Phonics for the Teacher

Introduction

• Written language is a system of symbols or a code used to represent the spoken language.
• Reading requires decoding, or translating the symbols or codes into the sounds of the spoken language.
• The code of the English language is full of inconsistencies.
• The two basic elements of the code are the phoneme and the grapheme.
• The phoneme is the smallest unit of sound which distinguishes one word from another. The phoneme is a speech sound.
• Phon refers to voice or sound (telephone or phonograph).
• The grapheme is the written representation of the phoneme, or the smallest unit of sound presented in written form. The grapheme is composed of the symbols we use to picture the sound on paper.
• Graph refers to drawn, written, or recorded.
• The symbol: / / refers to the sound of a specific letter or letters enclosed with slashes.
• The symbols: k, c, and q are three different graphemes used to represent one phoneme. The words: keep, come,and quit use three different graphemes to represent one phoneme: /k/.
• A grapheme my consist of more than one letter, representing the phoneme. A letter and a grapheme are not the same thing.
• American English contains only 26 letters, but has 44 separate phonemes or speech sounds.
• Some phonemes include combinations of letters (ch, th).
• Some letters represent more than one phoneme (such as the letter a in ape, tan, and all).
• Inconsistencies in English include the use of different symbols to represent the same phoneme (/f/ phoneme used by f, gh, and ph) Examples: fine, laugh, and phone.
• Some symbols do not represent any sound (knight has three letters that do not represent sound - k, g, h).
• Some symbols and patterns are consistent and reliable, making phonics or word recognition skills easier to develop.
• The 26 letters of the alphabet can be divided into two major categories: vowels and consonants.

Consonants

General Information

• The most reliable of the 26 letters of the alphabet are the consonants.
• Certain letters can function as either vowels or consonants (w and y).
• For the most part, there are 21 consonants, excluding the vowel sounds - a, e, i, o, and u.
• Out of the 44 phonemes, 25 are consonant phonemes.
• There are seven additional phonemes gained through the use of two-letter combinations called digraphs (di meaning two and graph referring to writing). Example - ch for change (neither sound is pronounced).
• Each phoneme will have one key symbol.
• The key symbol will designate the initial sound for most consonants since they can be considered reliable.
• The initial sound in the word bomb is the key symbol /b/. The final b is a silent letter.
• The 25 consonant phonemes can be divided into two major groups:
  • Eighteen consonant phonemes identified by key symbols composed of single letters
  • Seven consonant phonemes identified by key symbols composed of two-letter combinations.

Single Letter Consonants - The Key Words

• The three unnecessary letters are c, q, and x. As single letters they do not represent distinctive phonemes.
• Key Words for single letter consonants without the three unnecessary letters (c, q, and x) are:
  1. b - bat
  2. d - doll
  3. f - far
  4. g - goat (ghost)
  5. h - he
  6. j - jam (geology, gentle)
  7. k - kid (cute, cold)
  8. l - let
  9. m - man
  10. n - not
  11. p - pan
  12. r - run
  13. s - sat (city)
  14. t - tan
  15. v - van
  16. w - we
  17. y - yes
  18. z - zoo

m, q, r, and v - The Extremely Reliable Consonants

• Four of the 21 consonant letters are extremely reliable - m, q, r, and v.
• A q is an unnecessary letter, but it is dependable because it is always associated with the key symbol /k/.
• The que combination at the end of a word is represented by the key symbol k, with the u and the e being silent (opaque, antique, plaque).
• The letter q is almost always followed by the the letter u.
• In some words beginning with a q and followed by a u, the u is silent (quay = key, queue = cue).
• More often, when the u follows a q, the u becomes the consonant associated with the key symbol w (queen, quill, quilt, equal, quiet).

