Term of Art: Syllabication

“syllabication: The process of dividing words into syllables. Syllabication is a popular word attack strategy taught to individuals with reading problems. Many phonics and structured reading programs teach syllabication.

In English, there are six types of syllables and five principles of syllabication that describe how and where to break a word apart. The six types of syllables include

1. closed: short vowel followed by a consonant (con, pan, dis)
2. open: ends in a single long vowel (de, o, fi)
3. silent ‘e’: long vowel/consonant/silent ‘e’ (hive, ete, ode)
4. R-controlled: vowel followed by an ‘r’ (ur, fir, cer)
5. double vowel: any two vowels that make one sound (poor, ear, ay)
6. consonant ‘le’: found at the end of a word with a consonant (kle, dle, ple)”

Excerpted from: Turkington, Carol, and Joseph R. Harris, PhD. The Encyclopedia of Learning Disabilities. New York: Facts on File, 2006.