn to pronounce sounds [f] и [v] and accordingly read the English letters Ff [ef] and Vv [vi]. And let’s also remember what a closed syllable is in English, since this is one of the basic concepts in teaching reading.

So, from lesson number 8 you will learn:

  • how to pronounce english consonants [f] и [v] correctly;
  • what is a closed syllable in English;
  • and repeat how the vowel is read y at the end of the word.

If you have just joined us, then here is a link to the section «Author’s English lessons for teaching reading and pronunciation at the same time»

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Rules for reading letters f and v in English

So, let’s begin! English consonants f и v transmit sounds [f] и [v]. The sounds [f] and [v] are labiodental, that is, to pronounce them, you need bite the lower lip with the upper teeth.

At first glance, the English sounds [f] and [v] are similar to the Russian “f” and “v”. But there is also a significant difference: the English sounds [f] and [v] are long.

To pronounce the English sound [v] correctly, it is necessary to pronounce it for a long time, as, for example, the doubled «v» in the words «up», «introduction».

To pronounce the English sound [f] correctly, bite the lower lip and exhale vigorously. The English sound [f] is very long and strong. In the transcription [f] should be designated [fff].

Listen to how the sounds [f] and [v] are pronounced — HERE

As for the concept of «voiced» — «deaf», the British do not understand at all what it is. They have the concept of «weak» (we call this sound «voiced» in Russian) and the concept of «strong» (we call this sound «dull»).

Now we need to practice a little. Let’s get down to the exercises. After that we will repeat again, how words are divided into syllables, which syllable is in the word MAIN and what is a closed syllable in English.

Now we start working out English sounds [fff] and [vvv]

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Phonetic exercises with audio recording (closed content no.19)

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Description: Access to a course of lessons on teaching reading in English and pronunciation at the same time. 50% discount until 01.01.2020/XNUMX/XNUMX. Author T.V. Nabeeva

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What is a closed syllable in English?

If you learn English from scratch on our website, then from lesson number 6 you learned what the third type of syllable is in English. Now we’ll talk about how words are divided into syllables. (1)which syllable in the word is the most important (2) и what is a closed syllable in English(3) (it was already mentioned in lesson 1)

(1) So, words are divided into syllables by the number of vowels… That is, how many vowels there are in a word, there are so many syllables in it. Take a word for example, happy Doubled consonant p divides a word into two syllables.

`hap — py

  1. hap — this syllable ends with a consonant sound, and is called closed;
  2. py — this syllable, ends in a vowel sound, and is called open.

(2) The main thing is the STRICT syllable. It is in it that the vowel sound is read according to the rules that you have already learned. By the way, I remind you that the unstressed letter y at the end of a word reads like [i], for example, party [`pa: ti]

(3) A closed syllable is a syllable that ends in a consonant.

Now let’s remember the passed rules for reading vowels in a closed syllable in English:

a is readAs [æ]. Examples. hat, happy

e readAs [e]. Examples. men, mental

i, y are readAs [i]. Examples. kit, kitty

u readAs [ʌ]. Examples. bud, buddy

0 is often read as [ʌ]. Examples. love, glove, lovely.

NOTE. How to read the vowel Oo in a closed syllable, you will learn further — Lesson number 9. Reading the English letter Oo in a closed syllable.

NOTE. Sonorous consonants m, n, l — also form a syllable, because they can be pulled. Try saying [mmmm], [nnnn], [llll]. Therefore, in the word apple there are two syllables: ap-ple (the second syllable is a sonor consonant — l).

Also, remember, in English vowel e at the end of a word NEVER readable.

Once there is closed syllable, then, accordingly, there is open syllable, but you will learn about it in the following lessons. For now, let’s figure out how unstressed vowels are read in English.

 * * *

The rule of reading an unstressed vowel in English

So, as a rule, there is usually one stressed syllable in a word, in which the vowel is read according to the rules, then a logical question arises: how is an unstressed vowel read?

In English there is a universal sound similar to the Russian «e» — [ə]… This is the most common sound, as it is read in all unstressed syllables. This sound is called «Seam». Sometimes it is replaced by the sound [i], as, for example, in the words above.

Exercise 5. Read two-syllable words with learned sounds:

apple, badly, balcony, happy, garden, party, hardly, carpet, dummy, funny, muddy, puppy, lovely, kitty, ditty, mitten, kitten, affect, Betty, heaven [`hevən]

Exercise 6. Finally, memorize a few English phrases:

  1. Have fun! — Have fun!
  2. Have tea. — Have some tea.
  3. Keep fit. — Keep in shape.
  4. Be happy! — Be happy!

Let’s sum up the results of the eighth lesson from the cycle «Teaching reading in English and pronunciation at the same time», from which you learned and hopefully remembered that:

  1. words are divided into syllables by the number of vowels;
  2. closed is a syllable that ends in a consonant;
  3. in a closed stressed syllable, the vowel is read according to the rules that must be memorized;
  4. in unstressed syllables, the vowel reads like [ə] or [i]. So, for example, the unstressed letter y at the end of a word it reads like [i].

