Consonants and Consonant Patterns
Two letters that make one sound. 'sh' in 'ship'
Digraph
a speech sound produced without blocking the breath (a, e, i, o, u)
Vowel
The process of combining sounds to form words.
Blending
When two sounds are produced together in speech, influencing each other.
coarticulation
a "c" pronounced as /k/, like in *cat*.
Hard C
a unit of pronunciation that includes a vowel sound
Syllable
A basic speech sound in which the breath is at least partly obstructed.
Consonant
an unstressed, neutral vowel sound, the "a" in *sofa*
Shwa
The smallest unit of sound in a language.
Phoneme
words that are spelled the same but have different meanings or pronunciations, *lead*
homograph
a "g" pronounced as /g/, like in *go*
hard g
’e’ at the end of a word that often makes the vowel sound long (e.g. cake)
silent ’e’
a sound produced by a stop followed by a fricative. 'ch' in 'chip'
Affricate
a vowel sound that is not clearly long or short, 'ou' in 'could'
Ambiguous Vowel
The initial consonant or consonant cluster of a syllable, "b" in *bat*
Onset
words that sound the same but have different meanings and spellings, *to*, *too*, *two*
homophone
a "c" pronounced as /s/, like in *city
soft c
The process of breaking words into syllables
Syllable division
Two or more consonants together where each sound is heard. 'bl' in 'blue'
Consonant Blends
A complex vowel sound that begins with one vowel and glides into another, 'oy' in 'boy'
Diphthong
The ability to recognize and manipulate individual phonemes in spoken words.
Phonemic Awareness
A sound occurring in the middle of a word, the "n" in *banana*
medial sound
a "g" pronounced as /j/, like in *giraffe*
The emphasis placed on a particular syllable in a word
Syllable stress
Consonant-Vowel-Consonant Pattern (CVC)
a vowel that is pronounced the same as its name, "a" in *cake*
Long Vowel
A letter or combination of letters that represent a sound, "igh" in *high*
Phonogram
The omission of a sound or syllable in speech, "I'm" from "I am"
Elision
when the pronunciation of a vowel changes in related words (e.g., "divine" to "divinity")
breaking words into individual sounds or phonemes (e.g., breaking *cat* into /k/ /a/ /t/)
Segmentation
Nasal sounds that occur before a consonant, the 'n' in 'bank'.
Preconsonantal Nasals
a vowel followed by "r" that changes its sound, "ar" in *car*
R-Controlled Vowel
The broader skill of recognizing and working with sounds in spoken language.
Phonological Awareness
The correspondence of sound between words or the endings of words.
Rhyme
rules governing changes in vowel sounds in related words.
vowel alteration conventions
rules or patterns governing which syllable is stressed in words
Syllable stress conventions
Three letters that together form one sound, 'tch' in 'match'
trigraph
Common patterns in which schwa appears in words.
Shwa Patterns
The use of phonological information to process language.
phonological processing
The part of a syllable that includes the vowel and any following consonants, "at" in *cat*
Rime
a pattern where a vowel is followed by a consonant and silent "e" (e.g., *cake*)
vowel-consonant-e pattern