What makes a syllable heavy or light?

A light syllable in any language is one that ends in a single short vowel: be, pa, tro, i. All other syllables are heavy, i.e., those with long vowels, diphthongs, or final consonants: bē, pai, tron, iks.

1. What makes a syllable heavy?
2. What is a heavy syllable example?
3. What type of syllable is light?
4. What is the symbol for heavy syllable?

What makes a syllable heavy?

A heavy syllable is a syllable with a branching nucleus or a branching rime, although not all such syllables are heavy in every language. A branching nucleus generally means the syllable has a long vowel or a diphthong; this type of syllable is abbreviated as CVV.

What is a heavy syllable example?

A heavy syllable is either a syllable ending in a long vowel (e.g. /taː/) or a syllable ending in a vowel (short or long) plus at least one consonant (e.g. /tat/). A CVV syllable like /taː/ is heavy in all languages, but a CVC syllable like /tat/ is heavy in some languages and light in others.

What type of syllable is light?

A light syllable is a syllable whose weight is one mora. Thus it is an open syllable which contains a short vowel.

What is the symbol for heavy syllable?

Heavy syllable: ends in a consonant, VC]σ, or has a long vowel or diphthong (tense in English), V̄]σ.