syllabification

American  

[si-lab-uh-fi-kay-shuhn] / sɪˌlæb ə fɪˈkeɪ ʃən /

noun

plural

syllabifications

1. the process or result of syllabifying.

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Other Word Forms

• resyllabification noun

Explanation

When you divide a word into its individual vowel sounds, that's syllabification. The syllabification of "vocabulary" looks like this: vo-cab-u-lar-y. The word syllabification essentially means "the act of separating into syllables," and syllable goes back to the Greek syllabē, "that which is held together" or "several sounds taken together." Syllables are sounds held together by vowels, and the process of syllabification involves identifying those separate syllables, in speech or writing. Syllabification is a good way to learn a new word, whether you're trying to spell it or pronounce it correctly. Try it with syl-lab-if-i-ca-tion!

Example Sentences

For further details on syllabification in our oldest Latin manuscripts, see Th.

From A Sixth-Century Fragment of the Letters of Pliny the Younger A Study of Six Leaves of an Uncial Manuscript Preserved in the Pierpont Morgan Library New York by Lowe, E. A. (Elias Avery)

What he said was unintelligible, but words were uttered; the syllabification was distinct.

From The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 2 by Poe, Edgar Allan

This was uttered with such blinding rapidity of syllabification as to be a better test of teetotalism than the Scotch one of saying "Biblical criticism" six times.

From Alarms and Discursions by Chesterton, G. K. (Gilbert Keith)

Possibly the study might more accurately be called word-study, since it aims also at training for pronunciation, syllabification, vocabulary extension, and etymology.

From What the Schools Teach and Might Teach by Bobbitt, John Franklin

His attention is called to syllabification as well as to diacritical marks.

From How to Teach Phonics by Williams, Lida M.

Related Words

• accent
• diction
• utterance