The 44 Sounds (Phonemes) of English - Reading Rockets

[Pages:4]For More Information on Phonemes Visit the Dyslexia Reading Well. dyslexia-reading-

The 44 Sounds (Phonemes) of English

A phoneme is a speech sound. It's the smallest unit of sound that distinguishes one word from another. Since sounds cannot be written, we use letters to represent or stand for the sounds. A grapheme is the written representation (a letter or cluster of letters) of one sound. It is generally agreed that there are approximately 44 sounds in English, with some variation dependent on accent and articulation. The 44 English phonemes are represented by the 26 letters of the alphabet individually and in combination.

Phonics instruction involves teaching the relationship between sounds and the letters used to represent them. There are hundreds of spelling alternatives that can be used to represent the 44 English phonemes. Only the most common sound / letter relationships need to be taught explicitly.

The 44 English sounds can be divided into two major categories ? consonants and vowels. A consonant sound is one in which the air flow is cut off, either partially or completely, when the sound is produced. In contrast, a vowel sound is one in which the air flow is unobstructed when the sound is made. The vowel sounds are the music, or movement, of our language. The 44 phonemes represented below are in line with the International Phonetic Alphabet.

Consonants

Sound /b/ /d/ /f/ /g/ /h/ /j/

Common spelling

b ball

d dog

f fan g grapes

h hat

j jellyfish

/k/

k

kite

/l/

l

leaf

/m/

m

monkey

/n/

n

nest

/ng/

ng

ring

Spelling alternatives

bb ribbon

dd add

ff cliff gg egg

wh who

ge cage

c cat

q(u) queen

ll spell

mm summer

nn funny

n sink

ed filled ph phone gh ghost

g giraffe

ch christmas

ck back

mb climb

kn knight

ngue tongue

gh laugh

gu guest

dge edge

cc acclaim

X box

mn autumn

gn gnat

lf calf gue catalogue

ft often

di soldier

lk folk

gg exaggerat

e qu bouquet

lm palm

pn pneumonia

?DSF Literacy Resources ? This document may be reproduced for educational purposes

/p/

p

pig

/r/

r

robot

/s/

s

sun

/t/

t

tap

/v/

v

van

/w/

w

web

/y/

y

yo-yo

/z/

z

zebra

Digraphs Sound /zh/

/ch/ /sh/

Common spelling

s treasure

ch cheese

sh shark

/th/

th

(unvoiced) thongs

/th/ (voiced)

th feather

pp happy

rr carrot

ss mess

ce rice tt batter

f of wh why

i opinion

zz buzz

se cheese

wr wrong

c circus

se horse

th thomas

ph stephen

u quick

j hallelujah

s has

rh rhyme

sc science

ed tapped

ve five o choir

ss scissors

ps psychology

x xylophone

st listen

ze maze

Spelling alternatives

si division

tch watch

ce ocean

sci conscience

z azure

tu future

s sure

ti station

ti question

ci special

te righteous

si tension

ch machine

?DSF Literacy Resources ? This document may be reproduced for educational purposes

Short vowels

Sound /a/

Common spelling a cat

/e/

e

egg

/i/

i

igloo

/o/

o

orange

/u/

u

mug

/oo/

oo

book

Long vowels

//

ai

snail

//

ee

bee

/ /

i

spider

//

oa

boat

/?/

oo

moon

/y//?/ u (2 sounds) uniform

ai plaid

ea bread

eo leopard

e england ie sieve a swan

o monkey

u bush

Spelling alternatives

u bury

ei heifer

o women

ie friend

ae aesthetic

u busy

ai said

ay say

ui build

ho honest

oo flood

ou trouble

ou

o

could wolf

a baby ei vein e me ie brief y fly

ai aisle

o-e bone

eau beau

ew screw ui fruit you you eau beauty

eigh weigh au gauge ea seat i ski igh night

is island

o open

oo brooch

ue blue o who ew few ieu adieu

aigh straight a-e cake y lady ei receive ie pie

eigh height

oe toe

ew sew

u-e flute oeu manoeuvre iew view eu feud

ay hay ea break ey key eo people uy buy

i-e kite

ow low

oe shoe ou croup yu yule

?DSF Literacy Resources ? This document may be reproduced for educational purposes

a many

y hymn

et croquet ey they oe phoenix ay quay ye rye

ough though

ough through

eue queue

/oi/

oi

coin

/ow/

ow

cow

//

(Schwa sound)

er ladder

R' controlled vowels

/?/

air

chair

/?/

ar

car

/?/

ir

bird

/?/

aw

paw

//

ear

ear

/?/

ure

cure

oy boy ou shout

ar dollar u cactus

uoy buoy

ough bough

our honour

ur augur

or doctor

re centre

i dolphin

eur chauffeur

e ticket

are square

a bath er term yr myrtle a ball

our four

eer steer

our tourist

ear pear

au laugh ur burn

ere where

er sergeant ear pearl

or fork

augh taught

ere here

oor door

ar war

ier pier

eir their

ear heart or word

ore more

ough bought

ayer prayer

our journey

oar board au sauce

Tricky Graphemes

There are some letters that are used to write down sounds already represented by other graphemes. For example we use the letter c to represent the /k/ sound (already represented by the grapheme `k') and the /s/ sound (already represented by the grapheme `s').

Letter c /k/ as in cat, cot, cup

/s/ as in city, cycle, cents

x /k//s/ as in box, fox, fix /g//z/ as in example, exam /z/ as in xylophone

q(u)* /k//w/ as in queen

/k/ as in bouquet, marquis, cheque

* the q is always paired with the letter u.

For More Information on Phonemes Visit the Dyslexia Reading Well. dyslexia-reading-

?DSF Literacy Resources ? This document may be reproduced for educational purposes

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download