Literary notes about Syllable (AI summary)
The word "syllable" in literature has been employed both as a literal unit of sound and as a symbol rich with nuance. In narrative prose, authors use the term to heighten emotional intensity or underscore a character's reticence—consider the fury loaded into every syllable of a denunciation ([1]) or moments when not a syllable is uttered as a sign of deep restraint or sorrow ([2], [3]). At the same time, syllables serve as building blocks in the technical discussions of rhythm and meter, with writers analyzing their accentuation ([4], [5], [6]) or even structuring entire verses and stanzas around them ([7], [8], [9]). Whether highlighting the precision of enunciation in public speaking ([10], [11]) or exploring the minutiae of language in philological exposition ([12]), the term "syllable" bridges the gap between the emotional and the technical, making it a versatile and powerful tool in literary expression.
- I said, in a voice husky with rage, while every syllable I uttered seemed as new fuel to my fury, “scoundrel! impostor!
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe - She whispered in his ear one short word of a single syllable.
— from Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens - She hung down her head, and said not a syllable in reply.
— from The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven Edition by Edgar Allan Poe - Here accented on the second syllable.
— from The Lady of the Lake by Walter Scott - the first syllable is almost silent and the vowels are prolonged to imitate the ringing sound produced by striking a thin sheet of metal.
— from Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney - Comparative philology shows that in Sanskrit it rests on the same syllable as bore it in the proto-Aryan language.
— from A History of Sanskrit Literature by Arthur Anthony Macdonell - 2. Two stanzas of Chinese poetry, in four-syllable lines, of four verses each, with an apostrophe in two four-syllable lines.
— from The Religions of Japan, from the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji by William Elliot Griffis - The poem is in 402 quatrains of 12-syllable lines.
— from Filipino Popular Tales - The poem is in 12-syllable lines, and contains 350 quatrains.
— from Filipino Popular Tales - Enunciation Correct enunciation is the complete utterance of all the sounds of a syllable or a word.
— from The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein - Wrong enunciation is the incomplete utterance of a syllable or a word, the sound omitted or added being usually consonantal.
— from The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein - Thus yājnasyà (“of sacrifice”) would mean that the second syllable has the acute and the third the svarita ( yajnásyà ).
— from A History of Sanskrit Literature by Arthur Anthony Macdonell
