Typical Typical Synthetic Phonics programme •
learning letter sounds (as distinct from the letter names); For example, mmm not em, sss not es, f not ef. The letter names can be taught later but should not be taught in the early stages.
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learn learning ing the !" sounds sounds and their their corre correspo spondi nding ng letter letters#l s#lett etter er groups; The English English Alphab Alphabet et Code Code $%ey$& !" phonemes 'ith their
common $sound pattern$ representations.* (This is based on the +rit +ritis ish h pron pronun unci ciat atio ion. n. The The numb number er and and mixt mixtur ure e of the the !" !" phonemes 'ill ary for other -nglish speaing countries such as /ustralia, 0anada and the 1.S./.)& Note& /lthough professionals in the 2eld of 3phonics3 distinguish a 3sound3 from its letter(s) in a speci2c fashion (e.g. the 34ee43 sound), for the purposes of this arti articl cle e 'e 'i 'ill ll use the meth method od empl employ oyed ed by some some o5 o5ci cial al publications (e.g. the 3#ee#3 sound) because it is easier for the lay 6*7* 7* person to read.6* Vowels:
#a# mat
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#ae# ae# ape ape, baby aby, rai rain, tray, they, eight
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#air# s8uare, bear
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#ar# 9ar, fast
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#e# peg, bread #ee# s'eet, me, beach, ey, pony
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#oa# oa, rope, bo', piano #oi# coin, boy #oo (short)# boo, 'ould, put #oo (long)# moon, cre', blue, fruit #o'# do'n, house #or# or# for, or, bal ball, sauc sauce, e, la',
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#eer# deer, ear
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#er# computer
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#u# plug, gloe
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#i# pig, 'anted
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#ur# burn, teacher, 'or,
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#ie# ite, 'ild, light, :y
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#o# orange, 'atch
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#ue# tube, unicorn, ne', statue #uh# button, hidden
Consonants:
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#b# boy, rabbit #c# ## cat, ey, duc, school, 8uit #ch# chip, 'atch #d# dog, ladder #f# 2sh, coee, photo, tough
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#g# gate, egg, ghost #h# 'hole
h a t,
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#9# 9et, giant, cage, bridge •
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#s# box
#l# #l# lip, lip, bell bell,, sample #m# man, hammer, comb #n# n ut , dinner, nee, gnat #ng# ring, singer #p# pan, happy #r# rat, cherry, 'rite #s# sun, dress, house, house, city, city, mice #sh# ship, mission, station, chef
learning to read 'ords using sound blending blending;;
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#t# ta p, letter, debt
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#th# thrush
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#th# that
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## et, sleee #'# 'et, 'heel, 8ueen #y# yes ## ip, 2, snee sneee e,, is, cheese #g# exist #h# treasure
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#ie# ite, 'ild, light, :y
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#o# orange, 'atch
2rst •
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#ue# tube, unicorn, ne', statue #uh# button, hidden
Consonants:
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#b# boy, rabbit #c# ## cat, ey, duc, school, 8uit #ch# chip, 'atch #d# dog, ladder #f# 2sh, coee, photo, tough
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#g# gate, egg, ghost #h# 'hole
h a t,
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#9# 9et, giant, cage, bridge •
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#s# box
#l# #l# lip, lip, bell bell,, sample #m# man, hammer, comb #n# n ut , dinner, nee, gnat #ng# ring, singer #p# pan, happy #r# rat, cherry, 'rite #s# sun, dress, house, house, city, city, mice #sh# ship, mission, station, chef
learning to read 'ords using sound blending blending;;
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#t# ta p, letter, debt
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#th# thrush
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#th# that
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## et, sleee #'# 'et, 'heel, 8ueen #y# yes ## ip, 2, snee sneee e,, is, cheese #g# exist #h# treasure
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reading stories featuring the 'ords the students hae learned to sound out; demonstration exercises to sho' they comprehend the stories;
Systematic Phonics Systematic Systematic Phonics Phonics is not one speci2c method of teaching phonics;
rather, it is a family of phonics instruction that includes the methods of both both Synthet Synthetic ic Phonics Phonics and /nalytical Phonics. Phonics . They are 3systematic3 because the letters, and the sounds they relate to, are taught in a speci2c se8uence;6* as opposed to incidentally or on a $'hen
n the 1nited %ingdom, the term syst system emat atic ic phon phonic icss is 3gene 3general rally ly unde underst rstoo ood d as synt synthe heti ticc phoni phonics cs33 6* according to the reading reie' 'hich 'as conducted in ?!!. ) Syst System emat atic ic Phon Phonic icss does does not inclu nclude de metho methods ds such such as embedded and phonics mini lessons 'hich are found in the Whole phonics an approach and and the Balan approach.. Lang La ngua uage ge approach Balanced ced Lite Literacy racy approach /nalytical phonics Analytical phonics practitioners do not teach children to pronounce
soun sounds ds 3in isol solati ation3 on3 as is the the prac practtice ice 'i 'ith th Synt Synthe heti ticc Phon Phonic ics. s. Furth urther ermo morre, cons conson onan antt blen blends ds (sep separat arate, e, ad9 ad9acen acentt cons conson onan antt phonemes) are taught as units (e.g., in the 'ord shrouds the shr 'ould be taught as a unit). Some analytical phonics programs (referred to as analogy phonics) teach children to brean the 'ord 3ship3, 3sh3 is the 3onset3 and 3ip3 is the 3rime3 (the part starting 'ith the o'el). >n other 'ords, analytical phonics teaches the child to say #sh# < #ip# (ship) and #sh# < #op# (shop), 'hereas synthetic phonics, teaches the child to say #sh# < #i# < #p# (ship) and #sh# < #o# < #p# (shop). >n analytical phonics, children are also taught to 2nd the similarities among 'ords (e.g. man, can, tan, fan, and ran). @hereas synthetic phonics deotes most of its time to learning the letter#sound relationships (i.e. grapheme#phoneme). Synthetic Phonics
Synth Synthet etic ic Phoni Phonics cs uses uses the the conc concept ept of $synt $synthe hesi sisi sing ng$, $, 'hic 'hich h means means $putting together$ or $blending$. Simply put, the sounds prompted by the letters are synthesised (put together or blended) to pronounce the 'ord. A*6* A* 6*
The Scottish -xecutie -ducation Bepartment ?!!C report,D* 'hich compared these approaches to phonics instruction noted that synthetic phonics has some of the follo'ing characteristics& •
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The sounds that the letters mae (e.g. 3sss3 not 3es3, and a nd 3mmm3 not 3em3) are taught before children begin to read boos. Eften, the sounds of the most commonly used letters (i.e. #s#, #a#, #t#, #i#, #p#, and #n#) are taught 2rst. Then, children are taught ho' these sounds can be 3blended3 together to form many three letter 'ords (e.g. sat, tin, pin, etc.). 0onsonant blends (e.g. bl, cl, dr, st, etc.) are not taught separately 0onsonant blends because they can be 3sounded out3. =o'eer, digraphs digraphs (i.e. (i.e. t'o letters that mae one sound such as #th# and #sh#), are taught as the separate separa te sounds that they are.
