Editing Syllabification (section)

==Algorithm==
{{unsolved|computer science|Is there any perfect syllabification algorithm in English language?}}
A '''hyphenation algorithm''' is a set of rules, especially one codified for implementation in a computer program, that decides at which points a word can be broken over two lines with a hyphen. For example, a hyphenation algorithm might decide that ''impeachment'' can be broken as ''impeach-ment'' or ''im-peachment'' but not ''impe-achment''.

One of the reasons for the complexity of the rules of word-breaking is that different dialects of English tend to differ on hyphenation: [[American English]] tends to work on sound, but [[British English]] tends to look to the origins of the word and then to sound.{{Citation needed|date=November 2017}} There are also a large number of exceptions, which further complicates matters.{{Citation needed|date=November 2017}}

Some rules of thumb can be found in the Major Keary's "On Hyphenation – Anarchy of Pedantry."<ref>{{cite web |title=On Hyphenation - Anarchy of Pedantry |work=PC Update |last=Major Keary |publisher=Melbourne PC User Group |url= http://www.melbpc.org.au/pcupdate/9100/9112article4.htm |access-date=6 October 2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20050310054738/http://www.melbpc.org.au/pcupdate/9100/9112article4.htm |archive-date=10 March 2005}}</ref>  Among the [[algorithm]]ic approaches to hyphenation, the one implemented in the [[TeX|TeX typesetting system]] is widely used. It is thoroughly documented in the first two volumes of ''[[Computers and Typesetting]]'' by Donald Knuth and in Franklin Mark Liang's dissertation.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Liang |first=Franklin Mark |url= http://www.tug.org/docs/liang/ |title=Word Hy-phen-a-tion by Com-pu-ter |type=PhD |publisher=Department of Computer Science, [[Stanford University]] |id=STAN-CS-83-977 |date=August 1983}}</ref> The aim of Liang's work was to get the algorithm as accurate as possible and to keep exceptions to a minimum.

In TeX's original hyphenation patterns for American English, the exception list contains only 14 words.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Plain TeX hyphenation tables |url=https://mirrors.ctan.org/info/digests/tugboat/hyphenex/tb0hyf.pdf |access-date=23 June 2009}}</ref>

=== In TeX ===
Ports of the TeX hyphenation algorithm are available as libraries for several programming languages, including [[Haskell (programming language)|Haskell]], [[JavaScript]], [[Perl]], [[PostScript]], [[Python (programming language)|Python]], [[Ruby (programming language)|Ruby]], [[C Sharp (programming language)|C#]], and TeX can be made to show hyphens in the log by the command <code>\showhyphens</code>.

In [[LaTeX]], hyphenation correction can be added by users by using:

<pre>\hyphenation{words}</pre>

The <code>\hyphenation</code> command declares allowed hyphenation points in which words is a list of words, separated by spaces, in which each hyphenation point is indicated by a <code>-</code> character. For example,

<pre>\hyphenation{fortran er-go-no-mic}</pre>

declares that in the current job "fortran" should not be hyphenated and that if "ergonomic" must be hyphenated, it will be at one of the indicated points.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://noodle.med.yale.edu/latex/latex2e-html/ltx-244.html |title= \hyphenation |work= Hypertext Help with LaTeX |publisher= Yale Image Processing and Analysis Group |first1=Sheldon |last1=Green |date=5 Jun 1995 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231127043725/http://noodle.med.yale.edu/latex/latex2e-html/ltx-244.html |archive-date= Nov 27, 2023 }}</ref>

However, there are several limits. For example, the stock <code>\hyphenation</code> command accepts only [[ASCII]] letters by default and so it cannot be used to correct hyphenation for words with non-ASCII characters (like ''ä'', ''é'', ''ç''), which are very common in many  languages. Simple workarounds exist, however.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://texfaq.org/FAQ-hyphenaccents |title=Accented words aren't hyphenated |work=TeX FAQ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231128190033/https://texfaq.org/FAQ-hyphenaccents |archive-date= Nov 28, 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://texfaq.org/FAQ-hyphen |title=How does hyphenation work in TeX? |work=TeX FAQ |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231127043729/https://texfaq.org/FAQ-hyphen |archive-date= Nov 27, 2023 }}</ref>