4. syllabic consonants (l, r, n):
There is a syllabic /l/ filling the vowel slot in unstressed syllable in /ˈhændl/.
In /ˈɔːfəl/, the weak or neutral vowel
/ə/ that precedes /l/ is omitted so /l/
becomes syllabic
After f,v syllabic n /ˈɒf(ə)n/ is more
common and it is followed by
another consonant.
Syllabic-r is widespread in rhotic accents
(e.g. GenAm) but rarely occurs in
non-rhotic accents (e.g. RP).
Thus, in GenAm /r/
in /ˈgræn(d)ˌmʌðər/ becomes
syllabic, but this is not the case
with non-rhotic RP
pronunciation /ˈgræn(d)ˌmʌðə/
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