Phonics Terms

Phonetics

The study of human speech sounds

Phonics

Teaching letter-sound correspondence and phonemic awareness--this instructional process of teaching and learning

Grapheme

A letter or combination of letters that represent a phoneme/sound
Examples:
/b/ represents b in bat
/f/ represents ph in phone
The same phoneme may represent numerous graphemes, such as, /f/ --> "phone," "cough", "finger

Phoneme

-The smallest unit of sound
-44 phonemes in the English language (single letters, double letters, vowels)
-Varies based on dialects or parts of the world
// marks are used to distinguish a sound, not a letter; e.g. /s/ portrays the sound that the letter s

Phoneme vs. Grapheme

Phoneme: smallest unit of sound in a spoken word
Grapheme: smallest unit of sound in a written word

Phonemic Awareness

-Ability to recognize spoken words as a sequence of individual sounds--this does not require any visual abilities, but it is all auditory
-Important to differentiate sounds that make up a word and apply this knowledge relating to the written format
*Full

Consonant

-made by closing or restricting the breath channel
-any sounds but a, e, i, o, u, w, y

Consonant blend

A one-syllable sound representing two letters, where both letters keep their identities while blended together. This is not ONE phoneme.
ONE BLEND=TWO (or more) PHONEMES
Examples: /bl/ /tr/ /gr/ /st/

Vowel

-sounds made without restricting the breath
-represented by a, e, i, o, u and sometimes y and w

Voicing

Pronouncing letter to hear characteristic of sound--helps beginning readers to hear distinctions between sounds
Speech sounds are categorized by where they are pronounced in the vocal system: tongue, palate, uvula, and teeth all are influencers

Diacritical Marks

Speech sounds are coded to represent the place of articulation within the vocal system
Marks show one how to pronounce an unknown word

Diphthong

A single vowel sound made up of a glide from one vowel sound to another but makes up one syllable only
e.g. /oi/ as in coin or oil

R-controlled Vowel

When a vowel letter is followed by an 'r' it affects the vowel that it does not make the long or short sound
e.g. "her" becomes a /u/ sounds

Schwa sound

/uh/
-an unstressed sound occurring in unstressed syllables
-the most common sound in English
-Examples: "a" in "about, "u" in circus", "o" in "occur", "i" in "pencil

Diagraph

Two letters that stand for a single phoneme; two letters=one sound
Examples:
/sh/ /ch/ /th//ea/ /oi/ /ng/
May be two vowels or two consonants

Onset vs. Rime

Onset: consonant sound that comes BEFORE the vowel sound in a syllable. If the word begins with a vowel it does not have an onset.
Rime: part of a syllable that includes the VOWEL and any consonant that comes after
Examples:
"mat"--> onset: /m/ rime: /at/

Phonogram

A letter sequence that is made up of a vowel grapheme and an ending consonant
Also known as word families
Examples: -ig
wig, pig, dig, big

Syllable

A unit of pronunciation with a single vowel or with a vowel + consonant
Can only be one vowel in each syllable
Syllable=the basic unit of pronunciation in English

Closed Syllable vs. Open Syllable

Closed: any syllable that ends in a consonant sound, e.g. "love"=/v/, "bat"=/t/
Open: any syllable that ends in a vowel sound, e.g. "may"=/ay/, "boy"=/oi/, "amanda"=/uh/

Breve

Symbol placed over vowel that shows SHORT VOWEL pronunciation

Circumflex

Symbol placed over vowel to indicate pronunciation (pitch, tone)

Macron

Symbol placed over vowel to indicate LONG VOWEL sound

Umlaut

Symbol placed above vowel to indicate pronunciation (fronting, rounding)

Morpheme

The smallest unit of MEANING
Bound morphemes: units of sound that need to be attached to another unit in order to have meaning. For example, adding "s" changes the meaning of a word so it serves as a morpheme, but it does not mean anything when it stands

Percent of Utility

How much a generalization actually gets applied to a vowel or consonant in the language

Inductive vs. Deductive Phonics Instruction

Deductive: begin teaching a generalization and applying to specific words
Inductive: Begin with specifics and move toward generalizations

The Letter S

Two phonemes:
/s/ sound as in "sand" (soft sound)
/z/ sound as in "is" (hard sound)

The Letter G

Two phonemes:
/g/ sound as in "goose" (hard sound)
/j/ sound as in "giraffe" (soft sound)

The Letter C

Two phonemes:
/s/ sound as in "cereal" (soft sound)
/k/ sound as in "cake" (hard sound)

The Letter X

Three phonemes:
/ks/ as in "box"
/z/ sound as in "xylophone"
/g//z/ sound as in "anxiety

Phonological Awareness vs. Phonemic Awareness

Phonological Awareness: the broad skill involving ability to manipulate speech including units, syllables, onsets, rimes, rhyming
Phonemic Awareness: the specific skill in manipulating phonemes, the smallest unit of sounds, inside of words

# of Phonemes

44 phonemes
19 vowel phonemes + 25 consonant phonemes

Prephonic

-Refers to writing before Emergent stage
-Scribbles, mock-writing, symbols to represent writing
-No connection to letters or units of meaning

Voiced

A sound that, when produced, makes the vocal cords vibrate.
Ex: D

Unvoiced

A sound that, when produced, does not make the goal cords vibrate.
Ex: T

Semiphonetic

A student who has partial phonemic awareness--usually can hear the beginning and ending sounds, but omits the medial vowel. Seen during the end of the emergent stage/early letter/name.

Plreconsonantal Nasals

Nasals that occur before consonants, as in the words bump or sink. The vowel is nasalized as part of the air escapes through the nose during pronunciation.
Seen in the Within Word Patterns stage.

Ambiguous Vowels

A vowel sound represented by a variety of different spelling patterns, or vowel patterns that represent a wide range of sounds.

Homophones

Words that SOUND alike, are spelled differently, and have different meanings. (e.g. bear and bare, forth and fourth)

Homographs

Words that are SPELLED the same, but have different meanings and sometimes different sounds. (e.g. bow, bass)

Inflectional Endings

Suffixes that change the verb tense (walks, walked, walking) or numbers (dogs, boxes) of a word.
Seen in the Syllables and Affixes stage.

Syllable Juncture

The transition from one syllable to the next. Sometimes this transition involves a spelling change such as consonant doubling or dropping the final -e before adding ing.

Morphology

The study of word parts related to syntax and meaning.

Reduced Vowel

A vowel occurring in an unstressed syllable.

Absorbed Prefixes

Prefixes in which the spelling and sound of the consonant has been absorbed into the spelling and sound at the beginning of the base or root to which the prefix is affixed (e.g., ad + tract = attract).

Synchrony

Occurring at the same time--stages of spelling development are described in the context of reading and writing behaviors occurring at the same time.

PreAlphabetic Stage

First stage of word recognition. Using non alphabetic symbols to identify words, such as identifying print, spaces between words, word length.

Partial alphabetic Phase

Second phase of word recognition.
Children use partial clues, primarily initial consonants to identify words. Also known as selective cue stage.

Full Alphabetic Phase

Third phase of word recognition.
Readers are able to sound out words using letter-sound correspondences or phonics they know.

Consolidated Alphabetic Phase

Fourth phase of word recognition.
Readers use patterns and word parts to figure out unknown words.

Concept of Word-Rudimentary

Still get off track w/ 2 syllable words, struggle to find a word in text when asked (early letter name stage)

Concept of Word-Full

Can accurately finger point read and can quickly correct self when off track or wrong; can almost immediately find words in text when asked; these students ready to study different vowel families (CVC) and sight words