Initials are useful. They can help a company escape the appeal of a restrictive geographical origin or product. For example, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation`s ambitions to expand globally beyond its origins in Asia were made possible by the use of initials – HSBC – that obscured the bank`s unlikely origins. United Parcel Service became UPS as the company evolved from package delivery to global supply chain management. There is an unwritten three-syllable law that explains why New York (two syllables) gets its full name, while Los Angeles (four syllables) is popularly called “LA”. Similarly, Detroit is still Detroit, but Philadelphia is “Philly.” In the corporate world, Federal Express bowed to the inevitable by changing its name to Fedex, following popular usage. Similarly, Beverages & More became Bevmo and the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) is commonly known as Fannie Mae – a namesake of FNMA. I use formula rules to determine the number of syllables in an English word, and then compare those rules to the result generated by a code I wrote. I use the “written method” rules described under Syllable Rules on the linked website.
However, I am sure that the syllable rules for English are the same everywhere. You can find out how many syllables are contained in a word by systematically counting certain combinations of letters and sounds. Understanding the syllables that make up words can help you read and spell better. The need for such an expensive campaign, while it may have resulted in increased sales in the short term, is almost an admission that the company has a deep-seated name problem that advertising can`t solve. Note that I said that nuclei are usually vowels. This is because we can have a syllabic consonant in special circumstances. This is when the nucleus of a syllable is a consonant. For example, in the critical word /krɪtɪsɪzm/ the last syllable consists of a single sound /m/. The consonants /r, l/ and nasals /m, n, Å/ also appear frequently in English as syllabic consonants. It was inevitable that International House of Pancakes (nine syllables) became known as IHOP (two syllables), but in most people`s minds, IHOP is still synonymous with pancakes, although it does sell other items such as burgers. Last summer, IHOP launched a teaser campaign, saying it would change its name to IHOb to announce a new range of burgers.
This pronunciation of everything, like the one shown in (1), has three syllables, but this time the nucleus of the second syllable is the consonant /r/. This consonant will have a longer duration here than if it were to appear in a beginning or a coda. Then there`s the inconvenient truth that countless pairs of words such as powers and hours or more and fire are perfect rhymes for some people, but not for others. Even the same speaker can choose the number of syllables to use for reasons of poetic measurement. A particular word can have a variable number of syllables from one line of verse to another, even from the same poet if the meter requires it. But even these words are not the only ones with this characteristic. Any “written rule” that purports to tell you how many syllables there are in actuarial, adultery, food, auxiliary, bakery, baptistery, battery, cemetery, cup, extraordinary, fiery, film, laboratory, library, medicine, military, necessary, oratory, ornery, raspberry, secretary, Salisbury, territory, must be thrown in the trash. It`s just meaningless nonsense.
Well, all these rules are problematic. To give an example, chin one will not work at all if a consonant at the beginning of a syllable requires the mouth to be more open than the next vowel. This happens in the second syllable of the word sorry. Your chin will only hit your hand for the first syllable, not the second (try it!). However, leaving aside these many different issues, let`s take a look at the interesting problem that the original poster with the word “each” has. These are long names. People don`t like them. They prefer short, concise and memorable names. And if your name is longer than three syllables, it will be shortened. It`s going to happen and it`s out of your control, so be warned. Now the rhyme is divided into two parts.
It has the most sonorous musical and vovy part, the core, which is mandatory. It can also have a coda where the syllable becomes both quieter and less sonorous. Codas are usually consonants or groups of consonants. Thus, in /kæt/ the kernel is /æ/ and the coda is /t/. The syllable itself represents a climax of the sound. If it has a beginning and a coda, then these represent the troughs of sound at both ends of the syllable. Place your hand under your chin. Say the word. How often does your chin touch your hand? This is the number of syllables. There`s a reason why the original poster has a problem with everything. As mentioned in the comments of @Peter Shor and @John Lawler, the pronunciation varies from one individual to another and also in the language of a single individual.