Syllabification

Syllabification (Pronunciation: /sᵻˈlæbᵻfᵻˈkeɪʃən/ si-LAB-i-fi-KAY-shən) or syllabication (/sᵻˈlæbᵻˈkeɪʃən/ si-LAB-i-KAY-shən) is the separation of a word into syllables, whether spoken or written.

The written separation is usually marked by a hyphen when using English orthography (e.g., syl-la-ble) and with a period when transcribing in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) (e.g., [ˈsɪl.ə.bᵊɫ]). For presentation purposes, typographers may use an interpunct (Unicode character U+00B7, e.g., syl·la·ble), or a special-purpose "hyphenation point" (U+2027, e.g., syl‧la‧ble). Occasionally, a space (or the word divider of the particular language) is used (e.g., syl la ble).