International Journal of Innovative Research and Development

Abstract

As the basic unit of spoken and written language, syllable and syllabification are important concept for students to grasp since dividing syllable correctly determines the correct pronunciation of words. As phonological building blocks of words, understanding English syllable and learning to demarcate words into their rightful constituent are necessary skills students must acquire as this goes a long way to influence how competent they can use English language. Therefore this article is an investigation on how students of higher institutions use syllable and syllabification in both spoken and written words. One hundred students were drawn from Federal University, Lafia, Nasarawa State, Nigeria and were served questionnaire. The outcome of the result reveals that about 80% of the subjects do not know much about syllable and syllabification neither do they apply the rules of syllable and syllabification both when speaking and writing in English Language. Therefore, the work recommends that, the teaching of this aspect of prosodic feature of the English language should commence early to all learners of the language for effective use of the language.      

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