Fundamental Generalizations of English Syllabification

Abstract

Since the early 1970s, researchers have recognized the syllable as a fundamental unit of phonology. Despite this, no consensus has emerged as to how a phonetic string is segmented into syllables, i.e. syllabification. This paper reviews the theoretical and empirical literature to provide an understanding of the nature and location of syllable boundaries, in order to help us understand what role syllables play in processing speech and written text—an especially crucial consideration for ESL/EFL learners with native languages whose syllable structures are simpler than that of English.