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Quiz
How many syllables does each of these words have for you?
Carl hurl hurling feel feeling roll rolling sail sailing pool pooling pile piling pileup oil oiling chuckling bustling rattler settler hustler Thanks for your responses.
Carl 2
hurl 2 hurling 3 feel 2 feeling 2 roll 1 rolling 2 sail 2 sailing 2 pool 2 pooling 2 pile 2 piling 2 pileup 3 oil 2 oiling 2 chuckling 2 bustling 2 rattler (2 for type of snake, 3 for baby's toy) settler (2 for someone who settled in the wild west, 3 for everyone else) hustler 2
Wow. How do you get three syllables out of "hurling"?
Rattler and settler are variable for me as well, 2 or 3. The rest are similar to nic's. ('Cept hurling: just 2)
Hope I'm doing this right as I don't know what a syllable is defined as in this case:
Carl 1 hurl 1 hurling 2 feel 1 feeling 2 roll 1 rolling 2 sail 2 sailing 2 pool 1 pooling 2 pile 2 piling 2 pileup 3 oil 2 oiling 3 chuckling 3 but 2 if I say it fast bustling 2 rattler 2 settler 2 hustler 2 Thanks for your responses.
I would personally define things like Carl, feel, hurl, sail, as more like one and a half syllables than two -- FILL would just have one, but there's a little rise and dip to FEEL that makes it just a smidge longer.
Carl 1
hurl 1 hurling 2 feel 1 feeling 2 roll 1 rolling 2 sail 1 sailing 2 pool 1 pooling 2 pile 1 piling 2 pileup 2 oil 2 oiling 2 chuckling 2 bustling 2 rattler 3 settler 3 hustler 2
Carl: 1
hurl: 1 hurling: 2 feel: 1 feeling: 2 roll: 1 rolling: 2 sail: 1 sailing: 2 pool: 1 pooling: 2 pile: 1 piling: 2 pileup:2 oil: 2 oiling: 2 chuckling: 3 bustling: 3 or 2 rattler: 2 settler: 2 hustler: 2
Here is my own response to the quiz:
Carl: 1 hurl: 1 hurling: 2 feel: 1 feeling: 2 roll: 1 rolling: 2 sail: 1 sailing: 2 pool: 1 pooling: 1 pile: 2 piling: 3 pileup: 3 oil: 2 oiling: 3 chuckling: 3 bustling: 3 rattler: 3 settler: 3 hustler: 3 It seems that there can be quite a lot of variation in how people syllabify those words.
<<pile: 2
piling: 2 pileup: 2>> So for you, does "pile" basically have an allophonic second syllable that is elided when a vowel sound follows? In other words, pile - [paI@l] piling - [paIlIN] pileup - [paIlVp]? And if in rapid speech you were saying "a pile of", would you say [a paI l@v], with just three syllables?
The matter is that my dialect still maintains a phonemic distinction between /l/ and /l=/ following phonemic diphthongs, unlike many other NAE dialects. However, this phonemic distinction is often obscured in surface forms, as it is only visible when said /l/ or /l=/ is followed in turn by another vowel. as otherwise they are both neutralized as [5=] or [l=], depending on context. Therefore, there is no elision actually going on, but rather variation in the realization of /l/ based on its environment, and consequent variation in syllabification, based on whether /l/ is realized as syllabic or not. Note that morpheme boundaries and word boundaries are irrelevant here, so you are exactly right about "a pile of". Thusly, one gets:
"pile" : /paIl/ -> ["p_haI.5=] "piling" : /"paIlIN/ -> ["p_haI.5I~N] "pileup" : /"paIl@p/ -> ["p_haI.5@p] "a pile of" : formally /@ paIl @v/ -> [?@."p_haI.5@v] or more commonly /@ "paIl@/ -> [?@."p_haI.5@]
I seem to add syllables left and right, or something... (mainly directed toward Travis) How is it possible in a rhotic accent to pronounce Carl in only one syllable? As far as hurling, I say something like her-l-ing. However, the sport curling is two syllables for me.
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