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Syllabification

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54: 390:) and other nearly phonemically spelled languages, writers can in principle correctly syllabify any existing or newly created word using only general rules. In Finland, children are first taught to hyphenate every word until they produce the correct syllabification reliably, after which the hyphens can be omitted. 358:
As a result, even most native English speakers are unable to syllabify words according to established rules without consulting a dictionary or using a word processor. Schools usually do not provide much more advice on the topic than to consult a dictionary. In addition, there are differences between
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At the end of a line, a word is separated in writing into parts, conventionally called "syllables", if it does not fit the line and if moving it to the next line would make the first line much shorter than the others. This can be a particular problem with very long words, and with narrow columns in
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In some languages, the spoken syllables are also the basis of syllabification in writing. However, possibly due to the weak correspondence between sounds and letters in the spelling of modern English, written syllabification in English is based mostly on
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is a set of rules, especially one codified for implementation in a computer program, that decides at which points a word can be broken over two lines with a hyphen. For example, a hyphenation algorithm might decide that
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English written syllabification therefore deals with a concept of "syllable" that does not correspond to the linguistic concept of a phonological (as opposed to morphological) unit.
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by Donald Knuth and in Franklin Mark Liang's dissertation. The aim of Liang's work was to get the algorithm as accurate as possible and to keep exceptions to a minimum.
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declares that in the current job "fortran" should not be hyphenated and that if "ergonomic" must be hyphenated, it will be at one of the indicated points.
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command declares allowed hyphenation points in which words is a list of words, separated by spaces, in which each hyphenation point is indicated by a
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tends to look to the origins of the word and then to sound. There are also a large number of exceptions, which further complicates matters.
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One of the reasons for the complexity of the rules of word-breaking is that different dialects of English tend to differ on hyphenation:
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Ports of the TeX hyphenation algorithm are available as libraries for several programming languages, including
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letters by default and so it cannot be used to correct hyphenation for words with non-ASCII characters (like
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character U+00B7, e.g., syl·la·ble), a special-purpose "hyphenation point" (U+2027, e.g., syl‧la‧ble), or a
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Some rules of thumb can be found in the Major Keary's "On Hyphenation – Anarchy of Pedantry." Among the
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In TeX's original hyphenation patterns for American English, the exception list contains only 14 words.
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This article is about the division of words to break lines. For the syllable structure of words, see
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at the end of a line might mislead the reader into pronouncing the word incorrectly, as the
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British and US syllabification and even between dictionaries of the same English variety.
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The term is also used for the process of a consonant becoming syllabic. For example, in
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according to the correct syllabification of the living language. Seeing only
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is widely used. It is thoroughly documented in the first two volumes of
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Is there any perfect syllabification algorithm in English language?
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The written separation into syllables is usually marked by a
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Baus, C.; Gutiérrez, E.; Carreiras, M. (13 November 2014).
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However, there are several limits. For example, the stock
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approaches to hyphenation, the one implemented in the