* * *

And of course you now know how to pronounce sounds [f] и [v] in english is correct.

Lesson 9. Pronunciation of the English vowel [ɒ]. Reading the English letter O in a closed syllable. You will learn how to pronounce the very English sound [ɒ] and how to read the vowel Oo in a closed syllable. 

Source: http://englishstory.ru/urok-8-proiznoshenie-soglasnyih-zvukov-f-i-v-ponyatie-o-zakryitom-sloge.html

According to the rules of syllabus division, the correct pronunciation of a word is determined in many aspects (and this applies to all languages). After reading this article, everyone will master the rules of transfer and, in general, will be better at understanding the intricacies of the English language.

The practical necessity of slogan splitting

A syllable in a language is the minimum phonetic-phonological unit. It is characterized by the greatest acoustic (sound) fusion of sounds included in it. This unit received such a name because the syllable does not matter at all in semantic word formation.

It will be easier for the reader of the article, as a person who has Russian as a native language, to master the rules of syllabus division in English. This is because the emphasis on syllables in words in both of these languages ​​are almost the same… Accordingly, every native Russian speaker can practice this topic using the principle of analogy.

The main common feature is, of course, syllabic vowels (as taught in elementary school: «as many vowels in a word, as many syllables»).

Almost everyone who has gone through elementary school has been taught the easiest way of «verbal» division of words into syllables. The first method looks simple enough. When pronouncing a certain word with every vowel that occurs in it, you need to clap.

Next, you need to count how many claps were. The number of claps will be equal to the number of syllables in the word. Another method is much simpler than the one described above. In order to count the number of syllables in a particular spoken word, you need to bring your hand to your chin.

How many times the chin touches the hand, there are so many syllables in the word.

Slogan rules in English

It’s time to talk about how to correctly split (divide) words into syllables in English.

Syllables in English are open and closed. It depends on which sound the word ends with.

  • As for open syllables, they end in vowels. Plus, the syllable will also be open when it is formed by a diphthong (diphthong Is a sound, the pronunciation of which involves a transition from one vowel sound type to another) or a long vowel sound on which the stress falls.
  • Closed syllables, respectively, end in consonants. If a particular syllable is formed by a consonant paint, it will also be closed.

The main feature of syllabus separation in English is the need to separate words from the end (not like in Russian, from the beginning).

It is worth giving the rules of syllabus in English, clearly showing them with specific examples.

Rule number one

The number of syllables in a certain word depends on the vowels used in it: «To-ma- to» (UK: [tmt], US: [t-me-to]) (translation: tomato, tomato).

Rule number two

One vowel sound is enough to form a syllable: «A-bo-ut» ([-ba-t]) (translation: o / pro (meaning “about something), about / approximately (illustrative example: The speed of the car was about one hundreds and twenty seven kilometers per hour. The car was traveling at a speed of about one hundred twenty seven kilometers per hour (about one hundred twenty seven).

Rule number three

If there are two consonant letters on the «border» of syllables, it must be divided into two parts: «po-et» (UK: [pt], US: [po-t]) (translation: poet).

Rule number four

If a word has several sounds formed by a diphthong (this definition was presented above), then it has only one syllable: ([lak]) (translation: like (verb) (example: I the way you do it! I like how you do it!), like (noun)).

Rule number five

If there is a consonant sound in a word at the «edges» (boundaries) of syllables, it is highlighted in the second: «E-co-lo-gy» (UK: [-kl-di], US: [ikl-di]) (translation: ecology).

Rule number six

Syllables can also be formed in the presence of the letter combination «er», which comes after the letter «W»: «Show-er» (UK version: [a-], American version: [ar]) (translation: rain, shower).

Rule number seven

The letter «L», being on the border of syllables (when colliding with another letter), refers to the following syllable: «Ta-ble» (British version: [te-b () l], American version: [te-bl]) (translation: table, scoreboard, table).

Rule number eight

This rule may seem rather strange to many at first glance. However, it operates and is used throughout almost the entire existence of modern English («post-Shakespearean» or, in the scientific «language», New English).

Before such combinations of letters (letters) as «Ld» and «nd», the border of the syllable is drawn.

In other words, these combinations are a separate syllable: «mi-ld» ([ma-ld]) (translation: mild (mainly — climate), light, temperate), «mi-nd» ([ma-nd]) ( mind, against (to be mind example: do you mind, if I drink of your cup a bit? Do you mind if I drink a little from your cup?).

Most likely, every attentive reader noticed that in the last syllables formed by the above-mentioned letter combinations, the last two examples given completely lack vowel sounds (as, in other cases, in the American pronunciation of the word «table», which was given in the previous rule).

