Heavy syllable

A heavy syllable is a syllable whose weight is more than one mora. A heavy syllable contains either a long vowel or a coda consonant. (The latter case is called a closed syllable.) The English words eye [aɪ] and cat [kat] exemplify the two types of heavy syllable. A syllable shorter than a heavy syllable is called a light syllable.

Sometimes a syllable which is longer than two moras is called a superheavy syllable. Such a syllable contains either a long vowel and a coda consonant, or a short vowel and two coda consonants.

In some languages (e.g., in English), word-final consonants do not contribute to syllable weight. The last syllable of the verb develop behaves as if light (although it is a closed syllable). This phenomenon is standardly explained by claiming that the word-final consonant is extrametrical.

Other languages

German schwere Silbe