Familiarizing students with parts and types of syllable in English words

Abstract

The prime objective of this article is to familiarize the intermediate level students with parts and types of a syllable in English words. Syllable is a unit of pronunciation. The segments or constituents of a syllable are onset, nucleus and coda in general. Nucleus is an obligatory constituent, whereas onset and coda are optional or peripheral constituents of a syllable. Consonant sounds or phonemes function as the onset and the coda, while a vowel phoneme functions as the nucleus or peak of the syllable. This article can be a fruitful source of information about syllable for English teachers and students who are interested in teaching and learning phonetics and phonology.