Which of the following can serve as the nucleus of a syllable (a syllabic consonant)?

• A. A vowel
• B. A consonant that can act as nucleus, such as [n̩]
• C. A double consonant cluster
• D. A glottal stop only in certain languages

Answer: (B)

The nucleus is the central, most sonorous part of a syllable. Vowels are typically the nucleus because they are inherently vocalic and stay sonorous enough to form the syllable’s peak. But a consonant can take on nucleus status if it becomes syllabic, meaning it carries that peak without a following vowel. This happens with certain nasals and liquids that can function as the syllable’s core, often written with a diacritic like [n̩] or [l̩]. For example, in a word where the second syllable’s core is the consonant itself, you’d see something like [n̩]. That’s why the option describing a consonant that can act as nucleus, such as [n̩], is the best answer. A double consonant cluster cannot be the nucleus since it comprises more than one segment, and a glottal stop is not the typical nucleus across languages, though it can be syllabic in some rare cases.