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When we look at the nature of vowels and consonants in the previous units we can see that one could decide whether a particular sound is a vowel or a consonant on phonetic grounds (in relation to how much they obstructed the airflow)or on phonological grounds (vowels and consonants having different distributions).We find a similar situation with the syllable,in that it may be defined both phonetically and phonologically.Phonetically (that is,in relation to the way we produce them and the way they sound),syllables are usually described as consisting of a center which has little or no obstruction to airflow and which sounds comparatively loud; before and after this center (that is,at the beginning and end of the syllable),there will be greater obstruction to airflow and /or less loud sound.Let us now look at some examples:

1)What we might call a minimum syllable would be a single vowel in isolation,e.g.the words are /ɑː/,or /ɔː/,err /зː/.They are preceded and followed by silence.Isolated sounds such as /m/,which we sometimes produce to indicate agreement,or /ʃ/,to ask for silence,must also be regarded as syllables.

2)Some syllables have an onset (that is,they have more than just silence preceding the center of the syllable),e.g.bar /bɑː/,key /kiː/,more /mɔː/.

3)Syllables may have no onset but have a coda,e.g.art /ɑːt/,am /æm/,ease /iːz/.

4)Some syllables have both onset and coda,e.g.run /rʌn/,sat /sæt/,fill /fɪl/.

Looking at syllables from the perspective of phonetics,which at first seems obvious,turns out not to be very useful.Looking at them from the phonological point of view is quite different.What this involves is looking at the possible combinations of English phonemes.It is simplest to start by looking at what can occur in initial position-in other words,what can occur at the beginning of the first word after a pause.We find that the word can begin with a vowel,or with one,two or three consonants.No word begins with more than three consonants.In the same way,we can look at how a word ends when it is the last word spoken before a pause; it can end with a vowel,or with one,two,three or (in a small number of cases)four consonants.No word ends with more than four consonants.