I’m no expert on Salishan languages (that word is from Nuxalk aka Bella Coola by the way), but if I had to take a guess syllables aren’t phonemic in the language, and phonetically the number of syllables varies depending on how fast you speak.
With that said I’m tempted to syllabify the word as [xɬ . pʼχʷɬ . tʰɬ . pʰɬː . skʷʰ . t͡sʼ] with six syllables (note: spaces added for clarity). Most of them would have [ɬ] or [ɬː] as the nucleus as laterals score rather high on the sonority hierarchy, with the other two having a non-lateral fricative and an affricate respectively. Just be warned that this might be complete rubbish, and that what the speakers actually do might be something else. Might as well wonder if the concept of syllable is even useful for the language.
[Sorry for the unfunny guy answer. I couldn’t resist.]
I’m no expert on Salishan languages (that word is from Nuxalk aka Bella Coola by the way), but if I had to take a guess syllables aren’t phonemic in the language, and phonetically the number of syllables varies depending on how fast you speak.
With that said I’m tempted to syllabify the word as [xɬ . pʼχʷɬ . tʰɬ . pʰɬː . skʷʰ . t͡sʼ] with six syllables (note: spaces added for clarity). Most of them would have [ɬ] or [ɬː] as the nucleus as laterals score rather high on the sonority hierarchy, with the other two having a non-lateral fricative and an affricate respectively. Just be warned that this might be complete rubbish, and that what the speakers actually do might be something else. Might as well wonder if the concept of syllable is even useful for the language.
[Sorry for the unfunny guy answer. I couldn’t resist.]