Chapter 1: Structure of English

1. Chapter 1: Structure of English Teaching Reading Sourcebook 2nd edition

2. Phonemes • The English alphabet has 26 letters used singularly or in combination to represent 42-44 sounds or phonemes. (Linguists disagree on the actual number of phonemes.) • A phoneme is the smallest unit of spoken language that makes a difference in a word’s meaning. (For example, the phonemes /p/ and /s/ are different. Changing the /p/ in pit to the /s/ in sit changes the meaning of the word.)

3. Consonant Phonemes • There are about 25 consonant phonemes. • Of the total, 18 are represented by a single letter. • Seven phonemes such as /sh//ch/ are represented by two letters. • C,Q, and X do not have a unique phoneme assigned to them. The sounds they represent are more commonly represented by other letters and spellings such as the sounds /k/ or /s/ for the letter c, the sounds /kw/ for the letters qu, and the sounds /ks/ for the letter x.

4. Consonant Phonemes • To produce a consonant sound, vocal airflow is partially or completely obstructed as it moves through the mouth. • Phonemes produced for several seconds without distortion are continuous sounds. • Phonemes that can be produced for only an instant are stop sounds. • Phonemes are classified by the place of articulation (lips, teeth, throat, etc.),manner of articulation (stops: /b/, /d/, etc. nasals: /m/, /n/, etc.), and whether they are voiced or unvoiced (this, think). See the Consonant Phoneme Articulation chart on page 25.

5. Vowel Phonemes • American English has 15 vowel phonemes plus at least three r-controlled vowel combinations. • The five vowel letters a, e, i, o, uare used singularly or in combinations to represent different sounds. • Vowels are classified according to the place of articulation (tongue position and lip position). • Pronunciation of vowels may vary according to regional and dialect differences. See the Vowel Phonemes chart on page 27.

6. Sound/Spellings • Letters or graphemes are written representations of sounds or phonemes. • Phoneme/grapheme pairings are referred to as sound/spellings. • In English, phonics elements and generalizations can be used to categorize the common sound/spellings which are used to form words. • It is the multiple spelling representations for the same sound that students find challenging. (e.g. the long-e sound: be, sea, see, baby). See the Phonic Elements (Sound/Spelling Categories) chart on page 29.

7. Syllables • A syllable is a word or part of a word pronounced as a unit; each syllable contains only one vowel sound. • There are six common types of syllables found within English words. • There are four useful principles of syllable division. See the Syllable Division, Syllable Type, and Most Common Syllables charts on pages 36 & 37.

8. Onset-Rime • A syllable has two parts: onset and rime. • The onset is the part of the syllable that comes before the vowel; it may be a consonant, consonant blend, or digraph. • The rime is the vowel and everything after it. • In the one syllable words sing, bring, and thing, the rime is ing; the onsets are s, br, and th. • Not all syllables have onsets: it, out, eat.

9. Morphemes • Morphemes are meaningful parts of words. • A morpheme may be one syllable (pig) or more than one syllable (elephant). • The majority of English morphemes come from Greek, Latin, or Anglo Saxon. • The two basic types of morphemes are free and bound.