This is the main «strangeness» of this rule (at least for those who happened to think in Russian). After reading the last rule, English may seem even more insidious to many. But one should not be afraid of such «cunning words».

Plus, in English, in most words, the rules for dividing them into syllables are applied, similar to the rules in Russian.

What is the role of slogan splitting?

1. Due to the correct division into syllables, it is easier to comply with the rules of correct transfer.
2. In the English language there are several principles of syllabus division:

  • phonetic;
  • morphological;
  • orthographic.

3. The ongoing processes of division into syllables set other parameters for the division of words. In the course of the evolution of language, metamorphoses can lead to the emergence of new rules for syllabic division.

The rules above are simple enough to understand. However, everyone who wants to learn English to the fullest should not only read and memorize them, but also delve into, that is, try to correctly understand and understand them.
However, this is not enough to fully immerse yourself in the topic and get the opportunity to apply these rules in practice. You need to know which of the syllables you need to focus on in this or that case.

To correctly pronounce (or read) any word in English, you must:

  1. Put stress correctly;
  2. Determine the type of syllable.

As for the stressed syllable, there are several combinations of letters (suffixes / postfixes) that allow you to determine the stressed syllable:

  • ious;
  • ial;
  • ion;
  • ian;
  • iant;
  • iance;
  • ience;
  • ic;
  • ical.

The syllables in the word before the above letter combinations (suffixes) are stressed. Example: «De-li-cious»: [dls] (UK), [dls] (US).

That’s all, these are quite simple rules for determining the number of syllables in English.

Source: https://bestcube.space/slogodelenie-v-anglijskom-yazyke

Dividing words into syllables

To quickly divide words into syllables online, use the form below. Multiple words can be entered in the text box, separated by spaces or commas. When you click the «Divide into Syllables» button, the result will be shown instantly in the text box. The form is designed to highlight syllables only in Russian words typed in Russian letters.

It is more convenient to read phrases and sentences, the words in which are divided into syllables according to the old rules. From the point of view of perception and ease of pronunciation, the old rules are more convenient than the new ones, so they are used in the form. However, individual words on our site have been sorted out according to the new rules, you can find such words through the search form. See the rules for dividing into syllables in more detail.

The form is convenient for cases in which you need to break a lot of words into syllables without details and background information. If you need to find out how many and what syllables are in words, what hyphenation options are, then use the search form or select words by the number of syllables in them:

Note 1. Do not use the result of dividing words into syllables to determine where to hyphenate words. The division into syllables and the allocation of hyphenation places are not always the same. On our site, the difference is explained in detail (points 4-5 from the rules for dividing into syllables).

2.

Division into syllables is carried out taking into account the rules of the school curriculum. Some rules may differ from the rules of the institute program and schools with in-depth study of the Russian language.

For this reason, in some cases, syllables may not be allocated in accordance with your knowledge of the rules for dividing words into syllables.

Syllable

A syllable is one vowel sound or a combination of one vowel with one or more consonants. In other words: vowel sounds form syllables, consonants only in conjunction with a vowel form a syllable. A small cheat sheet can help to memorize: vowels — «speak», consonants — «agree.» For example: in the word dog, three syllables are distinguished so-ba-ka (vowels: o, a, a, consonants: s, b, k), in the word Asia — three syllables A-zi-i (vowels: a, i, i, consonant: h).

Syllables consisting of two or more sounds are open and closed. Open syllables end in a vowel sound: water-yes, tra-va, ro-di-na. Closed syllables end in a consonant: com-bain, short, yellow.

There are covered syllables starting with a consonant, and uncovered ones starting with a vowel. Examples: ko-ra (both syllables covered), i-blo-ko (one uncovered, two covered).

How many syllables are in a word?

Words are made up of syllables. Based on the definition of a syllable, the number of syllables in a word is determined by the number of vowel sounds. School teachers of the Russian language often say: «How many vowels — so many syllables.»

Example: snow — one syllable, read — two syllables, work — three syllables, long-necked — five syllables.

More examples of syllables:

  • water — syllables in and yes;
  • read — syllables chi, ta, la;
  • I am the syllable I;
  • vernal — syllables ve, shni, e;
  • chair — the syllable chair, in the word one syllable, consisting of one vowel and three consonants.

The syllable is the minimum part of the word when pronouncing, if you do not take into account the degenerate cases when you need to spell the word. Hence the well-known expressions: read syllables, pronounce syllables. The syllable, like sound and stress, belongs to the section of phonetics.

In Russian, there are words without syllables, that is, consisting only of consonants. Onomatopoeic words are a prime example of such words. For example: hmm, t-s-s-s, tr-tr-tr.

Source: https://syllables.ru/syllable.html

Open and closed syllables in English: basic rules

How the closed and open syllables differ in English is not necessary to learn if you do not cultivate a professional level in yourself. Although the topic itself is not a serious problem, you need to know the basic rules. The standard of syllabus definition of the English language differs significantly from the Russian phonetics.

