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A syllabic consonant is a consonant which either forms a syllable on its own, or is the nucleus of a syllable. The diacritic for this in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is the under-stroke, < ̩>, at Unicode code point U+0329. As with all IPA combining characters, the diacritic must be entered after the letter it modifies.
Examples from English are button [bɐʔn̩], bottle [bɒtl̩ˠ] and rhythm [ˈɹɪðm̩]. Note that all of these consonants are sonorants. The only time obstruents are used syllabically in English is in onomatopoeia, such as sh! [ʃ̩] (a command to be quiet), sss [s̩] (the hiss of a snake), zzz [z̩] (the sound of a bee buzzing or someone sleeping), and tsk tsk! [ǀǀ] (used to express disapproval or pity), though it's not certain how to define what a syllable is in such cases.
Use in other languages
Sanskrit ṛ [r̩] (and Vedic Sanskrit ḷ [l̩]) are syllabic consonants, allophones of consonantal r and l. This continues the reconstructed situation of Proto-Indo-European, where both nasals and liquids had syllabic allophones, r̩, l̩, m̩, n̩.
The Czech and Slovak r [r] and l [l] may also be syllabic, as in the phrase Strč prst skrz krk ("thrust the finger through the neck"). In addition, Slovak also has long versions of these syllabic consonants, ŕ and ĺ: kĺb (joint), vŕba (willow)
The Slovene r [r] may also be syllabic smŕt (death), vŕt (garden), kŕt (mole), vŕba (willow), Sŕbija (Serbia); in Styria alo vŕv (rope).
The Serbo-Croatian r [r] can also be syllabic, when surrounded by consonants or when at the beginning of a word followed by a consonant, as in the following Macedonian examples: првиот [pr̩v] (the first), ѕрцки [dzr̩tski] (insides), срце [sr̩tse] (heart), незадржливо [nɛzadr̩ʒƚivᴐ] (unstoppable); and 'рбет [r̩bɛt] (spine), 'рѓа [r̩ɟa] (rust), 'рчи [r̩tʃi] (snore), etc.
There are "fricative vowels" in several languages, which are actually syllabic fricatives. In Mandarin Chinese there are very close vowels written sī [sź̩ ~ sɨ́], shī [ʂʐ̩́ ~ ʂɨ́˞], rī [ʐʐ̩́ ~ ʐɨ́˞]. Standard Liangshan Yi has two "buzzed" vowels, written ṳ, i̤, which are also syllabic fricatives, [β, ɹ̝], and may even be trilled [ʙ̝, r̝].
Berber, Salish, and Wakashan languages are sometimes used to illustrate syllabic obstruents in normal vocabulary, such as Bella Coola [pʰtʰkʰtsʰ], [spʰs] "northeast wind", [sχs] "seal blubber", [ɬqʰ] "wet", [ťɬɬ] "dry", or [nujamɬɬɬɬ] "we (ɬ) used to (ɬɬ) sing (nujamɬ)". However, it is not clear how one would define a syllable or a syllabic nucleus in such cases, and it's therefore not clear whether any of these consonants should be considered syllabic.
See also
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