Tautosyllabicity
Two or more segments are tautosyllabic (with each other) if they occur in the same syllable. For instance, the English word "cat", /kæt/, is monosyllabic and so its three phonemes /k/, /æ/ and /t/ are tautosyllabic. They can also be described as sharing a 'tautosyllabic distribution'. However, in the French word "être" (meaning "to be", syllabified ê-tre), only the three last phones /t/, /r/ and /e/ are tautosyllabic, all of which are in the second syllable. (However, French usage often pronounces the word as the monosyllabic êtr or even êt.)
Phonemes that are not tautosyllabic are heterosyllabic. For example, in the English word "mustard" /ˈmʌstərd/, /m/ and /t/ are heterosyllabic since they are members of different syllables.
See also[]
- Ambisyllabicity, sounds that are arguably shared between two syllables (such as 'rr' in British English "hurry")
References[]
- Sihler, Andrew L (2000). Language History. Current Issues in Linguistic Theory. 191. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing. p. 277. ISBN 90-272-3698-4.
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