extrasyllabic (adj.)

A term used in AUTOSEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY with two different but related applications.

(a) It may refer to SEGMENTAL material appearing in word-FINAL position which cannot be SYLLABIFIED according to the principles that appear to hold word-internally; extrasyllabic material has also been called a termination or an appendix. Further statements are required which may add or remove restrictions on what can appear word-finally. Because this situation reflects the stable status of word-final segments, it is sometimes called licensed extrasyllabicity, as opposed to the contingent notion described next.

(b) The term is also used to handle a situation where CONSONANTS fail to become syllabified during the syllabification procedure, and remain unattached to any syllable until a later point in a DERIVATION. This unstable situation is often called contingent extrasyllabicity, to distinguish it from the more general notion referred to under (a).