But syllables and rhymes don't go hand in hand. After all, Coagulate rhymes with complicate, conjugate and fate. Liar also rhymes with spire, desire, mire, dire, inspire
Right?! I feel like if you're pronouncing it with one syllable, you're just saying it incorrectly. I think we've stumbled upon a blue/black vs. white/gold scenario. No one's really wrong, per say, but everyone's really passionate about their version of right.
Well, when you pronounce fire it comes out as fi-ye. Two Syllables. I can't see how anyone could pronounce it any other way without being hillbilly or from a country where English isn't the first language.
I understand that to many ears, people hear 2 syllables. What I'm saying still holds, as near as I can tell in all the formal sources I consulted, according to phonetic rules in English, it is technically one syllable. I'm not arguing what it sounds like to anyone.
While I can just about get my head around saying fire with one syllable, I don't see how you can say fire with the -er sound at the end to rhyme with liar without using two syllables.
Hah, I found a website dedicated to syllables. How Many Syllables. This is serious business, after all.
I can understand why the 'academics' would say it's one syllable, because when pronounced, there is practically no pause between the two syllables making it seem as though it's one. But still, they're wrong. It's two syllables.
Three different dictionaries: (fīr) /ˈfī(ə)r/ /fɑɪər/ I investigated the key to the phonetic symbolism in each of those dictionaries and for syllables they use a - in between syllables. \ˈfī(-ə)r\ Merriam Webster shows a - before the backward e but it is enclosed in parentheses which applies to some pronunciations of the word: - .... mark of syllable division ( ) .... indicate that what is symbolized between is present in some utterances but not in others So Merriam is the first dictionary that recognizes different pronunciations of the word. I have to go, but when I get back I'll see how they show other words like spire and mire.
I just moved here recently. I'm originally from the West Coast, where we all have perfect pronunciation.
Their (or maybe it's a universal one) method for counting syllables makes sense, though. If we agree ɑɪə is a triphthong, we've certainly got a one-syllable word.
OK ... Someone explain to me how fi-ye is one syllable. Fire isn't pronounced how it's spelt. From a spelling perfective, it seems like one syllable, but when pronounced, despite the very brief pause between syllables, it actually has two. It can't be anything other than two syllables. There is no debating it.
If we accept the vowels in fire are a triphthong, and triphthongs are by definition monosyllabic, we have a word with only one syllable.
There isn't such thing as a triphthong. It's made up nonsense that totally contradicts the concept of syllables to begin with.
Aaanyway, whether there is a triphthong in fire seems to depend on how people pronounce it. *shrug* English is a fascinating language, for sure.
Who made up this triphthong -- which sounds more like women's underwear -- and link me to them. I want to know who is actually thick enough to think that i-ya is one syllable. I bet it's a bloody American.
I google image searched it, but didn't get a single picture of underwear! Google, you disappoint me. Since Wikipedia claims it exists in Received Pronunciation (my link from above), I'm thinking it was one of those Oxford-bred English gentlemen. But do not worry, we'll hunt down the culprit and make silly memes out of him/her!
If it's from Wikipedia then it must be genuine. Those Oxford-bred English gentlemen are nerds who study a lot, but they don't have a single original thought in their pampered little minds. Contrary to belief, knowledge is not intelligence. Still, I'm putting my money on an American.
I'm putting my money on a British bloke. It's hard to say fire with one syllable if you have an American accent (not including the South).