The general rule is that the number of syllables corresponds to the number of vowel sounds.

This means that you need not look at the letters, but listen to the pronunciation of the word, since in English there are an abundance of mute vowels, diphthongs, etc.

In addition, the so-called sonorant consonants can also be syllabic, so the word «mild» will be divided in this way: mi | ld. In the future, it will become clear why this is happening.

Syllabic division is made from the end of the word: student — stu | dent, money — mo | ney, permission — per | mis | sion.

A consonant that is on the border of two syllables is thus adjacent to the following vowel. Doubled sounds are divided. All this matters if you need to find out how to pronounce this or that unfamiliar word. Also, for this you need to know about closed and open syllables in English.

Open syllables

The main rule of an open syllable in English is that it must end in a vowel. In this case, the vowel is read in the same way as in the alphabet and as a result gives a long sound.

The main characteristics of the syllable:

  • Such a syllable does not have a consonant after the vowel in the syllable. (for example, in words: go, my, no);
  • Usually has the letter e at the end of the word, which comes immediately after the vowel (for example, in the words: pie, toe, bye);
  • Immediately after the consonant letter has a mute (or unreadable) vowel e. (For example, in the words: name, take, pupil);
  • Immediately after the stressed vowel, it has a consonant + le (for example, in the words: table, noble).

The same rule may apply to some monosyllabic words, such as: me, go, she and some others.

There are also exceptions to this rule. It is very important to remember that in words: love, some, done, none, Where — the letter «o» in the first syllable is read in the same way as the short «a».

Conditionally Open

These two types of syllables are sometimes also called semi-closed. They end in «r» or «re». In theory, in this case it will be, respectively, closed and open syllables. In English, everything is not so, and the vowels, being in front of these letter combinations, acquire a new, more complex sound, before «re» some of them even become diphthongs.

In the first case, if we are talking about syllables ending in r, everything will be like this:

— o [ɔ:] — port, short, world;

In the second, if after the vowels there is «re», they will sound differently:

— a [ɛə] — to care, nightmare;

— e [iə] — here, mere;

— u [juə] — cure, sure, pure;

In addition to the fact that open and closed syllables in English, as well as the third and fourth types, affect the reading of certain vowels, there are a huge number of letter combinations that also have a special sound. This knowledge can be obtained both in theory and simply memorize the transcription of words, meeting with them in practice.

Rules for reading English for beginners, table. Intonation and stress in English

At the initial stage of learning English, you inevitably have to deal with the differences between your native language and a foreign one. Reading in English for beginners, children and adults is usually one of the first steps in learning.

And the first such differences between Russian and English are revealed as soon as you start learning to read in English. You are faced with the transcription and reading rules of the English language.

These two concepts are related, since with the help of transcription we can record and read the sounds that vowels and consonants convey in various combinations. But the reading rules explain exactly how the letters are pronounced in different environments.

There are a lot of reading rules in English, and they relate to both vowels and consonants. In addition, a huge number of words are not read according to the rules, that is, they are exceptions. Therefore, it begins to seem that it is extremely difficult to learn all this.

In fact, the rules of reading need to be learned, but there is no need to memorize them. After doing a few exercises on reading rules, you will already know how exactly the same type of words are read.

In the learning process, when you read and listen to a variety of study materials, the spelling, pronunciation and meaning of new words will be memorized as a whole.

Features of English pronunciation

At first, reading in English for beginners presents some difficulties due to the peculiarities of pronunciation — words are very often pronounced differently than they are spelled. Linguists even have a saying — «We write — Manchester, we pronounce — Liverpool.»

This situation is due to the fact that historically in the English language there existed, and there are still many dialects in which the same letters and letter combinations were read in different ways, which eventually became entrenched in official English. An example is the combination of letters ough.

The words though, through, thought differ by only one letter, and the combination of letters ough is read differently in all words.

The role of transcription in teaching English reading

So, as we have already said, in addition to the numerous rules for reading in English, difficulties arise when mastering the transcription of the English language. Transcription is the recording of speech sounds using special characters.

You should not avoid it, as it is the best assistant in learning a language, which, firstly, will save you time when memorizing new words, and secondly, it will help to avoid mistakes in pronunciation. After all, when you write out or memorize new words, you definitely need to know how they are read correctly.

There are two options for how to do this. The first is to listen to it in some online resource, and the second is to watch the transcription. 

Now in some tutorials, as well as on training sites, you can find «English transcription in Russian». It is believed that writing an English word in Russian letters is much easier than learning some incomprehensible phonetic symbols. In fact, this is a delusion.

English phonetics differs from Russian so much that Russian letters can only approximately convey the pronunciation of English words, and mostly the simplest ones, the reading of which even without this kind of «transcription» is not difficult.

