Sfrgttk

Unfrosted light bulb

Exposing a company lying about themselves in a tightly knit industry (videogames) : Is my career at risk on the long run?

Make a Bowl of Alphabet Soup

Calculate Pi using Monte Carlo

Taking the numerator and the denominator

Can a Knock spell open the door to Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion?

How do I lift the insulation blower into the attic?

Can you describe someone as luxurious? As in someone who likes luxurious things?

Is there a distance limit for minecart tracks?

Is there any common country to visit for persons holding UK and Schengen visas?

Not hide and seek

Highest stage count that are used one right after the other?

Capacitor electron flow

What should be the ideal length of sentences in a blog post for ease of reading?

Why would five hundred and five same as one?

If the Dominion rule using their Jem'Hadar troops, why is their life expectancy so low?

How can I, as DM, avoid the Conga Line of Death occurring when implementing some form of flanking rule?

Why does a 97 / 92 key piano exist by Bosendorfer?

How do you say "Trust your struggle." in French?

Strange behavior in TikZ draw command

What is it called when someone votes for an option that's not their first choice?

Is this saw blade faulty?

Why is "la Gestapo" feminine?

PTIJ: Which Dr. Seuss books should one obtain?

How to split IPA spelling into syllables

How to convert IPA into CPA (Nuance)?Can a syllable be open before a lenghtened consonant?Correct syllabification in (American) EnglishAre there any sources that provide accurate IPA transcriptions for Danish?IPA to plain simple English translatorSeeking IPA study aids (symbol memorization, audio recognition, transcription practice)“split into” — putting the stress on the right syllableThe anatomy of the L soundThe breakdown of the word “strength” or “cheap” or “sheep”Accurately representing stress

4

First, please forgive my ignorance, I'm completely new to linguistics.

Given the IPA spelling for word, is it possible to programmatically split it into its sounds? So, for example, given the word "ingredient" and it's IPA spelling "ɪn'gridiənt", is it possible to split it into ["ɪn", "gri", "di", "ənt"]? Is there perhaps a finite list of sounds, at least in the English language, by which an IPA word can be split?

Any help appreciated

ipa syllables phonotactics

share|improve this question

edited 32 mins ago

Nardog

1,1041415

asked 2 hours ago

skedlyskedly

211

New contributor

skedly is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

add a comment | 

4

First, please forgive my ignorance, I'm completely new to linguistics.

Given the IPA spelling for word, is it possible to programmatically split it into its sounds? So, for example, given the word "ingredient" and it's IPA spelling "ɪn'gridiənt", is it possible to split it into ["ɪn", "gri", "di", "ənt"]? Is there perhaps a finite list of sounds, at least in the English language, by which an IPA word can be split?

Any help appreciated

ipa syllables phonotactics

share|improve this question

edited 32 mins ago

Nardog

1,1041415

asked 2 hours ago

skedlyskedly

211

New contributor

skedly is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

add a comment | 

First, please forgive my ignorance, I'm completely new to linguistics.

Given the IPA spelling for word, is it possible to programmatically split it into its sounds? So, for example, given the word "ingredient" and it's IPA spelling "ɪn'gridiənt", is it possible to split it into ["ɪn", "gri", "di", "ənt"]? Is there perhaps a finite list of sounds, at least in the English language, by which an IPA word can be split?

Any help appreciated

ipa syllables phonotactics

share|improve this question

edited 32 mins ago

Nardog

1,1041415

asked 2 hours ago

skedlyskedly

211

New contributor

skedly is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

edited 32 mins ago

Nardog

1,1041415

asked 2 hours ago

skedlyskedly

211

New contributor

skedly is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

share|improve this question

edited 32 mins ago

Nardog

1,1041415

asked 2 hours ago

skedlyskedly

211

New contributor

skedly is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

edited 32 mins ago

Nardog

1,1041415

edited 32 mins ago

Nardog

1,1041415

asked 2 hours ago

skedlyskedly

211

New contributor

skedly is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.

asked 2 hours ago

skedlyskedly

211

1 Answer
1

active

oldest

votes

4

This is, in fact, possible! It's not trivial, but it is straightforward.

Your goal seems to be to break an English word (written in phonemic IPA) into syllables. There's a bit of controversy about how useful the concept of a "syllable" is in English, and a few different theories about what exactly a "syllable" is if it does exist, but the following is pretty widely accepted and should be good for your purpose.

First, the theory of syllable structure: every syllable looks something like ONC, where O is the onset, N is the nucleus, and C is the coda. The nucleus is a vowel(*), and always has to be there; the onset and coda are groups of consonants, and aren't required.

