標題は素朴な疑問だが，実は言語学的には簡単には答えられない．音節 (syllable) は音声学でも基本的な概念だが，実は一般的な定義を与えるのが難しいのだ．Bussmann の言語学用語集を読んでみよう．
syllable
Basic phonetic-phonological unit of the word or of speech that can be identified intuitively, but for which there is no uniform linguistic definition. Articulatory criteria include increased pressure in the airstream . . . , a change in the quality of individual sounds . . . , a change in the degree to which the mouth is opened. Regarding syllable structure, a distinction is drawn between the nucleus (= 'crest,' 'peak,' ie. the point of greatest volume of sound which, as a rule, is formed by vowels) and the marginal phonemes of the surrounding sounds that are known as the head (= 'onset,' i.e. the beginning of the syllable) and the coda (end of the syllable). Syllable boundaries are, in part, phonologically characterized by boundary markers. If a syllable ends in a vowel, it is an open syllable; if it ends in a consonant, a closed syllable. Sounds, or sequences of sounds that cannot be interpreted phonologically as syllabic (like [p] in supper, which is phonologically one phone, but belongs to two syllables), are known as 'interludes.'
ある個別言語の音節は母語話者にとって直感的に理解される単位だが，言語一般を念頭において客観的に定式化しようと試みても，うまくいかない．調音音声学や聴覚音声学の側からの定義，または音韻理論的な解釈などがあるものの，必ずしもきれいには定義できない．それでいて母語話者は音節という単位を「知っている」らしいというのだから，不思議だ．
音節をめぐっては，hellog でも関連する話題を取り上げてきた．以下の記事などを参照．
・ 「#347. 英単語の平均音節数はどのくらいか？」 ([2010-04-09-1])
・ 「#1440. 音節頻度ランキング」 ([2013-04-06-1])
・ 「#1513. 聞こえ度」 ([2013-06-18-1])
・ 「#1563. 音節構造」 ([2013-08-07-1])
・ 「#3715. 音節構造に Rhyme という単位を認める根拠」 ([2019-06-29-1])
・ 「#4621. モーラ --- 日本語からの一般音韻論への貢献」 ([2021-12-21-1])
・ 「#4853. 音節とモーラ」 ([2022-08-10-1])
・ Bussmann, Hadumod. Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics. Trans. and ed. Gregory Trauth and Kerstin Kazzizi. London: Routledge, 1996.
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