The Syllable
A syllable can contain as little as one letter or as many as six letters. the end of syllable is marked by a dot, called a Tsheg, which is placed at the upper right side of the last letter in the syllable.
Each syllable is a combination of all types of letters mentioned in previous lessons. The root letter is the most critical letter in each syllable. This letter is the starting point for the sound of the syllable and ther efore it's very important to identify it when reading. If you, for example, mistake a prefix for a root letter, you will end up pronouncing the word differently from what it should be. Beginners often find it difficult to know if a letter is a prefix or not. Rather than focus on the first letter and try to figure out if it's a prefix or not, you should process the whole syllable and focus on finding the root letter. There are some simple guidelines you can follow to identify the root letter.
| The Five Rules for Identifying the Root Letter |
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Below is a word which is made up of two syllables. These two syllables contain all of the seven types of letters we have studied in previous lessons.
This word is pronounced drem-tön and it means "show" or "exhibition". According to the guidelines above, the root letter in the first syllable is #. This letter has both a vowel and a subscribed letter which means it must be the root letter. In the second syllable ) is the root letter and = is superscribed. That syllable is therefore pronounced tön, rather than sön.