Common terminology
Some common terminology used 'ithin this article includes& •
alphabetic code (in synthetic phonics)& The relationship bet'een
sounds (phonemes) and the letter#s (graphemes) that represent them are referred referred to as a 3code3. 3code3. For example, the sound #ay# can be represented in many 'ays (e.g. cae, may, they, eight, aid, 6*A!* A!* brea, etc.).6* See also& /lphabetic principle •
decoding skills (in (in phon phonic ics) s)&& @ith @ithou outt the the use use of cont contex ext, t, to prono pronounc unce e and read 'ords accurately by using the relationship
bet'een the letter(s) and the sounds they represent. (i.e. 3cat3 is ##<#a#<#t#, 3plough3 is #p#<#l#<#o'#, and 3school3 is #s#<##<#oo#<#l#. 3-ncoding sills3 (i.e. spelling) is the same process in reerse. 6* (Pg. 6)AA*
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Direct instruction (also also no' no'n n as -xpl -xplic icit it >nst >nstru ruct ctio ion n )& /
teac teachi hing ng styl style e that that is char charac acte teri rie ed d by 3car 3caref eful ully ly desi design gned ed inst instru ruct ctio ion3 n3 that that usua usuall lly y incl includ udes es a fast fast pace pace,, smal smalll step steps, s, demo demons nstr trat atio ions ns,, acti actie e part partic icip ipat atio ion, n, coac coachi hing ng,, imme immedi diat ate e 7* correction, and positie feedbac. (Pg. 7C)
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intensie instruction& teaching or tutoring that include some of
the follo'ing& more time; peer
peer!assisted literacy strategies& 0hildren 'or in pairs (taing
turns as teacher and learner) to learn a 3structured se8uence3 of lite literac racy y sill sills, s, such such as phon phonemi emicc a'ar a'aren enes ess, s, phon phonic ics, s, soun sound d A* blending, passage reading, and story retelling. (Pg. ) •
supportie instruction& teaching or tutoring that supports the
stude tudent nt both both emot emotiional onallly and and cogni ogniti tie ely ly.. This This inc include ludess encouragement, immediate feedbac, positie reinforcement, and instructional scaolding (i.e. scaolding (i.e. clear structure, small steps, guiding 'ith 8uestions). A?* (Pg. ?!D) Go'el phonics ph onics patterns •
Shortt o Shor owels wels are the 2e single letter o'els, a, e, i, o, and u,
'hen they produce the sounds #H# as in cat , #I# as in bet , #J# as in sit , #K# or #L# as in hot , and #M# as in cup. The term 3short o'el3 is histor historica ical, l, and meant meant that that at one time (in Niddle -nglish) -nglish) these o'els 'ere pronounced for a particularly short period of time; currently, it means 9ust that they are not diphthongs diphthongs lie lie the long o'els. •
"ong owels hae the same sound as the names of the o'els,
such as #eJ# in baby , #iO# in meter , #aJ# in tiny , #o# in broken, and #9uO# in humor . The 'ay that educators use the term 3long o'els3 o'els3 diers from the 'ay in 'hich linguists use this term. >n classrooms, long o'el sounds are taught as haing 3the same sounds as the names of the letters3. Teachers teach the children that a long o'el 3says3 its name. •
Schwa is the third sound that most of the single o'el spellings
can represent. >t is the indistinct sound of many a o'el in an unstressed syllable, and is represented by the linguistic symbol #Q# or #R#; it is the sound of the o in lesson, of the a in sofa. /lthough it is the most common o'el sound in spoen -nglish, sch'a is not al'ays taught to elementary school students because some 2nd it di5c di5cul ultt to unde unders rsta tand nd.. =o'e =o'ee er, r, some some educ educat ator orss ma mae the the argu argumen mentt that that sch' sch'a a shoul should d be incl includ uded ed in prim primar ary y read readin ing g programs because of its ital importance in the correct enunciation of -nglish 'ords.