Some English sounds in Russian simply do not exist, and the correct pronunciation of English and Russian sounds similar at first glance may have certain differences.

Therefore, we recommend that you take the time to study transcription icons and read sounds. This is one of the basic knowledge in mastering the rules of reading English for beginners. Knowledge of transcription will serve you faithfully at all stages of your learning.

We analyze the rules for reading English

There are different classifications of the rules for reading consonants and vowels in English. For vowels, as a rule, there are 4 types of syllables. These are the 4 types of environment a vowel can find itself in and which affects its pronunciation.

Some textbooks consider only the first two types of syllables — open and closed, but take into account whether the letter r is involved in these types of syllables — since it affects the reading of vowels. Consonants in different combinations can also be read differently.

I must say that the number of exceptions and variants of reading the same letter combinations in different words give reason to consider the reading rules rather general recommendations that should be studied before starting to read.

To familiarize yourself with the rules of reading in English, we suggest that you take as a basis the tables with options for reading letters, which are given in his textbook for children “English. 1-4 grades in diagrams and tables «N.Vakulenko.

These English reading rules for children cover almost every possible reading of vowels and consonants in English.

But before we go directly to the tables, we will deal with two more concepts that you will surely come across when you get acquainted with the reading rules. it open и closed syllable.

The syllable is called openWhen

  • ends in a vowel and is the last in a word
  • the vowel is followed by a consonant and then a vowel again
  • the vowel is followed by another vowel

Examples of words with an open type of syllable (you can listen with sound):

age, blue, bye, fly, go 

The syllable is called closedWhen

  • ends in a consonant and is the last in a word
  • the vowel is followed by several consonants

Examples of words with a closed type of syllable:

bed, big, box, hungry, stand 

So, let’s formulate the rules for reading English for beginners: tables for reading vowels and consonants.

Vowel reading tables

A
A [ei] — in an open syllable lake, make
A [æ] — in a closed syllable rat, map
A [a:] — in a closed syllable on r car, bar
A [εə] — at the end of a word vowel + re care, fare
A [ɔ:] — combinations all, au all, tall
O
O [əu] — in an open syllable no, home
O [ɒ] — in a closed stressed syllable lot, boss
O [ɜ:] — in some words with «wor» word, work
O [ɔ:] — in a closed syllable with r horse, door
O [u:] — in combination «oo» too, food
O [u] — in combination «oo» good look
O [aʊ] — in combination «ow» in the stressed syllable Now, CLOWN
O [ɔɪ] — in combination «oy» boy, joy
U
U [yu:], [yu] — in an open syllable blue, duty
U [ʌ] — in a closed syllable butter, cup
U [u] — in a closed syllable put, bull
U [ɜ:] — in combination «ur» Purse, hurt
E
E [i:] — in an open syllable, a combination of «ee», «ea» he, meet, leaf
E [e] — in a closed syllable, combination «ead» head, bread
E [ɜ:] — in combinations «er», «ear» her, pearl
E [ɪə] — in ear combinations near, dear
I
i [aɪ] — in an open syllable nice, fine
i [aɪ] — in combination «igh» high, night
i [ɪ] — in a closed syllable big, in
i [ɜ:] — in combination «ir» bird girl
i [aɪə] — in combination «ire» hire, tired
Y
Y [aɪ] — at the end of a word under stress my cry
Y [ɪ] — at the end of a word without stress happy family
Y [j] — at the beginning of a word yes, yellow

Consonant reading tables

С
C [s] — before i, e, y Place, Cinema
C [tʃ] — in combinations ch, tch children, catch
C [k] — in other cases cat, picnic

Source: https://lim-english.com/posts/pravila-chteniya-angliiskogo-yazika-dlya-nachinaushih/

Vowel reading rules in English

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Today let’s talk about rules for reading vowels in Englishyou need to know in order to successfully master both the oral and written aspects.

First, let’s review the English alphabet and do it using a nursery rhyme. I think rap style fans will especially like it! It is great if you add some of the typical movements that are typical of this style of music during your performance.

Alphabet song

AA, B, C, D, E

stand up and look at me.

F, G, H, I, J

I play football every day.

K, L, M, N, O

I Cake of All.

P, Q, R, S, T

Hey people, listen to me.

U, V, W, X, Y, Z

The alphabet is in my head!

recording: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or higher) is required to play this audio recording. Download the latest version here. In addition, JavaScript must be enabled in your browser.

As you may have noticed, in the English alphabet 26 letters: 6 vowels и 20 consonants.

They form 44 sound: 20 vowels and 24 consonants.

Vowel sounds are divided into:

  • short [i], [e], [ɔ], [u], [ʌ], [æ], [ǝ]
  • long [i:], [ɜ:], [ɔ:], [u:], [a:]
  • diphthongs [ei], [ai], [ɔi], [iǝ], [ǝu], [au], [ɛǝ], [aiǝ], [auǝ]

The difficulty is that vowels are read differently, depending on which syllable the vowel occurs in.

