Questions tagged [phonics]

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Why does 'we' have one 'e' while 'see' has two?

I am wondering why the words me and we have one 'e', even though the word see has two.
Amy's user avatar
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1 answer
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Why is the sound 'air' in words like 'chair', 'pear' and 'where' considered a phoneme? Should it not be considered a blend of the sound? [closed]

We know that phonemes are the smallest unit of sound in speech, and that in the IPA, each character represents only one sound. Wouldn't 'air' be considered two sounds - the combination of the sound /...
Lee Zhiyuan's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
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/ʃ/ or /s/ with the termination -ciate? Both realizations occur, but when?

I have noticed that among the several words that have the termination -ciate (or derivatives of these) sometimes the pronunciation of the 'c' is /ʃ/ and sometimes /s/. That is, sometimes ...
Damaru's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
276 views

Pronunciation of seer. Is the CMU dictionary wrong

I was looking at how "eer" is usually pronounced and I used the CMU pronouncing dictionary (American accent). I saw that most of the time (around 95%) "ee" before "r" is ...
Damaru's user avatar
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1 answer
153 views

Why is the word "phonics" pronounced /ˈfɑnɪks/ instead of /ˈfoʊnɪks/?

Is there any etymological reason for this? Normally, an o in a stressed syllable followed by /n/ and a vowel would be pronounced /oʊ/. And phoneme is pronounced /ˈfoʊnim/. Why does the pronunciation ...
Damaru's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
461 views

How many speech sounds (phonemes) are there in English? [closed]

Is the following statement correct especially the section about there being 44 individual speech sounds as I'm thinking there's actually a lot more sounds than that? "English words are produced ...
user334473's user avatar
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351 views

In words like able, or candle does the l function as a vowel and the e function as a consonant?

I was recently told as part of my THRASS (phonics program for primary schools) training that in words ending in -le such as able, crumple, candle etc that the letter l functions as a vowel with the ...
user334473's user avatar
1 vote
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The inconsistent long i sound in English [duplicate]

As a phonics teacher, I have long had a problem with finding the right explanation to my students about an inconsistent sound. Hope someone has the explanation to it here. The long i sound in ...
Frankibutter's user avatar
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331 views

when talking about phonics, is this use of the word "sound" correct?

Sound is a verb, so you can say "the computer sounds the noise" But can you say, "the letter K sounds kuh" and "what does the letter K sound?" I understand you can say "what does K sound like, what ...
user3263212's user avatar
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1 answer
717 views

Influence of inflections on Phonics Rules and Syllables Types

I'm doing a small research on English phonics rules and I'm trying to clarify the influence of inflections in word forms. It's best to explain my problem with some examples. The letter 'a' in the ...
Irina's user avatar
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Pronunciation and transcription of the vowel in "fear", "dear", "near" etc

I wonder, words like fear, dear, near and so on have long e in pronunciation, and it should be transcribed as /i:/, but I've found it transcribed as short /ɪ/. Why is that?
Yoo's user avatar
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2 votes
3 answers
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What are "Exception sounds"? [closed]

I'm embarrassed to say I don't understand this 2nd grade homework. Can someone help me understand the concept behind exception sounds? Do the "Sentence Marking" Activity Have your child read ...
user1154644's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
7k views

Four letters - one sound!

Whilst teaching phonics today, we encountered the word 'through' and I was asked 'What is it called when four letters make one sound'? It's a fair question and I haven't a clue! None of the phonic ...
Annette Miles's user avatar
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1 answer
2k views

Phonics, the letter "I" and its rules

Logo/Linguaphiles, I am in need of your guidance. What were you taught when it came to phonics of words that start with the letter "I"? When is a short/long "I" sound used and what are the rules ...
irosh's user avatar
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1 answer
917 views

'r' sound before 'th' sound

I'm learning British English. The r is usually dropped, so I never noticed a little thing, most of the time when I use an r before the th sound, my tongue does a kind of a tap or something between r ...
Apprentice's user avatar
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1 answer
3k views

Origin of oe pronounced as /i/?

/i/ is usually pronounced in English with the vowels: e, ee, ea, ei, ie, and y. What is the origin of the pronunciation of words such as amoeba, phoenix or onomatopoeia? I got curious about this ...
jdphenix's user avatar
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5 votes
3 answers
4k views

Is there a word for the inability to hear a distinction between certain vowel sounds?

I cannot hear the distinction between certain sets of vowel sounds. Normally the words in each of these sets (and of several others) all sound identical to me: Don, Dawn; marry, merry, Mary; ah, awe; ...
Joan Pederson's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
2k views

How to teach a child using phonics in a different accent?

This is one of two questions regarding teaching my child to read using phonics. The other related question is: How to teach the difference between "go" and "got" using phonics? I am a parent of a ...
Nicholas's user avatar
  • 179
4 votes
2 answers
610 views

How to teach my child the difference between "got" and "go" using phonics?

This is one of two questions regarding teaching my child to read using phonics. The other question is: How to teach a child using phonics in a different accent? I am a parent of a four year old boy ...
Nicholas's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
306 views

Should one use 'a' or 'an' when the following word is in parentheses? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: “a/an” preceding a parenthetical statement This question is a little hard to summarize in the title. I sometimes like to use parentheses to add additional (but ...
Alain's user avatar
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9 votes
2 answers
1k views

Is it common to teach kids about the jumping letters?

When I was a kid I remember distinctly this lesson on how to pronounce a word. If there is only one consonant between two vowels like in the word "make" then the e jumps over the k and the a yells its ...
tooshel's user avatar
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