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0losed syllables are syllables in 'hich a single o'el letter is follo'ed by a consonant. >n the 'ord button, both syllables are closed syllables because they contain single o'els follo'ed by consonants. Therefore, the letter u represents the short sound #M#. (The o in the second syllable maes the #Q# sound because it is an unstressed syllable.) Epen syllables are syllables in 'hich a o'el appears at the end of the syllable. The o'el 'ill say its long sound. >n the 'ord basin, ba is an open syllable and therefore says #beJ#. Diphthongs are linguistic elements that fuse t'o ad9acent o'el
sounds. -nglish has four common diphthongs. The commonly recognied diphthongs are #a# as in cow and #J# as in boil. Three of the long o'els are also technically diphthongs, #aJ# (ah<-- or 3>3), #o#, and #9uO#, 'hich partly accounts for the reason they are considered 3long3. •
Vowel digraphs are those spelling patterns 'herein t'o letters
are used to represent a o'el sound. The ai in sail is a o'el digraph. +ecause the 2rst letter in a o'el digraph sometimes says its long o'el sound, as in sail, some phonics programs once taught that 3'hen t'o o'els go 'aling, the 2rst one does the taling.3 This conention has been almost uniersally discarded, o'ing to the many non
Vowel!consonant!E spellings are those 'herein a single o'el
letter, follo'ed by a consonant and the letter e maes the long o'el sound. The tendency is often referred to as the 3Silent
#!controlled syllables include those 'herein a o'el follo'ed by
an r has a dierent sound from its regular pattern. For example, a 'ord lie car should hae the pattern of a 3closed syllable3 because it has one o'el and ends in a consonant. =o'eer, the a in car does not hae its regular 3short3 sound (#H# as in cat ) because it is controlled by the r . The r changes the sound of the o'el that precedes it. Ether examples include& par, horn, her, bird, and burn.
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The Consonant!le syllable is a 2nal syllable, located at the end of the base#root 'ord. >t contains a consonant, follo'ed by the letters le. The e is silent and is present because it 'as pronounced in earlier -nglish and the spelling is historical.
0onsonant phonics patterns •
Consonant digraphs are those spellings 'herein t'o letters are
used to represent a single consonant phoneme. The most common consonantdubious – discuss*where?* digraphs are ch for #tU#, ng for #V#, ph for #f#, sh for #U#, th for #W# and #X#. Yetter combinations lie wr for #r# and kn for #n# are technically also consonant digraphs, although they are so rare that they are sometimes considered patterns 'ith 3silent letters3. •
Short owel$consonant patterns inole the spelling of the
sounds ## as in peek , #dZ# as in stage, and #tU# as in speech. These sounds each hae t'o possible spellings at the end of a 'ord, ck and k for ##, dge and ge for #dZ#, and tch and ch for #tU#. The spelling is determined by the type of o'el that precedes the sound. >f a short o'el precedes the sound, the former spelling is used, as in pick , judge, and match. >f a short o'el does not precede the sound, the latter spelling is used, as in took , barge, and launch. These patterns are 9ust a fe' examples out of doens that can be used to help children unpac the challenging -nglish alphabetic code. @hile complex, -nglish spelling does retain order and reason. English orthography
From @iipedia, the free encyclopedia [ump to& naigation, search This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insu%cient inline citations. Please help to improe this article by introducing more precise citations. (November !""# English orthography is the alphabetic spelling system used by the
-nglish language. -nglish orthography, lie other alphabetic orthographies, exhibits a set of relationships bet'een speech sounds and the corresponding 'ritten 'ords. >n most other languages, these relationships are regular enough to be called rules. >n standard -nglish
spelling, ho'eer, nearly eery sound can be spelled in more than one 'ay, and most spellings and all letters can be pronounced in more than one 'ay and often in many dierent 'ays. This is largely due to the complex history of the -nglish language,A* together 'ith the absence of systematic spelling reforms implemented in -nglish, in contrast to the position in a number of other languages. >n general, -nglish spelling does not re:ect the sound changes in the pronunciation of the language that hae occurred since the late 2fteenth century.?*
Contents •
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A Function of the letters o
A.A Phonemic representation
o
A.? @ord origin
o
A. =omophone dierentiation
o
A. Naring sound changes in other letters
? Silent letters o
?.A Nultiple functionality
o
?.? 1nderlying representation
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Biacritics
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Yigatures
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C Phonic irregularities
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Spelling irregularities
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o
.A =istory
o
.? 3Eugh3 'ords
6 Spelling patterns o
6.A Spelling to sound correspondences
6.A.A Go'els
6.A.? 0ombinations of o'el letters
6.A. 0onsonants
6.A. 0ombinations of other consonant and o'el letters
o
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6.? Sound to spelling correspondences
7 See also o
7.A \ermanic languages
o
7.? omance languages
o
7. 0eltic languages
o
7. =istorical languages
o
7.C /rti2cial languages
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D eferences
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A! +ibliography
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AA -xternal lins
&unction o' the letters
Note$ %n the following discussion& only one or two common pronunciations of 'merican and British nglish varieties are used in this article for each word cited) *ther regional pronunciations may be possible for some words& but indicating all possible regional variants in the article is impractical)
Phonemic representation Further information& Phonemic orthography /s in most alphabetic languages, letters in -nglish orthography may represent a particular sound. For example, the 'ord cat #]Ht# consists of three letters ^c_, ^a_, and ^t_, in 'hich ^c_ represents the sound ##, ^a_ the sound #H#, and ^t_ the sound #t#. Nultiple se8uences of letters may perform this role as 'ell as single letters. Thus, in the 'ord ship (pronounced #]UJp#), the digraph ^sh_ (t'o letters) represents the sound #U#. >n the 'ord ditch, the three letters ^tch_ represent the sound #tU#.
