By convention, but the syllable boundary is placed inside the word boundary: # pat # --> #$ pat $#. V(C)DlV --> V(C)D $ lT. 'D' = an alveolar stop, (C) = any immediately preceding consonant, 'l' = /l/ ...

I'm like a bird ♪ - And unlike syllabic consonants, like the N in button, or the L in little, there's no direct contact between articulators, leaving the vocal tract unobstructed. This is why ...

This paper addresses the problem of the syllabic consonants in the selected Slavic and Celtic languages. We shall consider this issue through the optic of Government Phonology (henceforth GP), as ...

or with syllabic consonants in the middle, so that they have three syllables. Then there are the words that everybody pronounces the same, but whose syllable-counts are open to debate. For example ...

And that variability might be because they evolved in different habitats. Consonant-heavy syllables don't carry very well in places like windy mountain ranges or dense rainforests, researchers say.