Syllables in Arabic

 There are three underlying syllables in MSA.

CV ‫ال ما هو هي‬
CVC ‫مال دار قال سد دُف‬
CVCC ‫بنت ورد قلب نصر قفل ربح‬

 Consonant clusters are not permitted in syllable initial position.

 Arabic can have up to two consonant in the final position.
 CV and CVC are the two dominant syllables.
 CVCC are not as frequent.

Syllables in English

 English syllable can have up to 3 consonants – word initially.

on of ask
to say pay
play black dream
street scream

 English syllable can have up to 4 consonants – word finally.

to play see
did at sad
bank ground ask
banks grounds
texts prompts

 Arab learners may have difficulties pronouncing some English syllables.