Yess commonly, a single letter can represent multiple successie sounds. The most common example is the letter ^x_ 'hich normally represents the consonant cluster #s# (for example, in the 'ord si+ , pronounced #sJs#). The same letter (or se8uence of letters) may be pronounced in dierent 'ays 'hen it occurs in dierent positions 'ithin a 'ord. For instance, the digraph ^gh_ represents the sound #f# at the end of some 'ords, such as rough #]rMf#. /t the beginning of syllables (i.e. the syllable onset), the digraph ^gh_ is pronounced #`#, as in the 'ord ghost (pronounced # ]`ost#). 0onersely, the digraph ^gh_ is neer pronounced #f# in syllable onsets and is almost neer pronounced #`# in syllable codas (the proper name ,ittsburgh is an exception). @ord origin See also& =ard and soft 0, =ard and soft \, Silent , and Palataliation /nother type of spelling characteristic is related to 'ord origin. For example, 'hen representing a o'el, the letter ^y_ represents the sound #J# in some 'ords borro'ed from \ree (re:ecting an original upsilon), 'hereas the letter usually representing this sound in non<\ree 'ords is the letter ^i_. Thus, the 'ord myth #]mJW# is of \ree origin, 'hile pith # ]pJW# is a \ermanic 'ord. Ether examples include ^ph_ pronounced #f # ('hich is usually spelt ^f_), and ^ch_ pronounced ## ('hich is usually spelt ^c_ or ^_) the use of these spellings for these sounds often mar 'ords that hae been borro'ed from \ree. Some researchers such as +rengelman (AD6!), hae suggested that, in addition to this maring of 'ord origin, these spellings indicate a more formal leel of style or register in a gien text, although ollins (?!!) 2nds this point to be exaggerated as there 'ould be many exceptions 'here a 'ord 'ith one of these spellings, such as ^ph_ for #f # (lie telephone), could occur in an informal text. =omophone dierentiation Spelling may also be useful to distinguish bet'een homophones ('ords 'ith the same pronunciation but dierent meanings), although in most cases the reason for the dierence is historical and 'as not introduced for the purpose of maing a distinction. For example, the 'ords heir and air are pronounced identically in most dialects (as #]IQr#). =o'eer, they
are distinguished from each other orthographically by the addition of the letter ^h_. /nother example is the pair of homophones plain and plane, 'here both are pronounced #]pleJn# but hae t'o dierent spellings of the o'el #eJ#.* >n 'ritten language, this may help to resole potential ambiguities that 'ould arise other'ise (cf. -e.s breaking the car s. -e.s braking the car ). eertheless, many homophones that are unresoled by spelling still exist (for example, the 'ord bay has at least 2e fundamentally dierent meanings). Some proponentswho?* of spelling reform ie' homophones as undesirable and 'ould prefer that they 'ere eliminated. +ut this 'ould create more spelling inconsistencies (such as the brea#brae example aboe) that 'ould need to be resoled ia the linguistic context, as they are in the spoen language. Naring sound changes in other letters See also& Silent e /nother function of some letters in -nglish is to proide information about the pronunciation of other letters in the 'ord. ollins (?!!) uses the term 3marers3 for letters 'ith this function. Yetters may mar dierent types of information. For instance the letter ^e_ in the 'ord cottage #]KtRdZ# indicates that the preceding ^g_ is pronounced #dZ#, rather than the more common alue of ^g_ in 'ord<2nal position as the sound #`#, such as in tag #]tH`#. The letter ^e_ also often mars an altered pronunciation of a preceding o'el. >n the pair ban and bane, the ^a_ of ban has the alue #H#, 'hereas the ^a_ of bane is mared by the ^e_ as haing the alue #eJ#. >n this context, the ^e_ is not pronounced, and is referred to as 3silent e3. / single letter may een 2ll multiple pronunciation
Further information& Silent letter Nultiple functionality
/ gien letter or (letters) may hae dual functions. For example, the letter ^i_ in the 'ord cinema has a soundn these cases, a gien morpheme (i.e. a component of a 'ord) has a 2xed spelling een though it is pronounced dierently in dierent 'ords. /n example is the past tense su5x <^ed_, 'hich may be pronounced ariously as #t#, #d#, or #Rd# (for example, dip #]dJp#, dipped #]dJpt#, boom # ]buOm#, boomed #]buOmd#, loot #]luOt#, looted #]luOtRd#). /s it happens, these dierent pronunciations of <^ed_ can be predicted by a fe' phonological rules, but that is not the reason 'hy its spelling is 2xed. /nother example inoles the o'el dierences ('ith accompanying stress pattern changes) in seeral related 'ords. For instance, the 'ord photographer is deried from the 'ord photograph by adding the deriational su5x <^er_. @hen this su5x is added, the o'el pronunciations change largely o'ing to the moeable stress&
Spelling
Pronunciation
photograph
#]fotQ `rHf # or #]fotQ`rLOf #
photographer
#fQ]tK`rQfQr#
photographical
#fotQ]`rHfRQl#
Ether examples of this type are the <^ity_ su5x (as in agile s agility , acid s acidity , divine s divinity , sane s sanity ). See also& Trisyllabic laxing. /nother such class of 'ords includes sign #]s aJn# and bomb #]bKm# 'ith 3silent3 letters ^g_ and ^b_, respectiely. =o'eer, in the related 'ords signature and bombard these letters are pronounced #]sJ`nQtUQr# and #bKm]bLrd#, respectiely. =ere it could be argued that the underlying representation of sign and bomb is 4saJ`n4 and 4bKmb4, in 'hich the underlying 4`4 and 4b4 are only pronounced in the surface forms 'hen follo'ed by certain su5xes (<^ature_, <^ard_). Ether'ise, the 4`4 and 4b4 are not realied in the surface pronunciation (e.g. 'hen standing alone, or 'hen follo'ed by su5xes lie <^ing_ or <^er_). >n these cases, the orthography indicates the underlying consonants that are present in certain 'ords but are absent in other related 'ords. Ether examples include the ^t_ in fast #]fLOst# and fasten #]fL Os Qn #, and the ^h_ in heir #]IQr# and inherit #Jn]hIrRt#. /nother example includes 'ords lie mean #]miOn# and meant #]m In t#. =ere the o'el spelling ^ea_ is pronounced dierently in the t'o related 'ords. Thus, again the orthography uses only a single spelling that corresponds to the single morphemic form rather than to the surface phonological form. -nglish orthography does not al'ays proide an underlying representation; sometimes it proides an intermediate representation bet'een the underlying form and the surface pronunciation. This is the case 'ith the spelling of the regular plural morpheme, 'hich is 'ritten as either <^s_ (as in tick& ticks and mite& mites) or <^es_ (as in bo+& bo+es). =ere the spelling <^s_ is pronounced either #s# or ## (depending on the enironment, e.g. ticks #]t J s# and pigs #]pJ`#) 'hile <^es_ is usually pronounced #R# (e.g. bo+es #]bKsR#). Thus, there are t'o dierent spellings that correspond to the single underlying representation 44 of the plural su5x and the three surface forms. The spelling indicates the