Second, the maximal onset principle: we want the onset to be as long as possible. So "tube" is /tub/, but "tuba" is /tu.ba/: the /b/ goes with the second syllable, because that makes the onset bigger.

Third, the syllable structure constraints: certain patterns of consonants aren't allowed together. This one varies by language, but in English, the onset can only be three consonants long at most, and you can't have a stop followed by a fricative in the onset, among many others. So "axle" is /ak.səl/ instead of */a.ksəl/, despite the maximal onset principle. Wikipedia has a good list of these constrains.

So if you want an algorithm for doing this:

• Locate all the nuclei (vowels)


• For each nucleus, work backward, adding sounds to the onset


• If the onset stops being valid, take a step back, then put all the rest of the sounds in the previous syllable's coda

---

(*) Some analyses of English have syllabic resonants, while others treat them as /ə/ plus resonant. In this answer I'm assuming you're using the version with schwa.

share|improve this answer

answered 2 hours ago

DraconisDraconis

12.3k11952

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  What a fantastic answer. You're right, I'm trying to programatically translate a word or phrase into Aig, aka Aigy-Paigy. WordsApi provides the syllables and the IPA for a given word. I'm now considering where to insert eɪg. It might take me a while to decode and then code what you've provided but you've given me lots to go on. Thank you.
  
  – skedly
  2 hours ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @skedly You're in luck in that case! That's even easier: find all the vowels (you can identify them on an IPA chart), then insert eɪg before each one. The only trick is figuring out whether two vowels in a row are a diphthong (should be treated as one vowel) or hiatus (should go in separate syllables). But there are only a handful of diphthongs in English, so you can just look those up in a table.
  
  – Draconis
  1 hour ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I want to add that the "syllable structure constraints" is part, and a big part at that, of the subject called phonotactics. This Wikipedia article may itself be useful, though it doesn't look great, but mainly, I think it may be a useful keyword for further searches if you need to refine your algorithm beyond what this answer provides.
  
  – LjL
  41 mins ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

Your Answer

StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "312"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});

function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});


}
});

skedly is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.

draft saved

draft discarded

Sign up or log in

StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});

Sign up using Google

Sign up using Facebook

Sign up using Email and Password

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2flinguistics.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f30933%2fhow-to-split-ipa-spelling-into-syllables%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);

Post as a guest

Name

Email

Required, but never shown

4

This is, in fact, possible! It's not trivial, but it is straightforward.

Your goal seems to be to break an English word (written in phonemic IPA) into syllables. There's a bit of controversy about how useful the concept of a "syllable" is in English, and a few different theories about what exactly a "syllable" is if it does exist, but the following is pretty widely accepted and should be good for your purpose.

First, the theory of syllable structure: every syllable looks something like ONC, where O is the onset, N is the nucleus, and C is the coda. The nucleus is a vowel(*), and always has to be there; the onset and coda are groups of consonants, and aren't required.

Second, the maximal onset principle: we want the onset to be as long as possible. So "tube" is /tub/, but "tuba" is /tu.ba/: the /b/ goes with the second syllable, because that makes the onset bigger.

Third, the syllable structure constraints: certain patterns of consonants aren't allowed together. This one varies by language, but in English, the onset can only be three consonants long at most, and you can't have a stop followed by a fricative in the onset, among many others. So "axle" is /ak.səl/ instead of */a.ksəl/, despite the maximal onset principle. Wikipedia has a good list of these constrains.

So if you want an algorithm for doing this:

• Locate all the nuclei (vowels)


• For each nucleus, work backward, adding sounds to the onset


• If the onset stops being valid, take a step back, then put all the rest of the sounds in the previous syllable's coda

---

(*) Some analyses of English have syllabic resonants, while others treat them as /ə/ plus resonant. In this answer I'm assuming you're using the version with schwa.

share|improve this answer

answered 2 hours ago

DraconisDraconis

12.3k11952

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  What a fantastic answer. You're right, I'm trying to programatically translate a word or phrase into Aig, aka Aigy-Paigy. WordsApi provides the syllables and the IPA for a given word. I'm now considering where to insert eɪg. It might take me a while to decode and then code what you've provided but you've given me lots to go on. Thank you.
  
  – skedly
  2 hours ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @skedly You're in luck in that case! That's even easier: find all the vowels (you can identify them on an IPA chart), then insert eɪg before each one. The only trick is figuring out whether two vowels in a row are a diphthong (should be treated as one vowel) or hiatus (should go in separate syllables). But there are only a handful of diphthongs in English, so you can just look those up in a table.
  
