Sy·lla·bles· and En·glish·
1. A Sy·lla·ble· is a group of sounds made on one puff of air:
When we talk, sounds are grouped in·to· se·pa·rate· puffs of air called sy·lla·bles·. These puffs are not marked in stan·dard· En·glish· text, so ma·ny· rea·ders· ex·pe·ri·ence· di·ffi·cul·ty· de·ter·mi·ning· the num·ber· of sy·lla·bles· in words, and which sounds are to be in·clu·ded· in each sy·lla·ble·. You can turn the mar·king· sy·lla·bles· with a small dot on or off by cli·cking· on the Sy·lla·bles· i·con· a·bove·.
2. The Sy·lla·ble· Rules in Nor·mal· Speech:
The rules for wor·king· out sy·lla·bles· for nor·mal· speech are not ge·ne·ra·lly· taught at school. E·ven· most skilled rea·ders· do not know these rules con·sciou·sly·. Un·for·tu·nate·ly·, the hy·phe·na·tion· rules taught in most schools, do not a·ccu·rate·ly· pre·dict· where sy·lla·bles· break in nor·mal· speech. Fur·ther·more·, most En·glish· dic·tio·na·ries· do not mark sy·lla·bles· for speech — those that do, u·su·a·lly· on·ly· mark sy·lla·bles· for hy·phe·na·tion·, NOT for stan·dard· speech. E.g. ‘ha·ppy·’ would be marked ha·ppy· (the way we would hy·phe·nate· it) ra·ther· than ha·ppy· (the way we say it).
3. Sy·lla·bles· and Stress:
The pro·blems· a·sso·ci·a·ted· with sy·lla·bles· are e·xa·cer·ba·ted· by the stress pa·tterns· in En·glish· words. Sy·lla·bles· can be pro·nounced· with three le·vels· of force - strong (stressed), me·di·um· (stan·dard·) or weak (un·stressed·) but there are no ge·ne·ral· rules. Be·tter·Tha·na·Book· En·hanced· Text co·lor-codes· the vow·el· le·tters· in un·stressed· sy·lla·bles· in blue. The blue le·tters· all have much the same sound — the /~/ or /ə/ sound which is a small, qui·et· grunt like the se·cond· ‘o’ in ‘pho·to·graph· ’, and the first ‘o’, the ‘a ’ and the ‘er’ in ‘pho·to·gra·pher·’.