Hyphenation ofslippery-tongued

Linguistic Analysis of "slippery-tongued"

1. Pronunciation Examination:

The word "slippery-tongued" is a compound adjective in US English. It consists of "slippery" and "tongued," connected by a hyphen. The pronunciation involves a mix of consonant clusters and vowel sounds, requiring careful syllabification.

2. Syllable Division:

Following US English syllabification rules, the word breaks down as follows (using only original letters): slip-per-y-tong-ued

3. Morphemic Analysis:

• slippery:
  • Prefix: None
  • Root: slip (Old English slippan - to slide, glide) - verb
  • Suffix: -ery (Old French –erie from Latin -aria denoting a state or quality) - nominalizing suffix, creating an adjective.
• tongued:
  • Prefix: None
  • Root: tongue (Old English tunge - the muscular organ in the mouth) - noun
  • Suffix: -ed (Old English -ed - past tense/participle marker, here functioning adjectivally) - adjectival suffix.

4. Stress Identification:

The primary stress falls on the first syllable of "slippery" and the first syllable of "tongued". Thus, the stress pattern is: slip-per-y tong-ued.

5. Phonetic Transcription:

/ˈslɪp.ə.ri ˈtʌŋd/

6. Edge Case Review:

The hyphenated compound nature of the word requires treating each component ("slippery" and "tongued") separately for syllabification and stress. The 'r' in 'slippery' can sometimes be syllabified with the 'i' depending on dialect, but the standard US pronunciation favors the division shown.

7. Grammatical Role:

"Slippery-tongued" functions as an adjective. The syllabification remains consistent regardless of its use in a sentence.

8. Definition & Semantics:

• Definition: Having a tendency to say things that are deceptive, insincere, or difficult to believe; not straightforward or truthful.
• Grammatical Category: Adjective
• Synonyms: evasive, deceptive, dissembling, double-tongued, two-faced
• Antonyms: honest, truthful, sincere, frank
• Examples: "The politician was known for his slippery-tongued responses." "She didn't trust him because he was a slippery-tongued salesman."

9. Phonological Comparison:

• quickly: quick-ly (/ˈkwɪk.li/) - Similar vowel structure and consonant clusters. Syllabification follows the same V-C-V pattern.
• happily: hap-pi-ly (/ˈhæp.i.li/) - Similar suffix "-ly" and vowel sounds. Syllabification is consistent with the rule of dividing before a vowel.
• carefully: care-ful-ly (/ˈker.fəl.i/) - Similar structure with a vowel-consonant-vowel pattern. Syllabification follows the same rules.

Syllable Breakdown Details:

• slip: /slɪp/ - Open syllable, ending in a vowel sound. Rule: Vowel-consonant-vowel (VCV) pattern, divide between vowels.
• per: /pər/ - Closed syllable, ending in a consonant sound. Rule: Consonant clusters are generally kept together within a syllable.
• y: /i/ - Syllabic consonant, functioning as a vowel. Rule: Syllabic consonants form a syllable on their own.
• tong: /tʌŋ/ - Open syllable, ending in a nasal consonant. Rule: Vowel-consonant-vowel (VCV) pattern, divide between vowels.
• ued: /d/ - Closed syllable, ending in a consonant sound. Rule: Consonant clusters are generally kept together within a syllable.

Division Rules Applied:

• VCV Rule: When a word has a vowel-consonant-vowel pattern, it is generally divided between the vowels.
• Consonant Cluster Rule: Consonant clusters are typically kept together within a single syllable.
• Syllabic Consonant Rule: Syllabic consonants (like /l/, /m/, /n/, /r/) can form a syllable on their own.

Special Considerations:

The hyphenated nature of the word is the primary special consideration. Without the hyphen, syllabification would be more complex and potentially ambiguous.