Ambisyllabicity

Ambisyllabicity is useful in syllabification. In certain cases, it is not clear how words should be divided into syllables. By applying the principle of syllabification, syllabification becomes easy.

With words such as highway, it is clear that the compound is composed of the syllables high and way. However, with a word such as seven, the syllabication is not so clear. It can be se + ven or sev + en. If we follow the Maximum Onset Principle, the answer is se + ven. The problem, though, is that this places a lax vowel in an open syllable. The structure sev + en seems possible, especially if the final syllabic consists of a syllabic nasal.

According to the principle of ambisyllabicity, the first consonant of the onset also serves as the coda of the preceding syllable when this consonant is in an unstressed syllable. The labiodental fricative of seven is in an unstressed syllable. This allows the principle of ambisyllabicity. Thus, the /v/ belongs to both the coda of the first syllable and the onset of the second.

The alveolar flap is an example of an ambisyllablic consonant. It must occur between two syllables in which the first is stressed and the second unstressed. Since it never occurs word-initially, it seems natural to refer to the alveolar tap as an ambisyllabic consonant.

The principle of ambisyllabicity allows consonants to belong to both the syllable onset and coda. This is useful for the syllabication of words. The alveolar flap of English must occur between syllables and can thus be oonsidered an ambisyllabic consonant.