SYLLABICATION >> el si-la-be-o
Why?
--> to pronounce words with the proper stress
--> to use accents correctly
--> to hyphenate words correctly
Let's think about sounds for a minute. Words are divided according to units of sound or syllables. A word has as many syllables as it has vowels (single vowel, diphthong, or triphthong).
Syllable: an uninterrupted segment of speech consisting of a vowel sound, a diphthong, or a syllabic consonant, with or without preceding or following consonant sounds
Diphthong: an unsegmentable, gliding speech sound varying continuously in phonetic quality but held to be a single sound or phoneme and identified by its apparent beginning and ending sound
Strong vowels: a, e, o
Weak vowels: i, u
In Spanish, the two vowels that form a diphthong are either both weak or one is weak and the other is strong. Diphthongs are pronounced as a single syllable.
Therefore...
(1) Syllables generally begin with a consonant and end with a vowel. The division is made before the consonant.
be-ber // ma-ña-na // ju-ga-dor // ga-to
(2) Ch, ll, and rr are never divided.
mu-cho // man-te-qui-lla // a-rri-ba
(3) If two or more consonants are combined, the division is made before the last consonant, except in the combinations bl, br cl, cr, dr, fl, fr, gl, gr, pl, pr, and tr.
trans-por-te // di-ver-ti-do // ex-pli-car // con-ti-nuar
but... a-pren-der // es-tre-lla // ham-bre // la-drar
(4) Compound words, including words with prefixes and suffixes, may be divided by components or by syllables.
sur-a-me-ri-ca-no -or- su-ra-me-ri-ca-no
mal-es-tar -or- ma-les-tar
*A note on diphthongs/triphthongs: any combination of two or more vowels that includes "u" or "i" forms an inseparable group (diphthong or triphthong).
The most frequent diphthongs are:
ai,ay ai-re, hay iu viu-dez
au cau-sa oi, oy sois, soy
eu. eu-fo-ria ua cuan-do
ei, ey vein-te, ma-mey ue fuen-te
ia far-ma-cia ui fuis-te
ie vie-ne uo cuo-ta
io vi-cio
The most frequent triphthongs are:
iai en-viáis uai a-mor-ti-guáis
iei a-pre-ciéis uei con-ti-nuéis
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