It is generally accepted that in English there is 4 types of syllables.

Let’s analyze each of them, noting the characteristic features.

French Alphabet

I type of syllable (vowel + consonant + vowel):

open, vowel reads like this, how is shecalled in the alphabet… We consider only the striking position.

In words like bake, smile, Rope, tubefinal «e» not pronounced, it is called dumb (mute buttonletter).

 Monosyllabic words like we, go, hi, my are also of the first type.

Samples

a[ei] — name, face, cake, make, bake, take, mistake, lake, snake, lazy, crazy, nature, cage, potato

e [i:] — Egypt, Greece, tree, free, three, street, green, sleep, meter, fever, emu, lemur, he, she, we

i [ai] — five, nine,, ride a bike, drive, smile, time, nice, kite, diving, pine, spider, tiger, white

o [ǝu] — nose, rose, home, hope, rope, stone, sofa, notebook, October, composer, phone, model

u [ju:] — Pupil, Student, Tulip, Computer, Cucumber, Excuse, Music, Cuba, Future, Huge, Tube, Blue

y [ai] — why, sky, cry, spy, dry, fly, butterfly, my, shy, type, style, to rely on, July, xylophone by

IIsyllable type (vowel + consonant + consonant):

closed, vowel readable briefly. We consider only the striking position. The lexical meaning of the word depends on the length and brevity of the pronunciation of the sound in English. For example, take words like sheep (I type of syllable [ʃi: p]) and ship (II type of syllable [ʃip]).

Correct

There is a sheep On the meadow.

There is a ship in the sea

Incorrect

There is a ship On the meadow.

There is a sheep in the sea

(The poor lamb got it!)

Samples

a [æ] —  black, happy, cabbage, carrot, rabbit, daddy, granny, gallery, Africa, hand, cap, cat, map

e [e] — red, December, letter, kettle, pen, pencil, desk, address, left, cherry, chess, egg, hen, ten

i [i] — Pink, Six, Fifty, Little, Big, Pig, Spring, Winter, King, Finger, Kitchen, Milk, Fish, Children

o [ɔ] — golden, fox, dolphin, dog, hospital, doctor, bottle, box, clock, hobby, coffee, concert

u[ʌ] — summer, butter, hundred, number, brush, duck, club, jump, lunch, plum, mushroom, cup

y [i] — gym, gymnastics, lynx, myth, mystery, symbol, symphony, symptom, syllable, system

IIIsyllable type (vowel + r + consonant):

vowel is read long… Long sounds are indicated by two dots «:» to the right of the sound sign. We consider only the striking position.

Letter «r« in this type of syllable is not pronounced.

Monosyllabic words like jar, bar, here , sir, fur are also of the third type.

Samples

ar [a:] — farmer, garden, party, car, scar, bar, barber, marmalade, shark, garlic, parsley, starling

er [ɜ:] — Advertisement, Person, Perfect, University, To Prefer, Dessert, Germany, Term, Interpreter

ir [ɜ:] — bird, girl, the first, the third, thirteen, thirty, birthday, shirt, T-shirt, circus, skirt, sir, fir

or [ɔ:] — pork, orchard, orchestra, order, orchid, (un) fortunately, divorce, enormous, immortal

ur [ɜ:] — curl (y), curds, curtain, to disturb, purple, Thursday, turnip, windsurfing, surface, hurt

yr [ɜ:] — martyr (martyr), myrrh (myrrh), Kyrgyz, Kyrgyzstan

IVsyllable type (vowel + r + vowel):

reading like diphthongs. Diphthongs are combinations of two vowel sounds, the first of which is pronounced more energetically than the second. We consider only the striking position. In some words, the letter «r» is not pronounced, while in others it makes the sound [r].

Samples

are [ɛǝ] — parents, care, rarely, various, to compare, scarecrow, canary, malaria, square, share

ere [iǝ] — Here, Imperial, Serious, Mysterious, Nigeria, Serial, Sincere, Zero, Hero, Cereal, Interfere

ire [aiǝ] — tired, retired, to admire, desire, Ireland, iron, environment, requirement, biro, virus

or [ɔ:] — Ore, Store, Snore, Score, Bore, BORING, Shore, To IGNORE, To Explore, Story, Storey, Glory

ure [juǝ] — pure, cure, curable, incurable, during, Europe, euro, curious, mural (fresco), security

yre [aiǝ] — lyre (lyre), tire (US — tire tire), tyrant (tyrant), papyrus (papyrus)

Important! Research shows that total 30% words English can be read using the rules above; rest 70% words — historically developed vocabulary. Therefore, I strongly recommend actively using dictionaries in the process of learning English.

