Count the Number of Syllables in a Word

Just a suggestion, but instead of 'looking' for adjacent vowels, could you not increment your 'count' each time you encounter the initial vowel that occurs either at the beginning of a word or after a consonant in the word, excepting the 'e' at the end of a word (unless your count is zero for that word). To clarify, any time you encounter adjacent vowels, only the first vowel would increment your count.

Not positive it would work, but I think it works for all of the words I just wrote.

Good luck.