Pairs of words with open and closed syllables. Types of syllables in English

As a rule, the modern standard school curriculum of English does not provide for some important points in learning, and among them the ability to determine the type of syllable and, accordingly, correctly read the entire word. How can this be done?

Syllables in English

Some theoretical aspects of linguistics are not always required by beginners. Perhaps one of the optional skills for those who do not learn English at a professional level is syllabus splitting. Usually this does not present serious difficulties, but in this case it is necessary to know the basic rules, since they differ significantly from those adopted in Russian phonetics.

The general rule is that the number of syllables corresponds to the number of vowels. This means that you need not look at the letters, but listen to the pronunciation of the word, because in English there are an abundance of mute vowels, diphthongs, etc. In addition, the so-called sonorant consonants can also be syllabic, so the word "mild" split like this: mi | ld. In the future, it will become clear why this is happening.

Syllabic division is made from the end of the word: student - stu | dent, money - mo | ney, permission - per | mis | sion.

A consonant that is on the border of two syllables is thus adjacent to the following vowel. The doubled sounds are divided. All this matters if you need to find out how to pronounce this or that unfamiliar word. Also, for this you need to know about closed and open syllables in English.

Impact on reading rules

The types of syllables in English differ from the classification in Russian. Four varieties are distinguished here, while in others, as a rule, only two.

First, it is an open syllable. In English, it ends in. The reading rules come into play.

The second type is a closed syllable. It ends in one or more consonants (with the exception of "r"). In this case, the vowels are read briefly.

The third and fourth types of syllables are conditionally open. They end in "r" or "re", the preceding vowels are read in a special way, which will be discussed below.

Of course, there are exceptions to all the rules. Open and closed syllables in English are not a guarantee that vowels will be read in one way or another. However, such cases are not very common.

By the way, first of all for the word it is necessary to determine the stressed syllable, because whether it is open or closed is of paramount importance. The vowels in the rest, as a rule, are pronounced fairly neutral or completely dumb. But with accents, problems usually arise, because English belongs to languages \u200b\u200bwith their free arrangement.

Open

This type of syllable includes those that end in a vowel. When analyzing a word visually, it is imperative to take into account the presence of a dumb "e" at the end, since it is she who opens the previous syllable.

In this case, most of the vowels are diphthongs.

General reading rules in this case will be as follows:

A - pale, name;

E - to be, she;

I - to bite, kite;

O - to go, so;

U - to use, pupil;

Y - to type.

But this does not always work, for example, in the word "to come" phonetically "o" does not correspond to the accepted rules, despite the presence of a dumb "e" at the end of the word. In this case, it is read according to the principle of a closed syllable. What is this principle?

Closed

Syllables of this type, unlike open ones, always end in consonants (except for r).

Accordingly, the vowels in this case are pronounced short and easy.

A [æ] - bad, cat;

E [e] - to let, pen;

I [i] - list, to sit;

O [ɔ] - to lock, pot;

U [ʌ] - must, sun;

The closed syllable in English is, perhaps, somewhat less common than the open one. This is precisely due to the fact that there is often a dumb "e" at the end of a word. But the closed and open syllable in English, unlike Russian, are not the only types. There are two more varieties that are not always considered. But their features are also important to consider when studying the rules for reading vowels.

Conditionally open

These two types of syllables are sometimes also called semi-closed. They end in "r" or "re". In theory, in this case it will be, respectively, closed and open syllables. In English, everything is not so, and the vowels, being in front of these letter combinations, acquire a new, more complex sound, before the "re" some of them even become diphthongs.

In the first case, if we are talking about syllables ending in r, everything will be like this:

A - park, dark;

E [ə:] - term, her;

I [ə:] - bird;

O [ɔ:] - port, short, world;

U [ə:] - to burn;

Y [ə:] - Myrtle.

In the second, if there is a "re" after the vowels, they will sound differently:

A [ɛə] - to care, nightmare;

E - here, mere;

I - fire;

O [ɔ:] - core;

U - cure, sure, pure;

Y - tire.

In addition to the fact that open and closed syllables in English, as well as the third and fourth types, affect the reading of certain vowels, there are a huge number of letter combinations that also have a special sound. This knowledge can be obtained both in theory, and simply memorize the transcription of words, meeting with them in practice.

For a simple use of the language in everyday communication or correspondence, you may not know such subtleties as the rules for dividing words and the classification of syllables.

The rules for reading vowels have so many exceptions that they almost lose all meaning. That is why closed and open syllables in English are more interesting and useful for linguists than for ordinary people.

