Hyphenation ofelectrophoresing

1. IPA Transcription: /ɪˌlɛktrəfəˈriːzɪŋ/

2. Morphemic Breakdown:

• Prefix: electro- (Greek, meaning "electricity") - forming word
• Root: phor- (Greek, meaning "to carry") - root morpheme
• Suffix: -esis (Greek, meaning "process of") - forming noun
• Suffix: -ing (English, progressive aspect marker) - inflectional suffix

3. Stressed Syllable(s): The primary stress falls on the third syllable: /ˌlɛktrəfəˈriːzɪŋ/.

4. Syllables List with IPA and Rule Explanations:

• el-: /ɛl/ - Open syllable. Rule: Syllables are formed around vowel sounds. No consonant clusters prevent division.
• ec-: /ɛk/ - Closed syllable. Rule: Consonant following a vowel creates a syllable boundary.
• tro-: /ˈtrɒ/ - Closed syllable. Rule: Consonant following a vowel creates a syllable boundary.
• phor-: /fɔːr/ - Open syllable. Rule: Syllables are formed around vowel sounds.
• es-: /ɪz/ - Closed syllable. Rule: Consonant following a vowel creates a syllable boundary.
• ing: /ɪŋ/ - Closed syllable. Rule: Consonant following a vowel creates a syllable boundary.

5. Syllable Division Rule Explanations:

• The primary rule applied is the "Vowel Peak" principle, where each syllable contains one vowel sound.
• Consonant clusters are generally broken after the first vowel, creating a closed syllable followed by an open syllable (e.g., ec-tro-).
• When a vowel is followed by a consonant, a syllable boundary is created (e.g., es-ing).

6. Potential Exceptions/Special Cases:

• The 'ph' digraph is treated as a single consonant sound /f/ for syllabification purposes.
• The suffix '-ing' is often treated as a single unit, but here it's separated due to the preceding 'es'.

7. Exceptions/Special Cases for the Word as a Whole:

• The word is relatively straightforward in its syllabification, following standard English rules. No major exceptions are present.

8. Syllabification and Parts of Speech:

• The word primarily functions as a verb (present participle). Syllabification remains consistent regardless of grammatical function. If it were to be used as a noun (though rare), the stress pattern would likely remain the same.

9. Definition of the Word:

• electrophoresing: (verb) The act of separating molecules by their electrical charge using an electric field.
  • Grammatical Category: Verb (present participle/gerund)
  • Synonyms: separating by electrophoresis, migrating electrically
  • Examples: "The researchers were electrophoresing the DNA samples."

10. Alternative Pronunciations/Regional Variations:

• Some speakers might slightly reduce the vowel in the unstressed syllables (e.g., /ɪˌlɛktrəfəˈriːzɪŋ/ becoming /ɪˌlɛktrəfəˈriːzɪn/). This would not significantly alter the syllable division.

11. Phonological Comparison:

• photographing: pho-to-graph-ing (4 syllables) - Similar structure with a digraph ('ph') and a suffix ('-ing'). Syllabification follows the same vowel-peak principle.
• biochemistry: bio-chem-is-try (4 syllables) - Contains multiple prefixes and suffixes. Syllabification is based on vowel sounds and consonant boundaries.
• microbiology: mi-cro-bi-ol-o-gy (6 syllables) - Demonstrates how multiple prefixes and suffixes are divided into syllables. The vowel-peak principle is consistently applied.