Protip: Word Division in Lyrics, Part 2: Spanish and French (with Additional Considerations for Portuguese, Galacian, Catalan, and Occitan)

By A-R's house editors

This is the second in a series of UnderScore posts on word division in lyrics within music, covering syllabification guidelines for Spanish and French, which have closely related rules for word division. Some considerations for the related languages of Portuguese, Galician, Catalan, and Occitan are given as well. Please note that the rules given here may differ in small details from guidelines given in style manuals not primarily concerned with sung texts. For an introduction and overview of musical word division in general, see the first post in the series.

Spanish Word Division

A-R’s rules for Spanish word division are based on the practices outlined in Nico Casto, A Singer’s Manual of Spanish Lyric Diction (New York: Excalibur, 1994) and Richard F. Sheil, A Singer’s Manual of Foreign Language Diction (New York: YBK, 2004).

Whenever possible, syllables in Spanish words should be divided after a vowel and should begin with a consonant (ro-sa, flo-res, glo-ria, mu-jer). Most consonant pairs are divided (al-ma, per-fec-to, fres-ca, con-cep-ción, o-frez-co, trom-pa, ac-ci-den-tal). Exceptions are as follows:

1. Do not divide the digraphs ch, ll, and rr (mu-cho, e-lla, a-rro-ja-do).
2. Do not divide the following consonant combinations (note that the second letter in each is either l or r): bl, br, cl, cr, dr, fl, fr, gl, gr, pl, pr, tl, tr (a-cla-rar, a-bre, lá-gri-mas, ma-dre, A-tlan-te, pue-blo).

Some considerations for groups of three or more consonants:

1. In groups of three consonants where the first consonant is l, m, n, r, or s and the second two are one of the groups listed in item 2 above, divide after the first consonant (as-tros, fil-tro, hom-bre, in-fla-mar, nues-tra, es-cla-re-ci-da, res-plan-do-res).
2. In groups of three or more consonants where the first two are ms or ns, divide after the s (cons-tru-ir, cons-ta-tar, trans-gre-sor).

Some considerations for vowels:

1. Do not divide vowel groups that function as diphthongs or triphthongs (ai-res, au-ro-ra, Dios, Juan, fue-go, a-ten-ción, gra-cia, muer-te, tie-ne, a-gua, des-ti-tui-do).[1]
2. Most other vowel groups, including those including an accented i or u, are divided (cre-er, ha-bí-an, pa-ís, pe-or, grú-a).

Vowel elision (synalepha) is a common occurrence in spoken and sung Spanish. A curved elision ligature (undertie) is used to indicate elisions between two vowel sounds that are to be run together as a single vowel/syllable for the purposes of a musical setting (see example 1). Note that in Spanish, these may include h or y (or even, occasionally, ll). Avoid making a syllable division directly after an elision symbol (de‿a-mor, au-ro-ra‿her-mo-sa, ma-dre‿y, la‿hu-mil-dad, su‿he-ré-ti-co‿e-rror). Although the elision ligature is available in most mainstream music notation software, it is also acceptable to use an underscore character (_) in its place when making your transcription or to add it by hand in the printout of your score; the typesetters will insert the correct symbol.

Example 1. Manuel de Sumaya, “Sabio y amante fue Pedro” (mm. 57–69), from Villancicos from Mexico City, edited by Drew Edward Davies (B206).

French Word Division

Whenever possible, syllables in French words should be divided after a vowel or diphthong and should begin with a consonant (a-mour, fo-rêt, i-nu-tile, mou-ton). Most consonant pairs are divided, double or not (mys-té-ri-eux, jus-qu’à, ob-jet, doc-teur, dés-hon-neur, ar-rê-tez, cru-el-le). Exceptions and further considerations are as follows:

1. Do not divide the combinations ch, dh, gn, ph, th, or any consonant + l or r (ta-bleau, ê-tre, dé-ta-cher, li-vra-son, phi-lo-so-phie, a-gneaux).
2. In consonant groups of any length beginning with m or n, m or n stays with the preceding vowel (som-bre, puis-san-ce, man-gez, com-pren-dre, blan-chir, com-ptez, in-stru-ment).
3. Divide after prefixes (trans-for-mer, trans-ports, in-spi-rer) except when:
   1. the stem to which the prefix is added begins with a vowel (i-non-dez, tran-sir); or
   2. the division would separate the paired consonants listed in item 1 above (su-blime).
4. In groups of three consonants, the first goes with the preceding vowel, and all the rest go with the following vowel (es-prit, ob-scu-ri-té, res-plen-dir; see also examples with m and n in item 2 above).
5. Division after x and y is not permitted in most normal typesetting contexts (exil, extrème, fuyant) but necessary in music underlay; in such cases x and y are placed with the preceding vowel (ex-il, ex-trème, fuy-ant). The exception, in both text and music, is when x has the sound s instead of ks or gz, in which case it is placed with the following vowel (soi-xan-te).

Considerations for vowels:

1. Do not divide vowel groups that function as diphthongs or triphthongs (pour-ceau, é-loi-gné, sui-vez, hu-mai-nes, é-clair).
2. Though final mute e is not typically divided in normal typesetting contexts, it is pronounced in most musical settings and thus needs to be divided (ai-re, guer-re, voy-a-ge).
3. The same is true of most plural forms or verb endings involving silent/neutral e (por-te, sor-tent, fai-tes, tou-tes).
4. Apostrophes are used in French to represent dropped or elided vowels, and in sung texts the elision ligature symbol (‿) may also be used to indicate vowel elision (see example 2; as in Spanish, syllables so elided may also begin with h). Words should not be divided at either apostrophes or elision ligatures (c’est, au-jour-d’hui, j’ab-hor-re, pru-d’hom-me, l’at-ten-dre‿en, ê-tre‿ai-ma-ble‿et).

Example 2. Philippe Courbois, Apollon et Daphné, movement 5, “Mais en vain Apollon” (mm. 11–16), from Cantatas for One and Two Voices, edited by Michele Cabrini (B180).

Additional Considerations for Portuguese, Galacian, Catalan, and Occitan

In general, word division rules for Spanish—and to a certain extent French, which are similar in several ways—can be applied to these languages as well.[2] These languages include consonant combinations not used in French or Spanish, for which a few guidelines are given here:

• In Portuguese, Galician, and Occitan, do not divide the digraphs ch, lh, nh, qu, gu (Port. te-nho, me-xi-lhão, sa-gui; tra-vi-lhar, se-nhal, quau-quei).
• The combinations ll, rr and ss divide in Occitan (drol-loï, dous-sa, Pier-rou) and Portuguese/Galician (nos-sa, mor-ren-do).
• In Catalan do not divide the combinations ig, ix, ll, ny, tg, tl/tll, ts/tz, yl, yn (a-le-gra-tge, se-tgle, ba-ixar, Ca-ta-lu-nya, mi-llor, tre-tze).
• It is permissible for a word-final syllable or a monosyllabic word to end with an apostrophe in these languages (Occ. viouvr’, dous’, rich’;/Gal. corp’, troux’).

As always, feel free to consult your house editor when ambiguities arise.

[1] Note that not all i + vowel or u + vowel combinations are diphthongs (e.g., ha-bi-tu-ar-se, cri-a-do), and even some diphthongs may be divided in music underlay if necessary for the musical context (e.g., gloria may divide as glo-ri-a).

[2] Information on and examples from Portuguese, Galician, Catalan, and Occitan are drawn largely from the relevant chapters in Timothy McGee, A. G. Rigg, and David Klausner, eds., Singing Early Music: The Pronunciation of European Languages in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996).