How many syllables in the word 'fire'?
How many syllables in the word 'fire'?
Settle an argument for me, will ya?
One0%
Two0%
❤1
Replying to @julian@activitypub.space
How many syllables in the word 'fire'?
@julian The re makes it into a two syllable word. If you don't have the last e, you'd have fir, which is a single syllable. Adding the e transforms the r sound into and er or ur, so fi-er or fi-ur.
At least, that's my opinion. I didn't look anything up, and could find myself being re-educated. 
Replying to @julian@activitypub.space
@julian@activitypub.space can be either, depending on how you pronounce it! I pronounce it with two.
Replying to @julian@activitypub.space
@julian It's an "r-controlled" syllable.
So, it depends on what youur "syllable" rules are, oh, and how you say it.
Some dialects pretty much pronounce it 'far' (joke about the Southern child who thought the wise men were firefighters beause they were "coming from afar")....
one...
That song? Fiiiiii yerrrr!!! That's two.
Replying to @julian@activitypub.space
@julian I think British English might consider it possibly one whereas American English would consider it two for sure. At least when I listen to pronunciations on oed.com... however, both phonetic spellings contain a dash.
I thought it was one, but I think the oed disagrees.
Replying to @julian@activitypub.space
@julian I’d appreciate a third option on the poll - Yes
Replying to @julian@activitypub.space
@julian In my dialect, one syllable whose nucleus is a diphthong or branching nucleus - that is, two vowel sounds that glide into one another. But I can well believe it varies with dialect.