 I think the article is about rules for reading vowels in English will be useful for those who plan to take the exam in English. In the oral part of the exam there is a task in which you need to read the proposed passage of text (1.5 minutes), observing all the rules for reading vowels and consonants.

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Source: http://smashtrash.ru/pravila-chteniya/pravila-chteniya-glasnykh-v-angliyskom-ya.html

Types of syllables in English in a nutshell

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 deep into language learning. There is no need to rush. Only at first glance it seems that the British read completely differently from the way they write. In fact, there is logic everywhere. Knowing it will help you learn to read with confidence. So let’s figure it out.

Why do you need transcription?

Many people no longer teach it at school and you do not have to memorize these incomprehensible symbols, but there is one secret. It is important to learn how to divide into syllables.

The rule is:

If there is a consonant behind a stressed vowel (except for r), then we give it to the next unstressed vowel, as in the word stu / dent. Pronounced u more clearly. The stress falls on it. Therefore, d goes to the second part. If there are two or more consonants after the stressed, the first one takes the stressed part of the word, and the second one is unstressed (pat / tern).

Doubt? Open the dictionary. The upper comma in the transcription indicates stress.

Open and shut

Now you need to know how to determine the type of syllable. Many of you learned in school, but few will say for sure what an open syllable means. This is the one that ends in a vowel.

Would you like to visit Oxford? Learning a language is the first step to this trip.

Examples: he, go, me. His rule is to read the vowel as it is pronounced in the alphabet.

«Why, then, does cave read like cave?» — you ask, — «this contradicts the above!». Such syllables are called conditionally open. In them, the dumb e conventionally indicates this. More examples: late, fine.

Having learned the open type of syllable, you probably thought about the fact that there is an opposite to it — a closed syllable. And you are right. It ends with one or more consonants. The vowel in this case is read short, as in shut, cat, pen.

Why is the letter r special?

Because she does not obey general rules, but dictates her own. In the third type, it stands after the letter under stress and makes it long. Pay attention to fur (fёёё), fork (fook), serve (syёёv). Syllable type 4 is similar to type 3, but there is still an e after the r. As in care, mere, more.

Let’s put all the information in the table:

Now you are convinced that it is easy to read English words. It takes desire and practice.

Therefore, I recommend subscribing to my blog and reading 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 plus is that there is Russian transcription, therefore, even without knowing the language, you can easily master colloquial phrases.

And the most interested readers can enroll in courses taught by a native speaker. All dialogues and texts are voiced by English speakers. This will allow you to learn the correct pronunciation and remove the language barrier, as well as travel around England, meet the locals, visit museums and the most interesting places!

I was with you, Natalia Glukhova, I wish you a good day!

Source: https://vivaeurope.ru/languages/english/gramatika/tipi-slogov

Open syllable in English. The importance of stress in a word

Learning any foreign language is based on grammar and phonetics. Clear rules of English grammar are usually not difficult to understand and apply. The rules of phonetics, on the other hand, become an obstacle to achieving good pronunciation. A closed and open syllable in English, stressed and unstressed position of vowels, a special combination of letters — these are the basics of the rules for the pronunciation of sounds in the English language.

Dividing a word into syllables

Before you learn all the phonetic rules, you should learn to determine where to use which. If you want to correctly read an English unfamiliar word by applying the pronunciation rules, there are two things to keep in mind:

  1. Correct word stress. All rules are separated: for reading stressed vowels and for reading unstressed and neutral vowels.
  2. Determine the type of syllables. In total, there are four types of syllables: two basic and two conventional. The sound of the vowel in it depends on whether it is a closed or open syllable in English.

The rules for dividing English words into syllables:

  • The division of a word into syllables begins at the end of the word. As a rule, each subsequent syllable begins with a consonant and most often comes after a vowel.
  • Mute sounds, unpronounceable vowels, are not included in the transcription and do not participate in dividing the word into syllables.
  • Different syllables can include doubled consonants and a combination of two consonants (if they do not produce the same sound).
  • Separate syllables in a word can be prefixes and suffixes.
  • The temporary ending -ed is an independent syllable only with the full pronunciation of «e», if it is dumb, then this ending is not a syllable.
  • The gerund ending -ing is a syllable in its own right.
  • in complex words written with a hyphen, it is worth dividing each component part into syllables separately.

The easiest way to determine the number of syllables in English words is with the palm under the chin. When reading a word in transcription, try to carefully pronounce each sound, while the chin will touch your hand as many times as there are syllables in the word.

Open and conditionally open syllable in English

The concept of an open syllable in English and our languages ​​is the same: a syllable that ends in a vowel sound is open.

Studying the phonetics of modern English, they attach importance only to stressed syllables, since in a neutral position vowels are either pronounced with neutral sounds, or are generally dumb.

In addition to the concept of a closed and open syllable in English, there are also paired open and paired closed syllables (conditionally open and conditionally closed).