  – Draconis
  1 hour ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I want to add that the "syllable structure constraints" is part, and a big part at that, of the subject called phonotactics. This Wikipedia article may itself be useful, though it doesn't look great, but mainly, I think it may be a useful keyword for further searches if you need to refine your algorithm beyond what this answer provides.
  
  – LjL
  41 mins ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

4

This is, in fact, possible! It's not trivial, but it is straightforward.

Your goal seems to be to break an English word (written in phonemic IPA) into syllables. There's a bit of controversy about how useful the concept of a "syllable" is in English, and a few different theories about what exactly a "syllable" is if it does exist, but the following is pretty widely accepted and should be good for your purpose.

First, the theory of syllable structure: every syllable looks something like ONC, where O is the onset, N is the nucleus, and C is the coda. The nucleus is a vowel(*), and always has to be there; the onset and coda are groups of consonants, and aren't required.

Second, the maximal onset principle: we want the onset to be as long as possible. So "tube" is /tub/, but "tuba" is /tu.ba/: the /b/ goes with the second syllable, because that makes the onset bigger.

Third, the syllable structure constraints: certain patterns of consonants aren't allowed together. This one varies by language, but in English, the onset can only be three consonants long at most, and you can't have a stop followed by a fricative in the onset, among many others. So "axle" is /ak.səl/ instead of */a.ksəl/, despite the maximal onset principle. Wikipedia has a good list of these constrains.

So if you want an algorithm for doing this:

• Locate all the nuclei (vowels)


• For each nucleus, work backward, adding sounds to the onset


• If the onset stops being valid, take a step back, then put all the rest of the sounds in the previous syllable's coda

---

(*) Some analyses of English have syllabic resonants, while others treat them as /ə/ plus resonant. In this answer I'm assuming you're using the version with schwa.

share|improve this answer

answered 2 hours ago

DraconisDraconis

12.3k11952

• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  What a fantastic answer. You're right, I'm trying to programatically translate a word or phrase into Aig, aka Aigy-Paigy. WordsApi provides the syllables and the IPA for a given word. I'm now considering where to insert eɪg. It might take me a while to decode and then code what you've provided but you've given me lots to go on. Thank you.
  
  – skedly
  2 hours ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  @skedly You're in luck in that case! That's even easier: find all the vowels (you can identify them on an IPA chart), then insert eɪg before each one. The only trick is figuring out whether two vowels in a row are a diphthong (should be treated as one vowel) or hiatus (should go in separate syllables). But there are only a handful of diphthongs in English, so you can just look those up in a table.
  
  – Draconis
  1 hour ago
  

  
  
  
  


• 
  
  
  

  
  1
  

  
  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  I want to add that the "syllable structure constraints" is part, and a big part at that, of the subject called phonotactics. This Wikipedia article may itself be useful, though it doesn't look great, but mainly, I think it may be a useful keyword for further searches if you need to refine your algorithm beyond what this answer provides.
  
  – LjL
  41 mins ago
  
  
  

  
  
  
  

add a comment | 

This is, in fact, possible! It's not trivial, but it is straightforward.

Your goal seems to be to break an English word (written in phonemic IPA) into syllables. There's a bit of controversy about how useful the concept of a "syllable" is in English, and a few different theories about what exactly a "syllable" is if it does exist, but the following is pretty widely accepted and should be good for your purpose.

First, the theory of syllable structure: every syllable looks something like ONC, where O is the onset, N is the nucleus, and C is the coda. The nucleus is a vowel(*), and always has to be there; the onset and coda are groups of consonants, and aren't required.

Second, the maximal onset principle: we want the onset to be as long as possible. So "tube" is /tub/, but "tuba" is /tu.ba/: the /b/ goes with the second syllable, because that makes the onset bigger.

Third, the syllable structure constraints: certain patterns of consonants aren't allowed together. This one varies by language, but in English, the onset can only be three consonants long at most, and you can't have a stop followed by a fricative in the onset, among many others. So "axle" is /ak.səl/ instead of */a.ksəl/, despite the maximal onset principle. Wikipedia has a good list of these constrains.

So if you want an algorithm for doing this:

• Locate all the nuclei (vowels)


• For each nucleus, work backward, adding sounds to the onset


• If the onset stops being valid, take a step back, then put all the rest of the sounds in the previous syllable's coda

---

(*) Some analyses of English have syllabic resonants, while others treat them as /ə/ plus resonant. In this answer I'm assuming you're using the version with schwa.

share|improve this answer

answered 2 hours ago

DraconisDraconis

12.3k11952

share|improve this answer

answered 2 hours ago

DraconisDraconis

12.3k11952

answered 2 hours ago

DraconisDraconis

12.3k11952

answered 2 hours ago

DraconisDraconis

12.3k11952