240: 222: 216: 189: 180: 165: 159: 231: 225: 174: 168: 615:"The role of syllables in sign language production" 237: 186: 78:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. 41:. For the international relations concept, see 8: 740:. Yale Image Processing and Analysis Group. 409:(more unsolved problems in computer science) 811:: Hyphenates French words with explanation 664:. Melbourne PC User Group. Archived from 640: 630: 138:Learn how and when to remove this message 809:Hyphenation tool for the French Language 805:: Hyphenates English text into syllables 693:(PhD). Department of Computer Science, 592: 581:Syllable structure in English phonology 788:from the original on 27 November 2023. 766:from the original on 28 November 2023. 744:from the original on 27 November 2023. 658:"On Hyphenation - Anarchy of Pedantry" 289:(e.g., ). For presentation purposes, 269:, whether spoken, written or signed. 7: 687:Liang, Franklin Mark (August 1983). 400:Unsolved problem in computer science 76:adding citations to reliable sources 778:"How does hyphenation work in TeX?" 27:Separation of a word into syllables 756:"Accented words aren't hyphenated" 709:"The Plain TeX hyphenation tables" 530:\hyphenation{fortran er-go-no-mic} 25: 690:Word Hy-phen-a-tion by Com-pu-ter 212: 155: 52: 287:International Phonetic Alphabet 63:needs additional citations for 32:Syllable § Syllabification 732:Green, Sheldon (5 June 1995). 601:North Central American English 305:(e.g., syl la ble). 1: 571:Tautosyllabic, heterosyllabic 313:has automated the process of 442:tends to work on sound, but 841: 36: 29: 738:Hypertext Help with LaTeX 460:Computers and Typesetting 261:, is the separation of a 632:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01254 527:character. For example, 803:Online Lyric Hyphenator 619:Frontiers in Psychology 455:TeX typesetting system 540:command accepts only 416:hyphenation algorithm 350:many different values 18:Hyphenation algorithm 72:improve this article 695:Stanford University 516:\hyphenation{words} 283:English orthography 697:. STAN-CS-83-977. 423:can be broken as 257:), also known as 148: 147: 140: 122: 87:"Syllabification" 16:(Redirected from 832: 790: 789: 774: 768: 767: 752: 746: 745: 729: 723: 722: 720: 718: 713: 705: 699: 698: 684: 678: 677: 675: 673: 668:on 10 March 2005 653: 647: 646: 644: 634: 610: 604: 597: 539: 526: 522: 505: 440:American English 401: 256: 255: 252: 251: 248: 245: 242: 239: 236: 233: 230: 227: 224: 221: 218: 205: 204: 201: 200: 197: 194: 191: 188: 185: 182: 179: 176: 173: 170: 167: 164: 161: 143: 136: 132: 129: 123: 121: 80: 56: 48: 21: 840: 839: 835: 834: 833: 831: 830: 829: 815: 814: 799: 794: 793: 776: 775: 771: 754: 753: 749: 731: 730: 726: 716: 714: 711: 707: 706: 702: 686: 685: 681: 671: 669: 655: 654: 650: 612: 611: 607: 598: 594: 589: 562: 537: 531: 524: 520: 517: 503: 472: 444:British English 412: 411: 406: 403: 399: 396: 311:Word processing 275: 215: 211: 158: 154: 151:Syllabification 144: 133: 127: 124: 81: 79: 69: 57: 46: 35: 28: 23: 22: 15: 12: 11: 5: 838: 836: 828: 827: 817: 816: 813: 812: 806: 798: 797:External links 795: 792: 791: 769: 747: 734:"\hyphenation" 724: 700: 679: 648: 605: 591: 590: 588: 585: 584: 583: 578: 568: 561: 558: 529: 515: 471: 468: 407: 404: 398: 395: 392: 274: 271: 146: 145: 60: 58: 51: 43:De-hyphenation 26: 24: 14: 13: 10: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 837: 826: 823: 822: 820: 810: 807: 804: 801: 800: 796: 787: 783: 779: 773: 770: 765: 761: 757: 751: 748: 743: 739: 735: 728: 725: 710: 704: 701: 696: 692: 691: 683: 680: 667: 663: 659: 656:Major Keary. 652: 649: 643: 638: 633: 628: 624: 620: 616: 609: 606: 602: 596: 593: 586: 582: 579: 576: 572: 569: 567: 564: 563: 559: 557: 555: 551: 547: 543: 534: 528: 514: 512: 507: 501: 497: 493: 489: 485: 481: 477: 469: 467: 464: 462: 461: 456: 452: 447: 445: 441: 436: 434: 430: 426: 422: 417: 410: 393: 391: 389: 385: 381: 377: 373: 369: 365: 360: 356: 353: 351: 347: 344: 340: 336: 332: 329:, instead of 328: 327:morphological 324: 318: 316: 315:justification 312: 306: 304: 300: 296: 292: 288: 284: 280: 272: 270: 268: 264: 260: 254: 209: 208:syllabication 203: 152: 142: 139: 131: 120: 117: 113: 110: 106: 103: 99: 96: 92: 89: –  88: 84: 83:Find sources: 77: 73: 67: 66: 61:This article 59: 55: 50: 49: 44: 40: 33: 19: 825:Phonotactics 781: 772: 759: 750: 737: 727: 715:. Retrieved 703: 689: 682: 670:. Retrieved 666:the original 661: 651: 622: 618: 608: 595: 575:ambisyllabic 566:Phonotactics 553: 549: 545: 538:\hyphenation 535: 532: 521:\hyphenation 518: 508: 504:\showhyphens 473: 465: 458: 448: 437: 433:impe-achment 432: 429:im-peachment 428: 425:impeach-ment 424: 420: 415: 413: 361: 357: 354: 345: 338: 334: 323:etymological 319: 309:newspapers. 307: 291:typographers 276: 258: 207: 150: 149: 134: 128:January 2021 125: 115: 108: 101: 94: 82: 70:Please help 65:verification 62: 451:algorithmic 421:impeachment 293:may use an 281:when using 259:hyphenation 488:PostScript 480:JavaScript 372:Portuguese 295:interpunct 98:newspapers 672:6 October 662:PC Update 394:Algorithm 388:Romanized 348:can hold 335:lear-ning 267:syllables 819:Category 786:Archived 764:Archived 742:Archived 625:: 1254. 560:See also 431:but not 376:Japanese 331:phonetic 273:Overview 782:TeX FAQ 760:TeX FAQ 717:23 June 642:4230165 476:Haskell 368:Italian 364:Finnish 343:digraph 299:Unicode 112:scholar 639:  577:phones 492:Python 470:In TeX 384:Korean 380:Romaji 279:hyphen 114:  107:  100:  93:  85:  39:Hyphen 712:(PDF) 587:Notes 542:ASCII 511:LaTeX 339:lear- 303:space 265:into 206:) or 119:JSTOR 105:books 719:2009 674:2005 573:and 519:The 496:Ruby 484:Perl 263:word 91:news 637:PMC 627:doi 509:In 427:or 382:), 362:In 325:or 74:by 821:: 784:. 780:. 762:. 758:. 736:. 660:. 635:. 621:. 617:. 552:, 548:, 506:. 500:C# 498:, 494:, 490:, 486:, 482:, 478:, 435:. 414:A 374:, 370:, 366:, 346:ea 250:ən 244:eɪ 199:ən 193:eɪ 721:. 676:. 645:. 629:: 623:5 554:ç 550:é 546:ä 525:- 402:: 386:( 378:( 297:( 253:/ 247:ʃ 241:k 238:ˈ 235:ɪ 232:b 229:æ 226:l 223:ˌ 220:ɪ 217:s 214:/ 210:( 202:/ 196:ʃ 190:k 187:ˈ 184:ɪ 181:f 178:ɪ 175:b 172:æ 169:l 166:ˌ 163:ɪ 160:s 157:/ 153:( 141:) 135:( 130:) 126:( 116:· 109:· 102:· 95:· 68:. 45:. 34:. 20:)

Index

Hyphenation algorithm
Syllable § Syllabification
Hyphen
De-hyphenation

verification
improve this article
adding citations to reliable sources
"Syllabification"
news
newspapers
books
scholar
JSTOR
Learn how and when to remove this message
/sɪˌlæbɪfɪˈkʃən/
/sɪˌlæbɪˈkʃən/
word
syllables
hyphen
English orthography
International Phonetic Alphabet
typographers
interpunct
Unicode
space
Word processing
justification
etymological
morphological

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