🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <Oct.29.12.47.57.1992.19393@pilot.njin.net> hubey@pilot.njin.net (Hubey) writes:
>
>What are the necessary and sufficient conditions for a string of
>letters to constitute a syllable ?

Surely you mean "string of _sounds_".  I'm not a phonologist, but here
goes...

A syllable is a sonority peak.  That is, it is a local maximum of sonority.
The middle of a syllable is surrounded by less sonorous sounds on both sides.

Sonority is defined by the Aissen/Hankamer sonority hierarchy, which I
dimly remember as like this: 
      Highest:  Vowels
      Second:   Liquids (l, r)
      Third:    Nasals (n, m)
      Fourth:   Any other voiced continuant
      Fifth:    Voiceless continuants
      Bottom:   Stops

So when you say "bottle" you may well only be pronouncing /batl/ but the l
on the end is a sonority peak (more sonorous than the t preceding or the
silence following); it's a syllable without a vowel.

NOW THEN. If you are asking how to _divide_ a word into syllables, so that
every sound belongs to a specific syllable, then you've opened an
interesting can of worms.  How would you _know_ that, for instance,
"refer" is "re-fer" rather than "ref-er"?  Hard to tell!


-- 
:- Michael A. Covington     internet mcovingt@uga.cc.uga.edu 
:- Artificial Intelligence Programs       phone 706 542-0359
:- The University of Georgia                fax 706 542-0349
:- Athens, Georgia 30602 U.S.A.          amateur radio N4TMI