Subway's Poor Portmanteau Choice

Am I the only one who has a problem with the name of Subway's new menu item?

There are just too many options for the phonetic realization of the neologism.

To start with, where are the syllable breaks? Is it fla/ti/za or flat/iz/a? Which syllable should be stressed? Also, if it is made to rhyme with pizza, it sounds like either fla/teets/a or flat/eets/a, depending on the syllable break.

I get that it is a portmanteau of flatbread + pizza. But it sure is a phonetically problematic portmanteau.

I'd Like a Syllable and an India Ale, Please

I'm not really in the mood for a Samuel Smith's, so...

make it a Wig Top IA.

As explained at Wikipedia - India Pale Ale or IPA is a beer style within the broader category of pale ale. It was first brewed in England in the 19th century. The first known use of "India pale ale" is an advertisement in the Liverpool Mercury in 1835. It was also referred to as "pale ale as prepared for India", "India Ale", "pale India ale" or "pale export India ale".

While IA may not be a common initialism for the beer style, I can't help but think about beer whenever I pass the above pictured store due to the familiarity of IPA as an initialism combined with the unusual bullet point insertions in the store's name and the recent influx of oddly named beers.

Yellowpages.com lists the store's name as Wigtopia Beauty Supply. Even without the addition of "beauty supply", when the bullet points are removed it is much more clear that the store name is meant to be verbalized as one word with syllable breaks like so: /wɪg.to.pi:ʌ/. This was also confirmed when I phoned the store and the clerk answered as such.

Perhaps the store owners designed the signage to be phonetically playful. Wigs do top the head and they probably do sell what they consider to be the ideal wigs, thus: /wɪg.tɑp.i:ʌ/.

Regardless, I can't do it; I will continue to read the store name as two words and an initialism: /wɪg tɑp aɪ eɪ/.

India Ale image here
Wig Top image from Yelp 

Put the Rhyme in the Syllable

If it wasn't for the internal structure of syllables, beautifully humorous poetry (the likes of below from Toothpaste for Dinner) would not be possible.

Onset...Nucleus...Coda_Onset...Nucleus...Coda_Onset...Nucleus...Coda

/p/....../o/..........Ø____Ø........./ə/.........Ø___/tr/........./i/........Ø

/n/....../o/..........Ø____Ø......../ə/..........Ø___/tr/......../i/.........Ø

The Electric Company and Blending Syllables

Having just written about the internal structure of syllables, I found it interesting that the January 19th Newsweek had an article about the 1970's television show "The Electric Company" that mentioned blended syllables. I am of the original "Electric Company" generation and I certainly remember watching the show and blending syllables.

Tiger – “Let’s clap tiger” (Say and clap “ti-ger”) “How many parts?”(two)

According to the article, the new version of "The Electric Company" is about four superhero kids that can throw letters and words. Sounds fun; I love throwing letters and words around. I can't wait to check out the new "Electric Company."

Syllable Structure Diagrams

Counting the number of syllables in a word is something most people learn to do in elementary school. What many people do not think about when it comes to syllables, however, is that syllables have an internal structure. What this means is that syllables can be divided into smaller parts. Following are two syllable structure diagrams that will help explain.

The two main parts of a syllable are the onset and the rhyme (sometimes spelled rime). The rhyme is composed of a nucleus and an optional coda and is the part of a syllable that is used in poetry to form rhymes. The nucleus, as its name indicates, is the core part of a syllable and is always a vowel. Syllables can also appear without an onset; so the smallest possible syllable would be made up of a nucleus only.

In sum:

onset = optional start of syllable = Consonant

nucleus = mandatory core of syllable = Vowel

coda = optional end of syllable = Consonant

Example syllables:

Nucleus only: a

Onset and nucleus: la

Onset, nucleus and coda: lab

nucleus and coda: at