Syllables can be considered as building blocks of words. They typically consist of a vowel, with optional consonants before and after the vowel.
Stress refers to the relative emphasis given to the syllables of a word. The way stresses are placed on words depends both on the word and on the surrounding syllables. This is highly language dependent. Some of the ways syllables can exhibit accent, or stress are as follows:
Accents are placed on syllables within the lines of a poem, and the accent pattern of groupings is used to determine the meter (beat) of the poem. Accents can be described in the following terms:
Number of syllables in word | Descriptive Term | Examples | |
---|---|---|---|
monosyllable | one syllable words | monosyllabic | Dogs |
disyllable | two syllable words | disyllabic or polysyllabic | Canines -> Ca + nines |
trisyllable | three syllable words | trisyllabic or polysyllabic | Parakeet ->Par + a + keet |
polysyllable | more than three syllables | polysyllabic | mesothelioma -> mes + o + the + li + o + ma |
Length Name | Number of Syllables |
---|---|
Hexasyllable | 6 |
Heptasyllable | 7 |
Octosyllable | 8 |
Decasyllable | 10 |
Hendeca-syllable | 11 |
Dodeca-syllable | 12 |