Syllabogram

Syllabograms are <a href="/facts/Grapheme/uzXGIsAr">graphemes</a> used to write the <a href="/facts/Syllable/Ylt7pyJe">syllables</a> or <a href="/facts/Mora_(linguistics)/7uNR6X4c">morae</a> of words. Syllabograms in <a href="/facts/Syllabaries/GCbFXaJ4">syllabaries</a> are analogous to <a href="/facts/Letter_(alphabet)/uRnrbGIJ">letters</a> in <a href="/facts/Alphabet/vqfRpS3E">alphabets</a>, which represent individual <a href="/facts/Phoneme/EXGHlJ7a">phonemes</a>, or <a href="/facts/Logograms/wWYAITGc">logograms</a> in logographies, which represent <a href="/facts/Morpheme/4JNcPMHs">morphemes</a>.
Syllabograms in the <a href="/facts/Maya_script/MYVpESKV">Maya script</a> most frequently take the form of V (vowel) or CV (consonant-vowel) syllables of which approximately 83 are known. CVC signs are present as well. Two modern well-known examples of syllabaries consisting mostly of CV syllabograms are the Japanese <a href="/facts/Kana/kQCM4maE">kana</a>, used to represent the same sounds in different occasions. Syllabograms tend not to be used for languages with more complicated syllables: for example <a href="/facts/Phonotactics/SqxGkJ67">English phonotactics</a> allows syllables as complex as CCCVCCCC (as in /ˈstrɛŋkθs/ strengths), generating many thousands of possible syllables and making the use of syllabograms cumbersome.

Syllabogram open-in-new

Syllabogram