Learning Objectives
Identify syllables in words in order to improve pronunciation
Syllable- a unit of pronunciation that has one vowel sound, and may or may not be surrounded by consonants. A syllable can form a whole word or part of a word. Words have one, two, three or more syllables.
Word |
Syllable Count |
|
| book | book | 1 |
| paper | pa-per | 2 |
| attention | at-ten-tion | 3 |
| capacity | ca-pac-i-ty | 4 |
| disproportionate | dis-pro-por-tion-ate | 5 |
- It is common to stress the first syllable.
Examples: ba’/sic, pro’/gram.
- In words that have prefixes or suffixes, the stress is usually on the main root word.
Examples: un/pack’ box’/es
- If de-, re-, ex-, in-,po-, pro-, or a- is the first syllable in a word, it is usually not stressed.
Examples: de/cay’, ex/plore’
- Two vowel letters together in the last syllable of a word often indicates a stressed last syllable.
Examples: com/plain’ con/ceal’
- When there are two of the same consonant letters within a word, the syllable before the double consonants is usually stressed.
Examples: be/gin’/ner, let’/ter
- The stress is usually on the syllable before the suffixes -ion, ity, -ic, -ical, -ian, -ial, or -ious, and on the second syllable before the suffix -ate.
Examples: af/fec/ta’/tion, dif/fer/en’/ti/ate
- In words of three or more syllables, one of the first two syllables is usually stressed.
Examples: ac’/ci/dent, de/ter’/mine
tips for teaching
One vowel sound=one syllable.
Example: been (1), climbing (2), excellent (3)
Syllables are divided by consonant sounds.
Example: climbing (2), excellent (3)
Clap for each vowel sound to count the number of syllables.
Example: One clap for rip, trip, strips
One clap for strength, Two claps for strengthens
For clear pronunciation, speak each syllable.
