syllablefinal

Syllablefinal, in phonology and linguistics, refers to the coda of a syllable—the consonant or consonant cluster that comes after the syllable nucleus. In many analyses the syllable is described as having an onset, a nucleus (typically a vowel), and a coda. The coda is optional in open syllables, and its presence or absence helps distinguish syllable types across languages.

Codas vary widely across languages. Some languages permit no codas at all, producing only open syllables such as CV patterns; others allow a single final consonant, and still others permit multiple consonants in the coda. For example, many Romance languages typically allow one final consonant, while English can terminate a syllable with complex clusters like -lts or -ldz. Mandarin Chinese and several other languages permit final nasals or liquids, illustrating diverse coda inventories in the world’s languages.

The syllablefinal position interacts with phonotactics, syllable weight, and prosody. In some theories, codas contribute to the syllable’s weight or mora count, affecting stress, timing, and rhythmic patterns. Codas are also common sites of phonological processes such as coda deletion, epenthesis (to repair clusters), and assimilation. Cross-linguistic patterns in syllablefinal consonants often influence morphological alternations and syllable-structure typology.

In linguistic analysis, syllablefinal is used to describe and compare where segments occur within syllables, particularly when distinguishing final from initial positions, or when examining coda-related phonotactics, allophony, and diachronic change. It is a standard term for describing the segmental structure that follows the nucleus in a syllable.