Onsettofinal

Onsettofinal is a term used in phonology to describe the relationship or correspondence between the onset of a syllable—the initial consonant or consonant cluster—and the final part of the syllable, typically the coda or final consonant. As a descriptive tool, it examines how features of the onset relate to features of the final segment within the same syllable across a language or across syllables in a word. The concept can be used in syllable typology, phonotactics, and computational modeling to capture patterns such as harmony, consonant coarticulation, or proportional length between onset and final segments.

In practical analysis, onsettofinal may be described in terms of segmental features (voicing, place of articulation), the size of the onset, the length or presence of a final, or the presence versus absence of a coda. For example, the open syllable ba has an onset /b/ and no final consonant, while bat has an onset /b/ and final /t/. Some languages exhibit systematic onset-to-final harmony or correspondence, while others show little or no such pattern.

The term is not universally standardized and is often used informally to discuss patterns relating the initial and final parts of syllables. It is related to broader topics in phonology such as syllable structure, rhyming, and phonotactics.

See also: syllable structure, onset, coda, rhyme, phonotactics.