For vowels in a conditionally open syllable, the rules that are intended for open syllables do not apply. A feature of the conditionally open syllable is that after it (stressed vowel) follows the letter «r» with a dumb «e». In this case, when pronouncing vowels, you just need to add the sound [ə] to the alphabetical name of the letter.

In its pure form, this rule is fulfilled:

  • «I» — [aıə];
  • «U» — [(j) ʊə];
  • «Y» — [aıə].

examples:

  • pure [pjʊə] — pure;
  • fire [faıə] — fire;
  • tire [taıə] — tire.

Two letters shorten the sound:

examples:

  • care [keə] — care;
  • here [hıə] — here.

And only one letter gives a long vowel sound:

Example: more [mɔ:] — more.

Exception: are [a:] and were [wз:] — verb forms.

Definition of stressed syllable

English is a free-stress language. With the correct pronunciation of words similar in sound and, accordingly, when writing a transcription, the main and secondary stresses are of great importance.

Difficulties often arise in determining the word stress in English words.

Basic stress rules in English words:

  • Determine the presence of prefixes and suffixes, since prefixes shift the stress to the root, and individual suffixes indicate the stressed syllable by their presence.
    1. The suffixes that always appear after the stressed syllable are -ion, -ious, -ial, -ian, -iant, -iance, -ient, -ience and -ic, -ical. Example: republic [rI’pAblIk] — republic.
    2. The stress retains its position (as in the original word) in derived words, which are formed by adding suffixes: -ly, -ful, -less, -nees, -ism, -ing, -er, -or, — (e) d, — (e) s.
  • We determine the actual (pronounced) syllables in the word, since the stress is distributed between them.
  • Most of all used English words do not exceed three syllables, therefore:
    1. Without taking into account the prefix (prefix), the stress in words consisting of 2 syllables falls on the first syllable;
    2. If a two-syllable word contains a suffix, then the stress falls on the second syllable (counting syllables from right to left).
    3. In words consisting of 3 or more syllables, the third syllable from the end of the word is stressed.
    4. In polysyllabic words (more than four syllables), the secondary stress is placed one syllable to the left of the main stress.

    Exceptions to the rule are words borrowed from other languages:

    • canal [kəˈnæl] — channel;
    • diploma [dɪˈpləʊmə] — diploma;
    • tobacco [təˈbækəʊ] — tobacco;
    • tomato [təˈmɑːtəʊ] — tomato and others.

Pronunciation rules for vowels in a stressed open syllable

For Russian-speaking people, it is especially difficult to understand such a number of vowel sounds with a minimum number of vowels. Vowel sounds are of the following types:

  1. short vowel sounds;
  2. long vowel sounds;
  3. vowel diphthongs (combination of 2 vowels).

After the word is divided into syllables and the main stress is correctly determined, you can read the word, guided by the following rules:

«Basic rule»

In a stressed open syllable, an open vowel is read as in the alphabet:

  • «A» — [eı];
  • «O» — [əʊ]; Exceptions: «o» — [Λ] after «m», «th», «n» and «v». Examples some, dove, come.
  • «U» — [ju:] as [u:] if the letter comes after:
    1. letters «r»: rude [ru: d] — rough;
    2. consonant + l: flute [flu: t] — flute;
    3. hissing sound: June [dʒu: n] — June.
  • «E» — [i:], doubling the letter «e» — [i:]. Example: see [si:] — to see. The letter «e» is dumb at the end of a word, except in monosyllables, where it is the only vowel. Example: he [hi:] — he, me [mi:] — I, be [bi:] — to be.
  • «I» — [aı]. Exception: «i» — [ı] only in the pronunciation of the verb «to give».
  • «Y» — [aı].

Cases when the sounds: «a», «i», «u» end the stressed syllable are not entirely natural for English speech, and this indicates a foreign origin or a contraction of the word.

Example:

Abbreviations:

  • flu [flu:] — flu;
  • hi [haı] — hello.

«Rule of the third syllable»

The third stressed syllable from the end is always read according to the rules for a closed syllable. This rule is also valid for the fifth, seventh syllables when the secondary stress falls on them. Vowel digraphs are not affected by this rule and are read according to the basic rules of an open syllable.

Only regular training of the speech apparatus in the pronunciation of vowel sounds will help to develop accurate articulation (the position of the speech organs during the pronunciation of vowel sounds) and bring it to automatism. Repeating vowel sounds with a tendency to repeat the reference is the easiest way to develop true English pronunciation.

Article recommended by an expert: Maria Solomatina

Source: https://1hello.ru/grammatika/otkrytyj-slog-v-anglijskom-yazyke.html

What are the syllables in English

The English alphabet has six vowels, but individually and in combination with each other, they form more than two dozen sounds, including diphthongs. The reading of a vowel depends on the letters adjacent to it and on the type of syllable in which it is located.

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