Phonetics and phonology

El ataque silábico is the onset of a syllable, and el ataque is a word that English breaks up according to what is being attacked. An army mounts an attack and so does a critic: that much is shared. But un ataque al corazón is a heart attack while un ataque de tos is a fit of coughing and un ataque de risa a fit of giggles — English keeps « fit » for the things the body does to itself. And in a syllable, or in a piece of music, the Spanish word is what English calls the onset and the attack respectively. One noun for the charge, the seizure, the fit and the beginning.