ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

I thought that woulld get some attention.

I have been asked to 'look' at a few poems by a new writer and I need some assistance.
I know many people don't do sllable counts but... are there two syllables in tail, toil, soil etc. and what is the common thought on wagtail - is that three syllables or only two?? I am confused.

Well I would say wagtail was two, cant squeeze any more out of it and the others are one

Cheers

Maureen

YEP, only two wags in that wagtail ...

There may be considerably more wags in other tales though ...

Hi Zondrae,
I would say that Maureen is spot on, 2 in Wagtail and one in the others.

Terry

Agreed.

Thanks folks.

I am confused about the rule that a syllable is a vowel and its associated consonants. I don't know where I got this definition from.
My Macquarie says "A segment of speech uttered with a single impulse of air pressure from the lungs and consisting of one sound of relatively great sonority." whatever that means.
I await our mother hens definition. (please)

G'day Zondrae, the ai and oi in tail, toil, soil, are called diphthongs.

A dipthong is two vowels sounded as one syllable. Easy peasy. One syllable, just like the ae in Zondrae.

All good advice so far Zondrae. I have emailed you 2 pages from Carmel Randle's excellent instruction book, 'Help'. I'm sure this will indeed help you no end.
Good luck
Cheeers
Glenny

Thank you Glenny,

But my pm box is full and I can't get to my messages til I find out how to empty it.

I didn't pm it dear. I emailed it. But it's only just gone now as some nimno sent me a file bigger than Ben Hur that would'nt download. So I've been logging off & ending now etc etc, grrr, & whatever it was is now in the ether.
Goodo
Glenny