insertion of #R# before the ## in the spelling <^es_, but does not indicate the deoiced #s# distinctly from the unaected ## in the spelling <^s_. The abstract representation of 'ords as indicated by the orthography can be considered adantageous since it maes etymological relationships more apparent to -nglish readers. This maes 'riting -nglish more complex, but arguably maes reading -nglish more e5cient.* =o'eer, ery abstract underlying representations, such as that of 0homsy =alle (AD7) or of underspeci2cation theories, are sometimes considered too abstract to accurately re:ect the communicatie competence of natie speaers. Follo'ers of these arguments beliee the less abstract surface forms are more 3psychologically real3 and thus more useful in terms of pedagogy.6* Diacritics
Nain article& -nglish terms 'ith diacritical mars See also& +ritish and /merican eyboards and eyboard layouts -nglish has some 'ords that can be 'ritten 'ith accent mars. These 'ords hae mostly been imported from other languages, usually French. /s imported 'ords become increasingly naturalised, there is an increasing tendency to omit the accent mars, een in formal 'riting. For example, 'ords such as r/le and h/tel 'ere 2rst seen 'ith accents 'hen they 'ere borro'ed into -nglish, but no' the accent is almost neer used. The 'ords 'ere originally considered foreign and some people considered that -nglish alternaties 'ere preferable but today their foreign origin is largely forgotten. @ords most liely to retain the accent are those atypical of -nglish morphology and therefore still perceied as slightly foreign. For example, caf0 and p1t0 both hae a pronounced 2nal e, 'hich 'ould other'ise be silent under the normal -nglish pronunciation rules. =o'eer caf0 is no' sometimes facetiously pronounced 3ca3, 'hile in p1t0, the acute accent is helpful to distinguish it from pate. Further examples of 'ords sometimes retaining diacritics 'hen used in -nglish are& ngstrm (partly because the scienti2c symbol for this unit of measurement is 33), appli2u0 , attach0, blas0, bric343brac , Br5tchen,7* clich0, cr6me, cr7pe, fa8ade , 9anc0(e# , :amb0, na;ve, na;vet0, n0(e#, papier3m1ch0, pass0, pitalics, 'ith appropriate accents, are generally applied to foreign terms
that are uncommonly used in or hae not been assimilated into -nglish& for example, adi>s& cr6me brl0e& pi6ce de r0sistance& raison d.7tre& =ber ( @bermensch #& vis343vis) >t 'as formerly common in /merican -nglish to use a diaeresis mar to indicate a hiatus& for example, co5perate, da;s, reAlect . he New Corker and echnology Deview magaines still use it for this purpose, een though it is increasingly rare in modern -nglish. o'adays the diaeresis is normally left out ( cooperate), or a hyphen is used (co3operate). >t is, ho'eer, still common in loan'ords such as na;ve and NoAl. @ritten accents are also used occasionally in poetry and scripts for dramatic performances to indicate that a certain normally unstressed syllable in a 'ord should be stressed for dramatic eect, or to eep 'ith the metre of the poetry. This use is fre8uently seen in archaic and pseudoarchaic 'ritings 'ith the 3ed su5x, to indicate that the e should be fully pronounced, as 'ith curs6d. "igatures
>n certain older texts (typically +ritish), the use of the ligatures H and is common in 'ords such as archEology , diarrhFa , and encyclopEdia . Such 'ords hae Yatin or \ree origin. o'adays, the ligatures hae been generally replaced in +ritish -nglish by the separated digraph ae and oe (encyclopaedia , diarrhoea ); but usually economy , ecology& and in /merican -nglish by e (encyclopedia , diarrhea ; but usually paean, amoeba, oedipal , Gaesar ). >n some cases, usage may ary; for instance, both encyclopedia and encyclopaedia are current in the 1%. (See also& the section 3 ae and oe3 in the article 3/merican and +ritish -nglish spelling dierences3.) Phonic irregularities
See also& -nglish spelling reform -nglish spelling, compared to many other languages, is 8uite irregular and complex. /lthough French, among other languages, presents a similar degree of di5culty 'hen encoding ('riting), -nglish is more di5cult 'hen decoding (reading), as there are clearly many more possible pronunciations of a group of letters. For example, in French the u* sound (as in 3food3), can be spelled ou, ous, out , or ou+ (ou, nous, tout , chou+ ), but the pronunciation of each of those se8uences is al'ays
the same. >n -nglish, the #uO# sound can be spelled oo or u, u!e, ui, ue, o, oe, o!e, o!b, ou, ough, or ew (food, truth, rude, fruit, blue, to, shoe, moe, tomb, group, through, :e'), but A! of those A? se8uences hae other pronunciations as 'ell& : ood, rub, build, go, toe, droe, comb, out, rough, sew. >n the case of the ough se8uence, many -nglish speaers do not een no' ho' to pronounce certain unfamiliar 'ords containing it, especially names such as \ough, =ough, or Slough. -nglish has neer had any formal regulating authority for spelling, such as the Spanish Deal 'cademia spa
/ttempts to regularie or reform the language, including spelling reform, hae usually met 'ith failure. The only signi2cant exceptions 'ere the reforms of oah @ebster 'hich resulted in many of the dierences bet'een +ritish and /merican spelling, such as centerHcentre, and dialogHdialogue. (Ether dierences, such as 3iIeH3ise in realiIeHrealise etc., came about separately; see /merican and +ritish -nglish spelling dierences for details.) +esides the 8uirs the -nglish spelling system has inherited from its past, there are other idiosyncrasies in spelling that mae it tricy to learn. -nglish contains, depending on dialect, ??6 separate consonant phonemes and A?! o'els. =o'eer, there are only ? letters in the modern -nglish alphabet, so there cannot be a onet is, ho'eer, not the shortage of letters 'hich maes -nglish spelling irregular. >ts irregularities are caused mainly by the use of many dierent spellings for some of its sounds, such as the sounds #uO#, #iO# and #o# (too, true, shoe, :ew, through; sleee, leae, een, sei e, siege; stole, coal, bowl, rol l, old, mould), and the use of identical se8uences for spelling dierent sounds ( oer, oven, move).
