Syllable onset

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Syllable onset

In phonetics

Phonetics

Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds , and the processes of their physiological production, auditory reception, and neurophysiological perception....
and phonology

Phonology

Phonology is the systematic use of sound to encode meaning in any spoken human language, or the field of linguistics studying this use. Just as a language has syntax and vocabulary, it also has a phonology in the sense of a sound system....
, a syllable onset is the part of a syllable

Syllable

A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of Speech communication sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter....
that precedes the syllable nucleus

Syllable nucleus

In phonetics and phonology, the nucleus is the central part of the syllable, most commonly a vowel. In addition to a nucleus, a syllable may begin with an syllable onset and end with a syllable coda, but in most languages the only part of a syllable that is mandatory is the nucleus....
.

segmental structure of a syllable

Syllable

A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of Speech communication sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter....
begins with an onset, followed by a rime

Syllable rime

In the study of phonology in linguistics, the rime or rhyme of a syllable consists of a Syllable nucleus and an optional Syllable coda. It is the part of the syllable used in Rhyme, and the part that is lengthened or stressed when a person elongates or stresses a word in speech....
or final.

syllable: C₁(C₂)V₁(V₂)(C₃)(C₄) = onset: C₁(C₂) + rime: V₁(V₂)(C₃)(C₄)

syllable: V₁(V₂)(C₃)(C₄) = onset: Ø (null) + rime: V₁(V₂)(C₃)(C₄)

Depending on the phonotactics

Phonotactics

Phonotactics is a branch of phonology that deals with restrictions in a language on the permissible combinations of phonemes. Phonotactics defines permissible syllable structure, consonant clusters, and vowel sequences by means of phonotactical constraints....
of a language, the onset can consist of a single consonant

Consonant

In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper vocal tract, the upper vocal tract being defined as that part of the vocal tract that lies above the larynx....
or a consonant cluster

Consonant cluster

In linguistics, a consonant cluster is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word splits....
, or be null.

syllable begins with a vowel

Vowel

In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as English ah! or oh! , pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis....
or another syllabic sonorant

Sonorant

In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant is a speech sound that is produced without turbulent airflow in the vocal tract. Essentially this means a sound that's "squeezed out" or "spat out" is not a sonorant....
, then the syllable is said to have no onset, or a null onset.

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Encyclopedia

In phonetics

Phonetics

Phonology

Syllable

A syllable is a unit of organization for a sequence of Speech communication sounds. For example, the word water is composed of two syllables: wa and ter....
that precedes the syllable nucleus

Syllable nucleus

Syllable structure

The segmental structure of a syllable

Syllable

Syllable rime

syllable: C₁(C₂)V₁(V₂)(C₃)(C₄) = onset: C₁(C₂) + rime: V₁(V₂)(C₃)(C₄)

syllable: V₁(V₂)(C₃)(C₄) = onset: Ø (null) + rime: V₁(V₂)(C₃)(C₄)

Depending on the phonotactics

Phonotactics

Consonant

Consonant cluster

In linguistics, a consonant cluster is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word splits....
, or be null.

Null onset

If a syllable begins with a vowel

Vowel

Sonorant

Abjad

An abjad is a type of writing system in which each symbol stands for a consonant; the reader must supply the appropriate vowel. It is a term suggested by Peter T....
s, abugida

Abugida

An 'abugida' is a segment writing system which is based on consonants but in which vowel notation is obligatory. About half the writing systems in the world are abugidas, including the extensive Brahmic family of scripts used in South and Southeast Asia....
s, and alphabet

Alphabet

An alphabet is a standardized set of letter basic written symbols each of which roughly represents a phoneme, a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it was in the past....
s have a special zero consonant

Zero consonant

A zero consonant, silent initial, or null-onset letter is a consonant-like letter that is not pronounced, but indicates that a word or syllable starts with a vowel ....
to represent a null onset. For example, in Hangul

Hangul

Hangul is the native alphabet of the Korean language, as distinguished from the logogram Sino-Korean vocabulary hanja system. It was created in the mid-fifteenth century, and is now the official writing system of both North Korea and South Korea, being co-official in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture of China....
, the alphabet of the Korean language

Korean language

Korean is the official language of North Korea and South Korea. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China....
, a null onset is represented with ? at the left or top section of graph, as in ? ("south," pronounced yeok, where the diphthong

Diphthong

In phonetics, a diphthong, or , is a contour vowel?that is, a unitary vowel that changes vowel quality during its pronunciation, or "glides", with a glissando of the tongue from one articulation to another, as in the English words eye, boy, and cow. This contrasts with "pure" vowels, or monophthongs, where the tongue is held s...
yeo is the syllable nucleus and k is the coda

Syllable coda

In phonology, a syllable coda comprises the consonant sounds of a syllable that follow the syllable nucleus, which is usually a vowel. The combination of a nucleus and a coda is called a syllable rime....
).