In this tutorial:
Alphabet for letter A
Open and closed syllable

There are a lot of reading rules in English, but the most, the most "basic" are the rules for reading vowels in open and closed syllables.

You DO NOT need to "learn the rules" of reading separately. You need to learn a lot of words - examples for this rule. By memorizing the rules, you memorize patterns, which you then notice in unfamiliar words.

Let's go through the dictionary

Once upon a time, it seems that a long time ago, there were no electronic dictionaries. Why, when there were no computers yet. The translation of unfamiliar words had to be sought by leafing through the thick, solid book DICTIONARY. Probably, even now every student of English has a large or not very large English-Russian dictionary, which is called "hardcover."

Searching for a translation of a word, of course, is easier in the electronic version of the dictionary, but when you hold a book in your hands, you see more words, it is easier to find words in which a vowel denotes a certain sound. So, let's go through the dictionary and look for patterns.

"Alphabet" for the letter "A"

[x]
ant - ant act act apple - apple	able able ace ace
bad - bad bag - bag	baby ["beIbi] baby bake bake bacon ["beIkn] bacon bait bait. bait
camp - camp cat - cat	cable cable cake cake
daddy - dad dam - dam	date date, date day day daisy ["deIzI] daisy danger ["deInGq] danger
enamel enamel embarrass to embarrass	enable promote embrace hug, embrace
fan- fan, fan fact fact fax fax	face face fame glory fake - fake, fake
gas - gas ganster - ganster	game game gate gate
hat - hat hand - hand	hate to hate
jam ["Gxm] - jam, jam jaguar ["Gxgjq] jaguar	Jane -Jane jail ["GeIl] prison
lamp - lamp	lady ["leIdI] - lady, lady
mad - crazy	make - make, make
narrow ["nxrqV] narrow	name -name, name
pack pack, flock	pale - pale
rat - rat	radio ["reIdiqV] radio
sad - sad	safe safe, safe
tank tank	take take

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn \u200b\u200bOo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz

Open and closed syllable

This table does not show words for all letters of the alphabet, but this is enough. As you can see, there are a lot of short words in English like

hat is a closed syllable - after the letter a there is one consonant and nothing else.

hate is an open syllable - after the letter a there is one consonant and the "mute" letter e (it is not pronounced).

Using such examples, the rules for reading vowels in open and closed (stressed!) Syllables are the easiest to remember. So,

In an open stressed syllable, vowels are read in the same way as they are called (as in the alphabet), i.e. this is alphabetical reading.

Unfortunately, not everything is so simple. Even this "simple" rule does not apply to all words. To read a vowel, it is important which letters stand in front of her and behind her. Therefore, the letter a can also be read as [L] or [R]. But more on that in the next lesson.
Until then, try to memorize the words from the table above and
transcription characters [x] and.
Still:

Hello dear friends! Today I will tell you about the types of syllables in English. Some readers will now close the article and say that they do not want to go deep into language learning. No need to rush. Only at first glance it seems that the British read completely differently from the way they write. In fact, there is logic everywhere. Knowing it will help you learn to read with confidence. So let's figure it out.

Why transcription is needed?

Many people no longer teach it at school and you do not need to memorize these incomprehensible symbols, but there is one secret. It is important to learn how to divide into syllables.

The rule is:

If there is a consonant behind a stressed vowel (except for r), then we give it to the next, unstressed vowel, as in stu / dent. Pronounced u more clearly. The stress falls on it. Therefore, d goes to the second part. If there are two or more consonants after the stressed, the first one takes the stressed part of the word, and the second one is unstressed (pat / tern).

Doubt? Open the dictionary. The upper comma in the transcription indicates stress.

Open and shut

Now you need to know how to determine the type of syllable. Many of you taught at school, but few will say for sure what an open syllable means. This is the one that ends in a vowel.

Why is the letter r special?

Because she does not obey general rules, but dictates her own. In the third type, it stands after the letter under stress and makes it long. Pay attention to fur (fёёё), fork (fook), serve (syёёv). Syllable type 4 is similar to type 3, but there is still an e after the r. As in care, mere, more.

Let's put all the information in the table:

Therefore, I recommend subscribing to my blog and reading other articles. You will also receive as a gift, completely free of charge, an excellent basic phrasebook in three languages, English, German and French. Its main plus is that there is Russian transcription, therefore, even without knowing the language, you can easily master colloquial phrases.

You will come across these words in almost any English textbook. What are syllables is more or less clear. Why are they open and closed? And why do you need to know this at all?

