Syllabication

[penderyn]

Help please.
I have checked syllabication rules all over: internet, dictionaries of different kinds, only to find that they differ. For some, one-syllable words may be split into two. In other cases, a suffix is not viewed as such. "Ed" endings are also a problem.
Does anyone know of a website for me to find "reliable" information?
Thank you.

 

[emsr2d2]

Help please.
I have checked syllabication rules all over: internet, dictionaries of different kinds, only to find that they differ. For some, one-syllable words may be split into two. In other cases, a suffix is not viewed as such. "Ed" endings are also a problem.
Does anyone know of a website for me to find "reliable" information?
Thank you.

I'm not sure how these differences are occurring. A word has a definite number of syllables and this does not vary!

If a suffix is part of a word, and it's pronounced as a separate syllable, then it's a separate syllable!

-ed will be counted as a syllable if it ends a word where the last sound is "t" or "d".

Wanted - 2 syllables.
Added - 2 syllables.
Hissed - 1 syllable.
Shared - 1 syllable.

Pre-order - 3 syllables.
Undo - 2 syllables.
Refit - 2 syllables.

 

[penderyn]

Thank you.Very kind of you.
Look: as I said, I have checked Merriam-Webster website, and Longman and Oxford (paper) dictionaries and found differences.
Still -with due respect- it is not my intention to start a controversy. I just hope that someone has found what I'm looking for.
Once again, thank you for the trouble to answer my query.
I'm sure there will be another chance for us to have a fruitful exchange.
Best regards.
"Penderyn".

 

[emsr2d2]

Thank you.Very kind of you.
Look: as I said, I have checked Merriam-Webster website, and Longman and Oxford (paper) dictionaries and found differences.
Still -with due respect- it is not my intention to start a controversy. I just hope that someone has found what I'm looking for.
Once again, thank you for the trouble to answer my query.
I'm sure there will be another chance for us to have a fruitful exchange.
Best regards.
"Penderyn".

I'm very interested in these differences though. Can you post a specific example of a word which is shown as having a different number of syllables depending on which dictionary you look in?

A syllable must contain a vowel. It may or may not contain a consonant.

 

[penderyn]

Dear Forum,
Among other cases, I have found the following:
a. Oxford Advanced Dictionary - battle.
b. Longman Contemporary - bat-tle.
c. merriam-webster website: bat-tle.

I also found
re-al-ize
vo-cal-ize
and then,
civ-i-lize
mo-bi-lize

odor vs o-dor

The more I read different websites and dictionaries, the more confused I get.
Thank you.

 

[emsr2d2]

Dear Forum,
Among other cases, I have found the following:
a. Oxford Advanced Dictionary - battle. This one I can't understand at all. There is no way that the word "battle" can be described as having only one syllable!
b. Longman Contemporary - bat-tle.
c. merriam-webster website: bat-tle.

I also found
re-al-ize
vo-cal-ize
and then,
civ-i-lize
mo-bi-lize

The four above are all fine, although most people would pronounce "realise" with just two syllables, but the last three certainly have three syllables.

odor vs o-dor

Again, like the first one, "odour" (BrE spelling) always has two syllables.

The more I read different websites and dictionaries, the more confused I get.
Thank you.

All I can say really, is that perhaps when written down, some of the dictionaries are perhaps not writing them syllabically. What you need to do is say the word out loud and count the syllables! As I said in my previous post, each syllable must have a vowel and may have a consonant. Sometimes, if there are two vowels next to each other, then they may fall in the same syllable.

Real = 1 syllable
Realistic = 4 syllables
Tool = 1 syllable
Toolkit = 2 syllables

 

[penderyn]

Thanks again. Very kind of you.
Best regards.