b, h, k, l, and p - The Dependable Consonants

• The b, h, k, l, and p are very dependable expect for the times when they represent no phonemes.
• The b, h, k, l, and p are sometimes silent (lamb, rhetoric, knit, yolk, and psalm).
• Most consonant phonemes cannot be produced in isolation. Usually, part of the vowel sound will be added (b, buh).
• Two like consonants appearing together in a word generally represent one phoneme (common, purr, tall, rubber).
• When b follows m or precedes t in the same syllable, the b is usually silent.
  • The b is silent when it follows an m in the same syllable (bomb, lamb, climb).
  • The b is not silent in limber because it is not in the same syllable as the m (limber).
  • The b is silent when it is followed by a t in the same syllable (debt, doubt).
• As a single letter grapheme, the letter h is reliable, even though it is often silent. We do not know if the h will be silent or represent the initial sound heard in he.
  • The letter h is silent when it follows the consonants k ( as in khaki), g (as in ghost), or r (as in rhetoric).
  • The letter h is silent when it follows a vowel (as in hurrah).
  • Sometimes h is silent at the beginning of a word, (as in hour).
  • H is also a part of several digraphs (gh, sh, ph, ch, and wh) as in enough, hush, phrase, change or whether.
• K is very dependable in words such as the key word, kid. The k is silent at the beginning of a word or syllable when followed by n.
• The consonant l is a very reliable letter as in (let), even though it may often be silent.
  • Two like-consonants appearing together in a word generally represent one phoneme (llama, knoll, taller)
  • The letter l is sometimes silent when followed in the same syllable by m, k, or d (folk, would, chalk).
  • However, this is not always the case (milk, bold).
• The consonant p uses the key symbol at the beginning of pan or the end of grasp.
  • The single consonant p is very reliable.
  • The two-letter grapheme ph is represented by the key symbol f (physics).
  • Sometimes the p is silent as in supple or dripped.
  • When the p is followed by s, t, or n at the beginning of a word, the p is usually silent (psychology, pneumatic).

d, f, j, n, z - Generally Reliable Consonants

• Each of the five consonants, d, f, j, n, and z has some irregularities.
• The f is generally a reliable letter except in the following:
  • The f can be silent (effect, off).
  • The f can have the sound of the /v/ (of).
  • There are other letter combinations that use the f sound (enough, phonics).
  • The gh digraph can be silent (knight, bough, slaughter).
  • The gh digraph is usually silent when followed by a t.
  • The gh digraph represents the /f/ sound when it appears after the vowel in a syllable.
• The j is generally reliable, using the sound of its key word, jam.
  • One exception is illustrated by the word "hallelujah" which has a /y/ sound.
  • The use of the letter combination, dg, can have the same sound as /j/ (judge, knowledge, edge).
• The d is fairly reliable (doll, did, do, led).
  • The d may be silent (ladder, sudden).
  • The d may use the sound of /t/(slipped, hoped, kissed, missed).
  • A final d may have the same sound as the key symbol (screamed, called, served).
  • When the suffix ed forms a separate syllable, the sound is that of the key word (seated, wanted, needed). In general, if the suffix ed is preceded by a t, it forms a separate syllable (sanded, folded).
  • When the suffix ed is not a separate syllable, the d may be /d/ or /t/.
  • The d or the dg combination may use the /j/ sound (soldier, ledger).
• The n sound is generally represented by the key word not.
  • The n can be silent (running).
  • The n can be silent when following an m (hymn, solemn).
  • One major exception is the ng digraph (sing, bring, finger, kangaroo, lingo)
  • The ng does not necessarily have to appear as a digraph (ungrateful, conglomerate).
  • A single n may be an /ng/ digraph in words like think, banker, and tank.
  • The grapheme n sometimes represent the phoneme associated with the key symbol n, as in ran, and sometimes with the digraph ng, as in bank.
• The z sound is generally reliable, represented by the key word zoo.
  • The z may be silent (jazz).
  • The z may be represented by the /s/ sound as in (quartz) and the zh as in azure.
• The consonant may represent a phoneme other than that of its key symbol (of, missed, bank, waltz, azure).
• The key symbol may be represented by a different letter or digraph (phone, rough, fudge).

