Silent letter's cousin: the silent syllable
The Spanish-speakers among you may have already read my article ¡Sshh! Las letras silenciosas en inglés. So now I'd like to look at a close relative of the silent letter, which is the silent syllable. Like the silent letter, the silent syllable also affects pronunciation and, when used correctly, separates the near-natives from the not-so-native speakers. Who new silence could actually make you sound more native?
As I mentioned in my article about silent letter, Spanish is a phonetic language whereas English just isn't and therefore written words aren't always pronounced as you'd expect. Love it or hate it, this is something that every English learner has to accept. Sadly, as English pronunciation is unpredictable, I can't provide you with hard-and-fast rules. But before you despair, I can give you some handy tips and hints. That's better than nothing, isn't it?
So where does the silent syllable appear? It's normally present in words which should be 3 syllables or longer. Let's compare some Spanish words with similar English translations. "Miserable" in Spanish is 4 syllables long, whereas miserable in English is only 3. This is because the 2nd syllable is dropped so it actually sounds like "misrable" when said.
Another example is with the word restaurant. "Restaurante" in Spanish has 4 syllables and, looking at it, the English equivalent should have 3 but, in fact, it only has 2. We drop the 2nd syllable again so the word sounds like "restrant". The same can be said for interesting. It has 3 syllables : "intresting". So what's happened? That's right, you guessed it! It's that pesky silent 2nd syllable again.
And there are many more words like this. Have a go at saying these words correctly with the silent syllable: vegetable, several, every, natural. Once you've mastered these, have a go at the silent syllable quiz below. You have the definition and the 1st letter of the word to help you. Don't forget to practise saying the words out loud! Beware with questions 4 and 5 as here it's the 4th syllable which is silent. The first one is done for you.
1. Very unhappy. Miserable
2. A place to eat. R................
3. The opposite of boring. I.................
4. A place used for scientific experiments. L .................
5. Another word for toilet. L .................
6. Everything that happened in the past. H..................
7. A sweet food made from cocoa beans. C..................
8. The middle number or normal. A..................
9. A painkiller. A..................
10. Not together. S..................
11. A large, formal meeting. C..................
12. Not artificial. N.................
13. More than a few. S.................
14. A type of food grown from plants. V..................
15. The adjective of comfort. C.................
16. A synonym of each. E..................
How did you do? If you have any doubts, leave them in the comments section or email me. Although I hinted earlier that it's normally the 2nd syllable which is silent, as you've seen with the answers to questions 4 and 5, this is not always the case. In addition to this, not all words with more than 3 syllables contain a silent syllable. Examples of this exception are thermometer, asparagus and independence.
Sorry, I never promised rules! But it's true that generally English speakers don't like to deal with more than 2 or 3 syllables in a word. We'll normally try to reduce it wherever we can. I've always been impressed by super-long Spanish words like "desafortunadamente". Try to find an everyday word in English with 8 syllables!
There I leave you with an old English proverb: Speech is silver but silence is golden. I think this definitely rings true with silent syllables if you want to sound native.