Furthermore, -nglish no longer maes any attempt to anglicise the spellings of loan'ords, but preseres the foreign spellings, een 'hen they employ exotic conentions lie the Polish cI in GIech (rather than JGheck ) or the or'egian fj in fjord (although 9ord 'as formerly the most common spelling). >n early Niddle -nglish, until roughly A!!, most imports from French 'ere respelt according to -nglish rules (e.g. bataille < battle , bouton < button, but not double, trouble). >nstead of loans being respelled to conform to -nglish spelling standards, sometimes the pronunciation changes as a result of pressure from the spelling. Ene example of this is the 'ord ski, 'hich 'as adopted from or'egian in the midt used to be pronounced #UiO#, 'hich is similar to the or'egian pronunciation, but the increasing popularity of the sport after the middle of the ?!th century helped the #siO# pronunciation replace it. citation needed* There 'as also a period 'hen the spelling of a small number of 'ords 'as altered in 'hat is no' regarded as a misguided attempt to mae them conform to 'hat 'ere perceied to be the etymological origins of the 'ords. For example, the letter b 'as added to debt (originally dette) in an attempt to lin it to the Yatin debitum , and the letter s in island is a misplaced attempt to lin it to Yatin insula instead of the Eld -nglish 'ord Kland, 'hich is the true origin of the -nglish 'ord. The letter p in ptarmigan has no etymological 9usti2cation 'hatsoeer, only seeing to inoe \ree despite being a \aelic 'ord. The spelling of -nglish continues to eole. Nany loan'ords come from languages 'here the pronunciation of o'els corresponds to the 'ay they 'ere pronounced in Eld -nglish, 'hich is similar to the >talian or Spanish pronunciation of the o'els, and is the alue the o'el symbols a*, e*, i*, o*, and u* hae in the >nternational Phonetic /lphabet. /s a result, there is a some'hat regular system of pronouncing 3foreign3 'ords in -nglish,citation needed* and some borro'ed 'ords hae had their spelling changed to conform to this system. For example, -indu used to be spelled -indoo, and the name Maria used to be pronounced lie the name Mariah , but 'as changed to conform to this system. 0ommercial adertisers hae also had an eect on -nglish spelling. They introduced ne' or simpli2ed spellings lie lite instead of light , thru instead of through, smokey instead of smoky (for 3smoey bacon3 :aour crisps), and rucsac instead of rucksack . The spellings of personal
names hae also been a source of spelling innoations& diminutie ersions of 'omen$s names that sound the same as men$s names hae been spelled dierently& Nikki and Nicky , oni and ony , o and oe. /s examples of the idiosyncratic nature of -nglish spelling, the combination ou can be pronounced in at least four dierent 'ays& #Q# in famous, #a# in loud, ## in should, #uO# in you; and the o'el sound #iO# in me can be spelt in at least nine dierent 'ays& paediatric , me, seat , seem, cei ling, peo ple, machi ne, siege, phoeni+ . (These examples assume a morenconsistencies and irregularities in -nglish pronunciation and spelling hae gradually increased in number throughout the history of the -nglish language. There are a number of contributing factors. First, gradual changes in pronunciation, such as the \reat Go'el Shift, account for a tremendous number of irregularities. Second, relatiely recent loan 'ords from other languages generally carry their original spellings, 'hich are often not phonetic in -nglish. The omaniation of languages (e.g., 0hinese) using alphabets deried from the Yatin alphabet has further complicated this problem, for example 'hen pronouncing 0hinese proper names (of people or places). The regular spelling system of Eld -nglish 'as s'ept a'ay by the orman 0on8uest, and -nglish itself 'as supplanted in some spheres by orman French for three centuries, eentually emerging 'ith its spelling much in:uenced by French. -nglish had also borro'ed large numbers of 'ords from French, 'hich naturally ept their French spellings as there 'as no reason or mechanism to change them. The spelling of Niddle -nglish, such as in the 'ritings of \eorey 0haucer, is ery irregular and inconsistent, 'ith the same 'ord being spelled in dierent 'ays,
sometimes een in the same sentence. =o'eer, these 'ere generally much better guides to the then pronunciation than modern -nglish spelling is. For example, the sound #M#, normally 'ritten u, is spelled 'ith an o in son, love, come, etc., due to orman spelling conentions 'hich prohibited 'riting u before v , m, n due to the graphical confusion that 'ould result. (v , u, n 'ere identically 'ritten 'ith t'o minims in orman hand'riting; w 'as 'ritten as t'o u letters; m 'as 'ritten 'ith three minims, hence mm looed lie vun, nvu, uvu, etc.) Similarly, spelling conentions also prohibited 2nal v . =ence the identical spellings of the three dierent o'el sounds in love, grove and prove are due to ambiguity in the Niddle -nglish spelling system, not sound change. There 'as also a series of linguistic sound changes to'ards the end of this period, including the \reat Go'el Shift, 'hich resulted in the i in mine, for example, changing from a pure o'el to a diphthong. These changes for the most part did not detract from the rulen The Nill on the Floss (A7!), -nglish noelist \eorge -liot satiried the attitude of the -nglish rural gentry of the A7?!s to'ards orthography& Nr. Tullier did not 'illingly 'rite a letter, and found the relation bet'een spoen and 'ritten language, brie:y no'n as spelling, one of the most puling things in this puling 'orld. eertheless, lie all ferid 'riting, the tas 'as done in less time
than usual, and if the spelling diered from Nrs. \legg$s,'hy, she belonged, lie himself, to a generation 'ith 'hom spelling 'as a matter of priate 9udgment. The modern -nglish spelling system, 'ith its national ariants, spread together 'ith the expansion of public education later in the ADth century. 3Eugh3 'ords Nain article& Eugh (combination) The most notorious group of letters in the -nglish language, ough, is commonly pronounced at least ten dierent 'ays, six of 'hich are illustrated in the construct, hough the tough cough and hiccough plough him through, 'hich is 8uoted by obert /. =einlein in he Ooor into Pummer to illustrate the di5culties facing automated speech transcription and reading. *ugh is in fact a 'ord in its o'n right; it is an exclamation of disgust similar to ugh. •
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though& #o# as in t oe; (other examples& dough) tough& #Mf # as in cuf ; (other examples& rough& enough& and the name (but not the 'ord) -ough) cough& #Kf # as in of ; (other examples& Qough (name, some pronunciations)) hiccough (a no' uncommon ariant of hiccup)& #Mp# as in up; (uni8ue) plough& #a# as in cow; (other examples& sough& drought& bough& doughty , and the names Plough and Ooughty ) through& #uO# as in blue; nought & #O# as in caught ; (other examples& ought& sought& thought& brought ) lough& #Kx# 'ith a rough breathing sound lie the ch in loch
Finally, there is the place name Youghborough, 'here the 2rst ough has the sound as in cuf and the second rhymes 'ith thorough.