c, g, w, y - The Unreliable Consonants

• The four consonants c, g (goat), w (we), and y (yes) are very irregular.
• The hard sound for g is represented by the key word (goat) and others (glass, ghost, regal).
  • The letter g may often be represented by the soft phoneme /j/ (general, ginger).
  • The letter g usually represents the sound j when followed by the vowels e, i, and y (gem, giant, gym).
  • The word get is an exception to the rule.
  • The g may be silent (gnat).
  • The letter g can be a part of a digraph (enough, sing).
  • The letter g usually represent the sound we associate with the key symbol g when it is followed by the vowels a, o and u (gate, gone, gun).
  • The g usually represents the hard sound /g/ when it appears at the end of a word (egg).
• The c has no phoneme or key word and is very irregular. The c has no distinctive key symbol.
  • The c represents two other phonemes, the /k/ (coat, cue, comic) and the /s/ (city, mice, recite).
  • The letter c usually represents the sound we associate with the k when it is followed by a, o, and u (cane, cold, cue).
  • The letter c usually represents the sound we associate with the s when it is followed by e, i, and y (cell, mice, cymbal).
  • The c and g have some similarities. The consonants c and g represent their hard sound when followed by a, o, and u. They represent their soft sounds when followed by e, i, and y.
  • When other letters follow the c and the g, the sound is hard (regret, crazy, gleam, climb)
  • When c or g are the last letter in a word, the sound is hard (big, comic).
  • The following words do not follow the generalization (cello, girl, giffy, give).
  • The letter c can be silent, particularly in words with s followed by a c (science, school, scene). In words with ck, the c is usually silent (pluck, black, back).
  • The digraph ch demonstrates the fact that we cannot get along without the c, even though it is considered unnecessary as a single letter (church, chair, chin).
  • When two like-consonants appear together in a word, usually only one is sounded. This does not apply to c. In the words success, accent, and accident, the first c uses the /k/ sound and the second uses the /s/ sound.
• The letter y is very unreliable.
  • The y may be represented by the key word yes, particularly when the y is at the beginning of the word (young, yet). The y at the beginning of a word is a consonant.
  • The y within or at the end of a syllable has a vowel sound (sky, sadly, play).
• The letter w is very unreliable. Like the y, the w serves as a vowel as well as a consonant.
  • The letter w, as a consonant, always appears before the vowel in a syllable (went, always, away).
  • The letter w, as a vowel, always follows another vowel (snow).
  • The phoneme represented by w may be part of a blend of two consonants (dwarf).
  • The grapheme u, when following q, often represents the consonant phoneme we associate with the key symbol w (quilt, queen).
  • The w is silent before r (write, wring).
  • The w appears to be part of the digraph wh but is actually silent (who).
  • The phoneme w is used in words which to not contain the grapheme w (one or once).
  • The consonant w may be silent, but the consonant y is never silent.

s, t, x - More Unreliable Consonants

• The three consonants s, t, and x are unreliable.
• Key Symbols include s for sat and t for tan.
• They is no key symbol for x because it has no distinctive sound of its own.
  • The letter x represents the sounds we associate with ks (fox, exam) or gz (exact, exit).
  • The letter x at the beginning of a word is associated with the sound z (xylophone).
  • The letter x could be omitted from our alphabet by using the letters gx, ks, or z (as in extreme, example, box, exist).
• The phonemes, c, q, and x need no key symbols.
• The letter q could be substituted with k.
• The letter x could be substituted by gz, ks, and z.
• The letter c could be substituted by s or k, although it is used in the digraph ch.
• The letter s is represented by the key word sat, but it is not reliable.
  • The grapheme s is usually used to represent the key word sat (soap, ask, moss)
  • It often represents the phonemes we associate with z, sh, and zh (rose, sure, measure).
• The letter t as a single consonant is fairly reliable.
  • The letter t is also used as a digraph in which the t is not heard (this, think, with, rather).
  • There are exceptions with such words as Thomas or thyme, in which the t is silent.
  • The letter t often loses the t phoneme when combined with other letters.
  • The letter t can sound like /sh/ (motion, convention, election).
  • The letter t can sound like /ch/ (righteous, question, future).
  • The letter t can be silent (bouquet, beret, debut, ballet).
  • When t follows f or s, the t is sometimes silent (often, soften, listen, fasten).
  • The t is silent in the tch combinations (match, watch, hatch, catch).

