I m not a phonologist but u can check there for a start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syllable The first thing u have to determine is the nucleus, then what comes before is the onset and what comes after is the coda. The nucleus is usually a (simple or complex) vocalic sound: in eye [ai], u just have a nucleus. In my [m.ai], there is an onset (m), and in mine [m.ai.n] also a coda (n). In Arabic u would always have an onset (a consonant) at the beginning of a syllable.