Sílaba

Sílaba is the unit of speech organization used in most languages to group sounds into pronounceable bursts. In English, the equivalent term is syllable; in Portuguese, the word is sílaba. A typical syllable centers on a nucleus, usually a vowel, and may include consonants before (the onset) and after (the coda).

Structure and components: The nucleus is the core of the syllable and is usually a vowel. The onset comprises the consonants that come before the nucleus, while the coda consists of consonants after the nucleus. Some languages also admit syllabic consonants as nuclei, in which a consonant can function as the syllable’s core. Syllables are the primary units of prosody and can influence stress, rhythm, and intonation.

Types and syllabification: Open syllables end in a vowel (no coda), while closed syllables end with a consonant (have a coda). Many languages follow the maximal onset principle, which assigns as many preceding consonants as possible to the following syllable’s onset. Examples: in English, banana can be analyzed as ba-na-na; in Portuguese, sí-la-ba shows a three-syllable division. Syllabification rules vary across languages, affecting pronunciation and writing systems.

Variation and role in language: Syllables interact with phonotactics, stress patterns, and rhythm. Some languages describe syllable weight to help determine stress or tempo. Writing systems may encode syllables directly (syllabaries) or more indirectly influence syllable structure through spelling conventions. Overall, the syllable is a foundational concept in phonology, phonetics, and language pedagogy.