Syllable Onset

Definition

A syllable’s onset refers to the sound(s) preceding the syllable nucleus (or vowel). Onsets are sounds with lower sonority relative to the nucleus and are typically consonants (Zsiga, p. 355, 2013).

Examples

Skwxwú7mesh

This example demonstrates a multisyllabic word which contains 3 onsets and therefor 3 syllables. The onsets in this example are [h], [h], and [ʔ] and are parsed directly into the syllable (Dyck, p. 142, 2004).