Consonant Digraphs

Keywords

Seven Phonemes Represented by Digraphs (Two-Letter Combinations)

• ch - chair
• sh - ship
• th - thin (voiceless phoneme - th)
• th - that (voiced phoneme)
• wh - why
• zh - pleasure
• ng - sing

The consonant digraphs ph and gh are not included because they are represented by the key symbol f.

ch, sh, zh - Consonant Digraphs

• The phoneme ch (chair) is not represented by a single letter in the alphabet, so it must use a two-letter combination. The phoneme can be any of the following sounds:
  • /ch/ - chalk, churn, chair
  • /k/ - character, chord, chaos
  • /sh/ - chiffon, machine, chute
• The phoneme sh (ship) is not represented by a single letter in the alphabet, so it must use a two-letter combination. The phoneme we represent by sh has a variety of graphemes: The phoneme /sh/ is heard in the graphemes:
  • s (sure)
  • ti (motion)
  • ci (special)
  • ch (machine).
• The digraph zh never appears in a word. The digraph zh is the key symbol representing the phonemes heard in the following graphemes:
  • s (pleasure,vision)
  • g (sabotage)
  • z (azure)
  • tch (pitch

th, th, wh - Consonant Digraphs

• The first th phoneme in thin is a whispered sound, called voiceless (thistle, thought, thumb, thank, through, length, both).
• The first th phoneme in that is called voiced because we use our vocal cords to make a sound preceding the word (together, their, the).
• Sometimes the th phoneme is represented by the sound t as in Thomas.
• The key symbol wh actually sounds more like hw (whom, while, what, where, whistle, white).
• The trend in our language is to pronounce the wh exactly as the single consonant w (whether or weather).
• The wh, like the w, appears at the beginning of the word or syllable and is followed by a vowel.

ng - Consonant Digraph

• The phoneme /ng/ is never heard at the beginning of a syllable. It always follows the vowel (bang, clung, bringing, ping).
• The single consonant n generally represents ng when followed by g or k (linger, mango, pink, rank, sink).
• The combination of n and g is most commonly a digraph. However, they may represent two separate phonemes (fringe, ungrateful).

Consonant Clusters and Blends

Consonant Clusters

A digraph is a two-letter grapheme which represents one speech sound. A consonant cluster is composed of two or more consonants which blend together when sounded to form a consonant blend. The phonemes in the blend retain their individual identity. The letters do not form a digraph. A cluster is distinguished from a digraph by the fact that it represents two or more phonemes blended together. The digraph represents a single sound. Clusters may appear at the beginning of a word or syllable or at the end.

• bl - black
• cl - clown
• fl - flying
• dr - draft and ft
• sk - desk
• fr - fry
• spr - spray
• spl - splash
• tr - tree
• tw - twin
• gr - great
• sl - slow
• pr - pretty
• gr - grasp
• sp - grasp
• st - rest
• str - straits
• ngth - strength (2 clusters)
• nd - bland
• thr - thread

Common Blenders

• r in brown, strait, great
• l in flame, claim,, splinter
• s in skate, snow, street

w and qu

• The combination of qu is a consonant cluster even though the u is a vowel. The u in this case takes the sound of the consonant w. This combination is a /kw/ blend (equal, quart, queen, quick).

Consonant Digraphs as Part of A Cluster

• thr - th is the digraph and thr is the cluster (through).
• shr - sh is the digraph and shr is the cluster (shriek).
• chr - ch is the digraph and chr is the cluster (chronicle).
• phr - ph is the digraph and phr is the cluster (phrase).

Comparing Blends and Digraphs

From Phonics for the Teacher of Reading by Marion A. Hull, Merrill Publishing Company, 1989