Syllable structure

The general anatomy of a syllable, using an English word as an example:

Example	Phonemes
strives	/s/	Onset		Extrametrical	"Allitereme"
	/t/			Onset proper
	/r/			Onglide
	/a/	Rime	Nucleus	Vocoid
	/j/			Offglide
	/v/		Coda	Coda proper
	/z/			Extrametrical

The basic division is that between an onset, consisting of consonants or semivowels, and a rime, consisting of a vocoid and possible further elements. This structure is seen in almost all natlangs (the infamous counterexample is Arrernte).

Vocoid

The vocoid is the sonority peak of a syllable. It is usually a vowel, but it can be a consonant as well. Such a consonant is almost always a sonorant, and will be call'd a syllabic consonant. It is not uncommon for there to exist tighter rules for the structure syllables with a consonantal vocoid, typically limiting the possible on- and offglides.

Extrametrical consonants

The most common example of an extrametrical consonant, seen in our example as well, is the Indo-European s-mobile. Extrametrical consonants can be identified by their phonotactical properties: English syllables can feature an extrametrical /s/ (or /ʃ/) only before /m n p t k/, and these are also the only cases where another consonant can occur before these (it is debatable if /s/ in /sw, sl/ and /ʃ/ in /ʃr/ are extrametrical).

It is possible for extrametrical coda consonants, such as the English plural/possessiv //z//, to not contribute to syllable weight.