2.4. Syllables

2.4.1. In many modern languages, there are as many syllables in a word as there are separate vowels and diphthongs. This is not exactly so in Europaio. It follows, indeed, this rule too:

Eu-ro-pa-ios, wer-dhom, ne-was, ju-gom

NOTE. The semivowels w and j are in general written i and u, as we already said, when they are used in the formation of new words, i.e., when they are not original roots or stems. That is why the adjective 'European' is written Eu-ro-pa-ios, and so its derived nominalized inanimate form, 'Eu-ro-pa-iom' (the European language); and that is also why Italia is not written *Italja; while trejes, three, or newo, new, for example, are written with j and w.

2.4.2. There are also (and very often) consonant-only syllables, though. It is possible to hear them in spoken English, for example in the word Brighton /brai-t'n/, where the final n can be considered vocalic. In these kind of syllables, it is one of the vocalic sonants,  /r,l,m,n/, the one which functions as syllabic centre:

bhr-ghu, wl-qos, de-km, no-mn

NOTE 1. The words derived from these vocalic consonants differ greatly between modern IE dialects. For example, dn-ghu derived in Proto-Germanic tungon, and later in English tongue, while in archaic Latin it was pronounced dingwa, then the Classic Latin lingua, which forms the modern English loan word linguistic.

NOTE 2. We maintain the old, difficult and somehow unstable sounds in search for unity. As this phonetic system will not be easy for speakers of modern IE languages, the proposed alternative pronunciation is to add, when needed, an auxiliary schwa [] before or after the sound. The schwa we are referring to is an unstressed and toneless neutral vowel sound. Thus, wlqos can be pronounced /wlqos/ (as in Proto-Germanic *wulfaz) or /wlqos/ (as in Proto-Greek *lukos), or /dekm/ and /nomn/ for dekm and nomn.

2.4.3. In the division of words into syllables, these rules apply:

1. A single consonant is joined to the following vowel or diphthong; as ne-wo, me-dhjo,...

2. Combinations of two or more consonants (other than the vocalic ones) are regularly separated, and the first consonant of the combination is joined with the preceding vowel; as om-bhro, ok-to, pen-qe, etc. but s-qa-los.

3. In compounds, the parts are usually separated; as Fin-lendh-om, Dhan-merg, etc.