Editing Syllable (section)

==Suprasegmental features==
The domain of [[Suprasegmental|suprasegmental features]] is a syllable (or some larger unit), but not a specific sound. That is to say, these features may affect more than a single segment, and possibly all segments of a syllable:
*[[Lexical stress|Stress]]
*[[Tone (linguistics)|Tone]]
*{{lang|da|[[Stød]]}}
*[[Palatalization (phonetics)#Types|Suprasegmental palatalization]]

Sometimes [[syllable length]] is also counted as a suprasegmental feature; for example, in some Germanic languages, long vowels may only exist with short consonants and vice versa. However, syllables can be analyzed as compositions of long and short phonemes, as in Finnish and Japanese, where consonant gemination and vowel length are independent.

===Tone===
{{Main|Tone (linguistics)}}
In most languages, the [[Pitch (music)|pitch]] or [[pitch contour]] in which a syllable is pronounced conveys shades of meaning such as emphasis or surprise, or distinguishes a statement from a question. In tonal languages, however, the pitch affects the basic lexical meaning (e.g. "cat" vs. "dog") or grammatical meaning (e.g. past vs. present). In some languages, only the pitch itself (e.g. high vs. low) has this effect, while in others, especially East Asian languages such as [[Chinese language|Chinese]], [[Thai language|Thai]] or [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], the shape or contour (e.g. level vs. rising vs. falling) also needs to be distinguished.

===Accent===
{{Main|Accent (phonetics)}}
Syllable structure often interacts with stress or pitch accent. In [[Latin]], for example, stress is regularly determined by [[syllable weight]], a syllable counting as heavy if it has at least one of the following:
* a long vowel in its [[Syllable nucleus|nucleus]]
* a [[diphthong]] in its nucleus
* one or more [[Syllable coda|codas]]
In each case, the syllable is considered to have two [[Mora (linguistics)|morae]].

The first syllable of a word is the '''initial syllable''' and the last syllable is the '''final syllable'''.

In languages accented on one of the last three syllables, the last syllable is called the [[Ultima (linguistics)|ultima]], the next-to-last is called the [[penult]], and the third syllable from the end is called the antepenult. These terms come from Latin ''{{lang|la|ultima}}'' "last", ''{{lang|la|paenultima}}'' "almost last", and ''{{lang|la|antepaenultima}}'' "before almost last".

In [[Ancient Greek]], there are three [[Greek diacritics|accent marks]] (acute, circumflex, and grave), and terms were used to describe words based on the position and type of accent. Some of these terms are used in the description of other languages.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! colspan="3" | Placement of accent
|-
! Antepenult !! Penult !! Ultima
|-
! rowspan="3" | Type<br>of<br>accent !! Circumflex
| align="center" | — || align="center" | properispomenon || align="center" | perispomenon
|-
! Acute
| align="center" | proparoxytone || align="center" | paroxytone || align="center" | oxytone
|-
! Any
| colspan="2" align="center" | barytone || align="center" | —
|}