Open syllables end in a vowel (for example, ma-ma). Closed , respectively, to a consonant (for example, port felle). For reading in Russian it does not matter what type of syllable. But in English, it will depend on how to read the word correctly.

So that's it. Shock vowel in an open syllable reads same, what is the name of in the alphabet ( attention: not any vowel, but only stressed!). Besides the letter Yy (wye)which reads simply (ay).

Aa			Oo
Ee			Uu
Ii			Yy

it happens three variants of an open syllable:

1) C DСГ - stressed vowel is separated from the next vowel in the word by only one consonant. It does not matter if there are any further consonants. For instance:

i \u003d ah l ike - [l aIk] ( like - like)

a \u003d hey k ate [k eIt] (Kate)

u \u003d u p upil [p jupl] (pupil - student)

By the way: letter Her (AND) at the end of a word is not readable if there are other vowels besides it.

2) C D - a single vowel at the end of a word, for example:

i \u003d ah i [h aI ] (hi - hi)

e \u003d and: h e [h J ] (hee - he)

y \u003d ah m y [m aI ] (May is mine)

3) C DГ - two vowels stand side by side. Then the first (stressed) vowel is in an open syllable, and the second is not read at all. for instance:

o \u003d oy c oat ( cote - coat)

e \u003d and: s ee [s J ] (si - see)

a \u003d hey p aint ( paint - paint)

IN closed syllable (that is, one that ends in a consonant - one (and immediately after it there is no vowel) or several at once)vowels read like this :

Aa	[x] (eh)		Oo	[O] (oh)
Ee	[e] (e)		Uu	[A] (a)
Ii	[I] (and)		Yy	[I] (and)

That is, each letter has its own sound, except letters Ii -Ayy Yy -Wye who read the same - (and).

For instance:

Aa		(hat) - hat (fan) - fan The mouth opens wide, the sound is "big"
Ee		(ed) -red (ten) - ten The mouth opens slightly, the sound is pronounced on a half smile. Consonants don't soften!
Ii		(pig) - pig (sit) - sit
Oo	stop	(great dane) - dog (stop) - stop
Uu		(ran) - run (cat) - cut
Yy	system symbol	(systems) - system (symbol) - symbol

What happens?

1. 1) There are syllables open (end in a vowel or a vowel immediately after them) and closed (end in a consonant).

2. 2) B open we read the stressed vowel in the syllable, what is it called in the alphabet. IN closed syllable vowels denote briefsounds.

Letter	Called	Read
		in open syllable	in a closed syllable
	Hey	hey	uh (wide)
		and	e (narrow)
	Ay	ah	and
	OU	oU	about
		yu	and
	Wye	ah	and

3. 3) Letters Ii-Hey and Yy-Wye read equally: in an open syllable - (ah), in a closed - (and).

:) If it is not clearer - please ask questions!

Before we begin to understand what an open and closed syllable is, I would like to warn you right away - in English, reading rules have so many exceptions that it is better to just remember reading as many words as possible, and read the rest by analogy.

But at school they teach the rules and give grades ... In order to apply the rules correctly, let's first deal with the syllables.

In English, as well as in Russian, words are divided into syllables. Very often, in order to correctly read a vowel in a syllable, it is necessary to determine the type of syllable - open or closed syllable.

Let's take the usual Russian word “ book»Let's divide it into syllables: BOOK... Both syllables end in a vowel sound, which means both syllables OPEN.

Let's take the word “ trap", Divide into syllables: TRAP... In this example, both syllables end in a consonant, which means that both CLOSED.

But defining the syllable of an English syllable is not as easy as in Russian. A typical English word contains 2, maximum 3 syllables, so the syllable is not difficult to find.

If you take the floor name , then you might think that there are 2 syllables in it, but we all know that this is read, that is, there is one syllable. Let's take a closer look at why everything is so.

Open syllable
1. If there is no consonant in the syllable after the vowel.
For instance: go, no, ago, my, hi, be, me.
2. If after the vowel there is immediately "e" at the end of the word
For instance: pie, lie, toe, blue, bye, dye.
3. If there is a consonant letter, but it is immediately followed by a "mute" vowel "e", which is not readable.
For instance: name, blade, take, these, mine, time, type.
3. After the stressed vowel - consonant + le
For instance: table, noble.

Remember !!! In an open syllable, vowels are read sameas they are called in.

Closed syllable
If in a syllable after a vowel there is one or more consonant letters (except for the letter r).
For instance: bad, cat, vet, strip, stop, camp, battle, end, center, pink.

But in English there are "tricky" vowels and consonants. They can be read differently depending on how they are positioned in the word.