Although these are synonyms (= the act or process of forming syllables, or of dividing words into syllables), prefer “syllabification,” since it corresponds to the more common verb “syllabify” (as opposed to *"syllabicate"). But the two nouns are almost equally common — e.g.:
o “Other dictionaries use the same syllabification with a slightly different pronunciation: PLETH-uh-ruh.” Sally Bright, “It’s All in the Syllabification,” Tulsa Trib. & Tulsa World, 16 Feb. 1997, at G5.
o “Teachers spend at least four weeks of valuable instructional time teaching children to bubble-in the scantron sheet and to memorize such trivia as syllabication [read ‘syllabification’] rules.” Letter of Deidra W. Frazier, “Let Them Write to Pass Exam,” Advocate (Baton Rouge), 8 Aug. 1996, at B8.
*Invariably inferior forms.
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Quotation of the Day: “Maybe the hardest thing in writing is simply to tell the truth about things as we see them.” John Steinbeck, Journal of a Novel: The East of Eden Letters 123 (1969).
