Phonemes

Introduction Phonemes Phonemes are the smallest sounds of speech that make a difference in communication . It is a phoneme that determines the difference between the spoken words look and lick . The meanings of those two words—determined by a phoneme—refer to very different actions . Spoken words, syllables, and onsets and rimes consist of phonemes . Think about the word stretch . It consists of one syllable . The onset and rime in the syllable are /str/ and /ĕch/, respectively . The individual sounds in the word are /s/, /t/, /r/, /ĕ/, and /ch/ . These five sounds are the word’s phonemes . Listen carefully as you say the word, and you will hear each of the phonemes . Here is another example: The spoken word snail consists of the phonemes /s/, /n/, /ā/, and /l/ . Notice that there are five letters, but there are only four phonemes in the spoken word . Phonemes are the individual sounds we hear, not the letters we see in the printed word . Some words have only one phoneme . Think about the words I, a, and oh . Other words, such as up and she, have two phonemes . Some, such as dog, sick, and fun, have three phonemes . Others have more . The word sticky has five phonemes: /s/, /t/, /ĭ/, /k/, /ē/ . Spoken English consists of about 43 phonemes (see the chart on page 16) . We say “about” because the number depends on the dialect of English spoken and the classification system used . These approximately 43 phonemes make up the entire body of the English language . Imagine that! The hundreds of thousands of words that English speakers use are constructed from only 43 phonemes! (Only 26 letters are used, individually or in combination, to represent these sounds in printed English . The sound /sh/, for example, is represented with two letters: sh .) Some languages have many more phonemes than English; some have fewer . Spoken Spanish, for example, uses about half the number of sounds that spoken English uses . The phonemes an individual ultimately uses depends upon those heard in the environment . Thus, a child raised in an English-speaking environment hears and will use the phonemes of English . A child raised in a Vietnamese-speaking environment hears and will use the Vietnamese phonemes . Typically developing human beings are physiologically capable of making many sounds with their vocal structures . Phonemes are spoken using parts of our mouths (including lips, tongue, and teeth) and our vocal cords in different ways . Helping children notice these differences supports development of phonological awareness . Now that we have discussed phonemes, let’s return for a moment to syllables . The number and organisation of phonemes in a syllable determine whether a syllable is simple or complex . Simple syllables are those with no or only one consonant sound before and/or after the vowel . Examples include the single-syllable words a, on, by, pet, and fish . (Notice that the first two words do not have a consonant sound preceding the vowel, thus they have no onset .) Complex syllables are those with more than one consonant sound before and/or after the vowel . In other words, the syllable contains at least one consonant blend (two or more adjacent consonant sounds in a syllable) . Examples include plan, golf, screech, and frost . A Brief Lesson in Phonology (cont.) sample

Introduction

Phonemes (cont.) Consider the word bathroom in our list of two-syllable words in the chart on page 7 . Bathroom is a two-syllable word; each syllable in the word is a simple syllable because only one consonant sound precedes the vowel and only one consonant sound follows the vowel sound in each syllable . Now, look at the second word in the same list: breakfast . Are the syllables in breakfast simple or complex, or does the word contain one of each type of syllable? The answer is that they are both complex syllables . Two consonant sounds precede the vowel sound in the initial syllable, and two consonant sounds follow the vowel sound in the second syllable . Critical here is the focus on phonemes, not letters, when determining whether a syllable is simple or complex . The question is what sounds do you hear—not what letters do you see . Syllables can consist of different phonemic patterns varying by number and position of phonemes . See the following chart in which C stands for consonant sound and V stands for vowel sound . Appreciating this will be important when planning and implementing some of the activities in the book . The Appendix contains word lists organised by these patterns .

Phonemic Patterns in Syllables* Examples

Simple CV VC CVC a, I, oh go, hi, my, row, though on, in, ate, ash, each bat, dog, run, dish, that

Complex

CCVC CVCC CCVCC CCCVC

frog, black, glass, sweep lost, gift, waist, shift crept, grasp, drift, shrimp street, splash, scream *This is not an exhaustive list. A Brief Lesson in Phonology (cont.) V sample 10