In High German and Tweants (a Low Saxon dialect spoken in the Netherlands; more Low Saxon dialects have the syllabic consonant), all word-final syllables in infinite verbs and feminine plural nouns spelled -en are pronounced with syllabic consonants.
Standard German spoken in Luxembourg often lacks syllabic sonorants under the influence of Luxembourgish, so that laufen is pronounced [ˈlaʊfən], rather than [ˈlaʊfn̩].
[4] In Danish, a syllabic consonant is the standard colloquial realization of combinations of the phoneme schwa /ə/ and a sonorant, generally referred to as schwa-assimilation,[5] e.g. katten ('the cat') /ˈkatən/ = [ˈkʰætn̩], dame ('lady') /ˈdaːmə/ = [ˈtɛːm̩], cykel ('bike') /ˈsykəl/ = [ˈsykl̩], myre ('ant') /ˈmyːrə/ = [ˈmyːɐ], sove ('sleep') /ˈsɒːʋə/ = [ˈsɒːʊ], reje ('shrimp') /ˈraːjə/ = [ˈʁɑːɪ], or huset ('the house') /ˈhuːˀsəð/ = [ˈhuːˀsð̩ˠ].
It is syllabic when following other alveolar consonants and occurs most often in the definite singular form of masculine nouns (see Norwegian grammar) where the schwa has elided, e.g. bilen ('the car') [biː.ln̩], where it was originally [biː.lən].
With some speakers, the schwa may be reinserted, especially for words already ending in /n/ where the syllabic /n/ may have been entirely elided afterward, e.g. mannen ('the man') can either be pronounced like [mɑ.nn̩], [mɑn] or [man.nən].
Some examples include: Several Sinitic languages, such as Cantonese and Hokkien, feature both syllabic m ([m̩]) and ng ([ŋ̍]) that stand alone as their own words.
[19] Some speakers have even more lax articulation, opening the teeth and noticeably lowering the tongue, so that sī shī rī are pronounced [sɯ́ ʂɯ́ ʐɯ́], with the same vowel [ɯ] in each case and no r-coloring[citation needed].
Sinologists and linguists working in the Chinese analytical tradition frequently use the term apical vowel (舌尖元音 shéjiān yuányīn) to describe the sounds above and others like them in various Sino-Tibetan languages.
Berber, Salish, Wakashan and Chemakuan languages have syllabic obstruents in normal vocabulary, such as Nuxálk [p̍ʰ.t̩ʰ.k̩ʰ.ts̩ʰ], [s̩.pʰs̩] "northeast wind", [ɬ̩.q̍ʰ] 'wet', [ť̩.ɬ̩.ɬ̩] 'dry', or [nu.jam.ɬ̩] 'we (ɬ̩) used to sing (nu.jam.ɬ̩)'.
As a stand-alone word, it means 'I' (first person subject pronoun), as in N ti baule [n̩̄ tɪ̄ bāūlē] 'I speak Baoulé'.
The Hungarian word s [ʃ̩], a high-register variant of és 'and', is a syllabic consonant, although it usually cliticises: s ettem /ʃ̩ɛtːɛm/ [ʃɛtːɛm] 'and I had eaten'.