Spelling patterns
Spelling to sound correspondences Go'els
>n a generatie approach to -nglish spelling, ollins (?!!) identi2es t'enty main orthographic o'els of stressed syllables that are grouped into four main categories& 3Yax3, 3Tense3, 3=eay3, 3Tense<3. (/s this classi2cation is based on orthography, not all orthographic 3lax3 o'els are necessarily phonologically lax.)
\eneral /merican "ett er
"a(
a
#H#
eceied Pronunciation (+ritish)
Tens )ea Tense! e y #
#eJ#
#L#
#I#
"ett er
"a(
a
#H#
Tens )ea Tense! e y #
#eJ#
#LO#
#IQ#
man mane mar
mare
e
#I# #i# met mete
## her
#J# here
i
#J# win
## 9r
#aJ# 9re
o
#L# #o# mop mope
u
#M# #9u# hug huge
u
## pus h
#aJ# wine
#u# rude
## for& fore ## cur
# 9# cure
## sur& sure
man mane mar
mare
e
#I# #iO# met mete
#O# her
#JQ# here
i
#J# win
#O# 9r
#aJQ# 9re
o
#K# #Q# mop mope
u
#M# # 9uO# hug huge
u
## pus h
#aJ# wine
#uO# rude
#O# for& fore #O# cur
# 9Q# cure
#Q# sur& sure
For instance, the letter a can represent the lax o'el #H#, tense #eJ#, heay #LO#, or (often allophonically) IQ* before 4r4. =eay and tense
>n this case, the 2rst o'el is usually the main o'el 'hile the second o'el is the 3maring3 o'el. For example, the 'ord man has a lax a pronounced #H#, but 'ith the addition of i (as the digraph ai) in the 'ord main the a is mared as tense and pronounced #eJ#. These t'o strategies produce 'ords that are spelled dierently but pronounced identically, as in mane (silent e strategy), main (digraph strategy) and Maine (both strategies). The use of t'o dierent strategies relates to the function of distinguishing bet'een 'ords that 'ould other'ise be homonyms. +esides the ?! basic o'el spellings, ollins (?!!) has a reduced o'el category (representing the sounds #Q, J#) and a miscellaneous category (representing the sounds #J, a, aJ, a# and #9#"G, #'#"G, G"G). 0ombinations of o'el letters
To reduce dialectal di5culties, the sound alues gien here correspond to the conentions at @iipedia&>P/ for -nglish. This table includes =, @ and j 'hen they represent o'el sounds. >f no information is gien, it is assumed that the o'el is in a stressed syllable. Beriing the pronunciation of an -nglish 'ord from its spelling re8uires not only a careful no'ledge of the rules gien belo' (many of 'hich are not explicitly no'n een by natie speaers& speaers merely learn the spelling of a 'ord along 'ith its pronunciation) and their many exceptions, but also& •
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a no'ledge of 'hich syllables are stressed and 'hich are unstressed (not deriable from the spelling& compare hallow and allow) 'hich combinations of o'els represent monosyllables and 'hich represent disyllables (ditto& compare please and create)
Spelling
*a+or alue ,-PA.
#H#
a •
before multiple consonants
E(ample *inor s o' alues ma+or ,-PA. alue
hatchet, #eJ# banner, marry acrobat,
E(amples o' E(ceptions/c minor alue larication needed 0 ache, bass, chamber
#i# araoe #LO# f ather #K# yacht
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2nal o'el in 'ord
cat national, camera, reality
follo'ed by ? or more unstressed syllables
arid, granite, palace
next syllable contains #R# before
nationhood
#eJ#
before heterosylla bic o'el
arrange, 'aste grace, f amous, #I# iolate #H# table, #R# hatred, April chaos, aorta
before 2nal r or r " cons. #LO# (and in deried terms)
bar, cart barred, marring
before r " o'el #IQ#
uncaring, 'ary, #H# arious, glare
'ord<2nal
lemma, banana
#Q#
in 'ord<2nal
ordinary, necessar
many, any manor, hae chocolate, orange
#LO# gala, sonata
#IQ# scarce
Paris
#LO# are
#i# bologna
y after #'# except #K# before ##, #`#, #V#
'atch, 'arrior, #H# 8uantity
after #'# before 2nal r or r " cons.
