Quick! How many syllables in the word uncle? Two? Good. Now try table. Still two? Great, excellent. Alright, what about people and riddle, little and candle? Two, two, two and two, say you? Fantastic! Congratulations, you are officially smarter than the Average Hagwon Director. Or more accurately, my Hagwon Director.
English is a tricky language, I'll concede that much, but even my students know a syllable when they hear one. Stick to what you know, Hagwon Director, 'cause phonics ain't it.
And for the record, the -le syllable found in many English words is commonly referred to as the Consonant-le syllable. It is often found at the end of a word and consists of a consonant followed by the letters le. It's one of the Six Syllable types used in modern English. I scoured the internets searching for the history of -le spelling (as opposed to spelling tabel, peopel or candel), but could find nothing definitive. I have concluded, through my super scientific deductive reasoning, that the wonky spelling is probably derived from the Latin suffixes -able and -ible. Ahh, Latin strikes again!
Here, for your nerd word pleasure: uncle (The word that started it all. Seriously, this was top of the list. Ah, sweet validation!), paddle, tingle, humble (Apparently a word with which I am unfamiliar...), bundle, circle, settle, simple (As in, Simple Minds.), people, trouble (What my ass is gonna be in if said Director reads these interwebs.), middle, gentle, table (Hagwon Director actually tried to convince me this was a single syllable word. Blasphemy.), example, throttle, obstacle, miracle, muscle, syllable (I just wish I'd realized this during the course of this afternoon's conversation.), poodle, pickle, noodle, saddle, juggle, riddle, able, candle, little, chuckle, tickle, fable, vegetable (Technically four syllables, but lazy English speakers omit that second e.), cable, probable, apple, cuddle, bottle, kettle, wobble, article, and double.
And of course, the Bible, 'cause that's how Jesus rolls.
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