Open Stressed Syllables, Closed Stressed Syllables, and Vowel Sounds

Syllables are chunks within a word and are the rhythm of a word. Every syllable of every word must have at least one vowel sound. A vowel can stand alone in a syllable, as in u•nit and an•i•mal. It can also be surrounded by consonants, as in jet, nap•kin, and fan•tas•tic.

Open syllables are those that end in a vowel sound and they may or may not include a consonant. Examples of open syllables are: ‘go’, ‘no’, ‘she’, ‘he’, solo, and ‘zebra’. The word “solo” has two open syllables ‘so’ and ‘lo’.

Closed syllables are those that end in consonant sounds using the spelling pattern vowel-consonant. Examples of closed syllables are: ‘pumpkin’, ‘witch’, ‘chat’, ‘bed’, ‘sun’ and ‘dog’.

But, why are we interested in open syllables and closed syllables? Because depending on the kind of syllable, we will decide whether the sound of the vowel will be a short vowel sound or a long vowel sound.

Rules for Vowel Sounds:

When an open syllable is stressed, the vowel sound is long.
When a closed syllable is stressed, the vowel sound is short.

For example, the word ‘napkin’ has two closed syllables ‘nap’ and ‘kin’. The vowel sounds take the form of short sounds. The word ‘solo’ has two open syllables ‘so’ and ‘lo’ and the vowel sounds take the long form. The word ‘hotel’ has one open syllable ‘ho’ and another closed syllable ‘tel’.

Once the student understands that syllables make up words, you can then practice the pronunciation by breaking up syllables in unknown words. Here are the steps to breaking a word into syllables and to get the pronunciation right.

Mark the first vowel.
Mark the second vowel.
Mark all of the constants in between the first and second vowels.
If the pattern is VCCV—divide between the consonants. If the first syllable is closed, use a short vowel sound.
If the pattern is VCV—divide before the consonant (there are a few exceptions to this rule). If the first syllable is open, use a long vowel sound. Tip: If this doesn’t result in a word your student recognizes, try dividing after the consonant (closed syllable).
If the pattern is VCCCV—look for the digraph (sh) or blend (st). Divide between the three consonants, keeping the digraph or blend together (for example, sub/tract).

Tip: It’s best to start with words the reader is very familiar with so they recognize when they get the sounds correct.

Hope this is useful, thank you for reading.