Germanic languages In many varieties of
High and
Low German, pronouncing syllabic consonants may be considered a
shibboleth. In High German and
Tweants (a Low Saxon dialect spoken in the
Netherlands; more Low Saxon dialects have the syllabic consonant), all word-final
syllables in infinite
verbs and feminine
plural nouns spelled are pronounced with syllabic consonants. The High German
infinitive ('to walk') is pronounced or (in some accents) even and its Tweants counterpart is pronounced . Tweants scholars even debate whether or not this feature should be incorporated in spelling, resulting in two generally accepted spelling forms (either or ).
Standard German spoken in
Luxembourg often lacks syllabic sonorants under the influence of
Luxembourgish, so that is pronounced , rather than . Many dialects of
English may use syllabic consonants in words such as
even ,
awful and
rhythm , which
English dictionaries' respelling systems usually treat as realizations of underlying sequences of
schwa and a
consonant (for example, ). In
Danish, a syllabic consonant is the standard colloquial realization of combinations of the
phoneme schwa and a
sonorant, generally referred to as schwa-assimilation, e.g. ('the cat') = , ('lady') = , ('bike') = , ('ant') = , ('sleep') = , ('shrimp') = , or ('the house') = . In all four dialect groups of
Norwegian, a syllabic
alveolar nasal, , may be heard. It is syllabic when following other
alveolar consonants and occurs most often in the
definite singular form of
masculine nouns (see
Norwegian grammar) where the schwa has
elided, e.g. ('the car') , where it was originally . With some speakers, the schwa may be reinserted, especially for words already ending in where the syllabic may have been entirely elided afterward, e.g. ('the man') can either be pronounced like , or . In addition to this, a syllabic always occurs in words like ('water') and ('bottom') . This syllabification of alveolar nasals also appears in Norrland and Svealand dialects of
Swedish. In all cases where the alveolar sound becomes
retroflex, also becomes retroflex , e.g. ('the moustache') (see Norwegian phonology#Consonants). In some Norwegian dialects, a syllabic
alveolar lateral approximant may be heard in the same circumstances as syllabic , e.g. ('poodle') , though it is not as common as syllabic . A syllabic may also be heard in Bergen, where a following syllabic has elided completely, e.g. ('the sun') . In dialects that have
palatalisation of some alveolar consonants like Northern Norwegian and
Trøndersk, the following syllabic is also palatalised, e.g. ('the ball') .
Obstruents All of the consonants syllabicated in words of Germanic languages are sonorants. However,
obstruents are used syllabically in English is in
onomatopoeia, such as
sh! (a command to be quiet),
sss (the hiss of a snake),
zzz (the sound of a bee buzzing or someone sleeping), and
tsk tsk! (used to express disapproval or pity), though it is not certain how to define what a syllable is in such cases.
Sanskrit Sanskrit , ऌ are syllabic consonants,
allophones of consonantal and . This continues the reconstructed situation of
Proto-Indo-European, where both
liquids and
nasals had syllabic allophones, (the last two had become
a). By the era of
Middle Indo-Aryan languages, the remaining syllabic consonants unpredictably became either
a,
i, or
u, causing
ṛ and
ḷ to be limited into
tatsama words in modern languages.
Slavic languages Many
Slavic languages allow syllabic consonants. Some examples include: •
Czech and
Slovak r and
l , as in the phrase 'stick your finger through the throat' (in both languages). Slovak also has long versions of these syllabic consonants, ŕ and ĺ, e.g.: 'joint', 'willow', '(of) spots'. Czech also has m̩ and n̩, e.g.: 'seven'. •
Slovene , and in non-native words, e.g.
Vltava. •
Serbo-Croatian r , as in 'to run';
l , as in 'Vltava';
lj , as in ; and
n , as in '
Newton'. Most Torlakian dialects of south-eastern Serbia exhibit a regular syllabic
l which corresponds to
u in the standards. For example, in
vlk ("wolf", in the standard) and
slza ("tear"; in the standard). In dialects between the
Kupa river and
Velebit of pre-war Croatia, other consonants are also syllabic. For example,
t , such as in (which is 'small bridge' in standard Croatian); and
č , such as in (which is ('clove') in standard Croatian). •
Macedonian р , such as in 'first', 'heart', 'irrepressible', 'spine', 'to rust', 'to snore', etc.
Sinitic languages Several
Sinitic languages, such as
Cantonese and
Hokkien, feature both syllabic
m () and
ng () that stand alone as their own words. In Cantonese, the former is most often used in the word meaning 'not' (, ) while the latter can be seen in the word for 'five' (, ) and the surname
Ng (, or , , depending on the
tone), among others.
Syllabic fricatives A number of languages have
syllabic fricatives or
fricative vowels (sometimes also called
fricativized vowels In several
varieties of Chinese, certain high vowels following fricatives or affricates are pronounced as extensions of those sounds, with voicing added (if not already present) and a vowel pronounced while the tongue and teeth remain in the same position as for the preceding consonant, leading to the turbulence of a fricative carrying over into the vowel. In
Mandarin Chinese, this happens for example with
, , , and . Traditional grammars describe them as having a "buzzing" sound. A number of modern linguists describe them as true syllabic fricatives, although with weak frication and voicing. They are accordingly transcribed respectively. However, for many speakers, the friction carries over only into the beginning of the vowel. The tongue and teeth remain where they were, but the tongue contact is lessened a bit to allow for a high
approximant vowel with no frication except at the beginning, during the transition.
John Wells uses the detailed transcriptions for
si and for
shi (ignoring the tone), with the superscript indicating the "color" of the sound and a lowering diacritic on the
z to indicate that the tongue contact is relaxed enough to prevent frication. Another researcher suggests and for
si and
shi, respectively, to indicate that the frication of the consonant may extend onto the vowel. Some speakers have even more lax articulation, opening the teeth and noticeably lowering the tongue, so that . The
Nuosu language has two similar "buzzed" vowels that have been described as syllabic fricatives, and .
Sinologists and linguists working in the Chinese analytical tradition frequently use the term
apical vowel ( ) to describe the sounds above and others like them in various
Sino-Tibetan languages. However, this is something of a misnomer, as the articulation may be
apical,
subapical,
laminal, or apicolaminal, depending on the language. The
Sinological phonetic symbols are commonly used to transcribe these vowels in place of or , respectively. The term
apical vowel should also not necessarily be taken as synonymous with
syllabic fricative, as
labial fricatives (e.g. ), which are articulated without the tongue, may also be syllabic.
Other languages Berber,
Salish,
Wakashan and
Chemakuan languages have syllabic obstruents in normal vocabulary, such as
Nuxálk , "northeast wind", 'wet', 'dry', or 'we () used to sing ()'. In
Standard Yoruba, the consonants
m and
n may be syllabic and carry tone like vowels. However, they always stand alone as syllables and cannot stand as syllable nuclei. In
Baoulé,
m or
n may be syllabic. As a stand-alone word, it means 'I' (first person subject pronoun), as in 'I speak Baoulé'. Its quality varies with the consonant following it, as in 'I will come tomorrow'. The
Hungarian word , a high-
register variant of 'and', is a syllabic consonant, although it usually cliticises: 'and I had eaten'. The
Taa word means eat. ==References==