#O#
'arning, d'arf, 'ar
unstressed
#Q#
another, about, k 'oman
unstressed, in
#J#
damage, bondage
#LO#
baa, blah
#eJ# 8uaalude
#iO#
encyclop aedia (encyclo p2dia), #I# paediatri cian (p2diatri cian)
aesthetic (2sthetic)
#eJ# reggae (regg2) #aJ# maestro (m2stro)
said, again, says samurai, aya, aye
#H# plaid #iO# 8uay
aa1 ah
usually ae ,2.
before r
ai1 ay
#IQ#
stressed
#eJ#
before r
#IQ#
8uango
artistically
aerial (2rial), aeroplan
e (2roplan e) bait, #I# cocaine, #aJ# day cairn, millionair
e, dairy unstressed ao
au1 aw
#R#
bargain, mountai #Q# n
+ritain
#eJ#
gaol
#a#
Taoism
#K# #LO#
sausage, because, #eJ# gauge laurel #o# maue aunt, draught, laugh
#O#
taut, author, lawn,
#iO#
receding, detail, gene metre, #eJ# secret #I# be, she k simile, catastrop he neon
#o# pharaoh
e •
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before single consonant before cons " (
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uulele, caf e, crepe metal, lemon, heron lielihood, fateful
before multiple consonants 2nal o'el in 'ord follo'ed by ? or more unstressed
better, #iO# f etch, merry get, 'atershe d legacy, elegant, delicate
lethal #J# pretty axes (plural of a+is) legally eil
syllables •
next syllable contains #J#
before 2nal r or r " cons. #O# (and in deried terms)
herd, erb, ref erral
before r " o'el #JQ#
serious, #IQ# series, #I# here
therefore, 'ere'olf ery
'ord<2nal
k
mate, discipline #iO# , stare plague
recipe
#R#
hatchet, target, #Q# poet
taen, decency, moment
#i#
create, area, atheist, hideous
#iO#
beach, eating, please
#I#
bread, healthy, cleanse
before r " cons. #O#
earth, learn, early
#LO#
hearty, hearth #JQ# beard
before 2nal r or r " o'el #JQ# (and in deried terms)
clear, hearing, #IQ# yearly
bear, pear, s'ear
#o#
bureau, #9uO#
beauty
unstressed
usd, before heterosyllabic o'el
usually
ea
eau
creice, perish, epicness
#LO#
cler, sergeant
#O# 'ere
#eJ# brea, great, stea
#K#
plateau, tableau
bureaucracy
#iO#
bee, f eed
#eJ# matinee, 2ancee
#JQ#
cheering, beer, eerie
#eJ#
eil, reign, obey
after c
#iO#
deceie, ceiling, conceit
before r
#IQ#
heir, their
#R#
foreign, counterf eit
unstressed, 'ord< #i# 2nal
money, curtsey, 9ersey
usually ee
before r
usually
ei1 ey
unstressed
eo eu,e .1 ew, usually e.1 ieu1 iew
after #r#, #U#, #Z#, #9#, cons. " #l#
#iO# #aJ#
seie, ey, #I# heifer, geyser leisure height, heist, #aJ# eye gneiss
#JQ#
'eird, 'eir, eyrie
#I#
leopard, #iO# 9eopardy
#9uO#
f eudal, 8ueue, dew, ewe, lieu, iew
#uO#
rheumati sm, 9ewel,
people
#o# yeoman #JQ# leotard
#o# sew
blew before r
#9Q#
both of the aboe #Q# i •
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before single consonant before cons " (
#aJ#
'ord<2nal before heterosylla bic o'el #J#
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before multiple consonants 2nal o'el in 'ord follo'ed by ? or more unstressed syllables next syllable contains #J#
amateur, neural, ewry [ewry, pleurisy shine, cited, guide title, idle, ibrant 'ild, ind, sighed, #J# ensign alumni, alibi, radii ial, 8uiet, prior, pious hitch, #aJ# f iddle, mirror bit cinema, liberty, military f inish, spirit, minute hideous, position, Sirius
piot, gie, engine 'ind (one meaning)
pint, ninth silently 'hitish
#iO# machine, si
#H# meringue #iOJ# si(ing)
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before cons. " e#i " o'el
before 2nal r or r " cons. #O# (and in deried terms)
bird, f ir, stirrer
before r " o'el #aJQ#
hire, f iring, en8uiry
unstressed
#R#
liid, typical
usd, before heterosyllabic o'el
#i#
familiar, alien, radii, idiot
2nally
#aJ#
die, tie
#iO#
f ield, series, siege
#JQ#
pier, f ierce, bulier
medially ie
before r o •
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before multiple consonants 2nal o'el in 'ord follo'ed by ? or more unstressed syllables
#JQ# menhir
#Q#
pencil, cousin k business
#aJ#
:ies, tries
#K# or dot, #M# #LO# doctor, #o# torrent #uO# opera, colonise, cooperat e topic, solid, promise
#J# siee #I# friend
'on, money, ## 'olf front gross, comb, broenly tomb, 'omb
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next syllable contains #J# before single consonant before cons " (
#o#
'ord<2nal before heterosylla bic o'el (inc. unstressed)
before r
omen, groe, total noble, #K# cobra #uO# ban9o, go #M# boa, #Q# poet, stoic cooperat
e
#Q#
f ord, boring, more
after ', before r #O#
'ord, 'or, 'orst
unstressed
#Q#
elo8uent, 'anton, author
usually
#o#
boat, coal, load
before r
#Q#
boar, coarse
oa
oe usually ,3.
moral, proper, shone to, 'ho, moe, lose ## 'oman come, loe, #J# 'omen done purpose, -urope
#iO#
amoeba (am3ba) ,
##
for, morning
#Q# 'orn
#O# broad
coelacan th (c3lacan th), phoenix (ph3nix)
oo
#M# does (d3s)
loir
#'aJQ# choir
2nally
#o#
unstressed
#J#
oedema (3dema)
#uO#
manoeu re
usually
#J#
coin, boy
before r
reseroir , #'LO# memoir, #JQ# repertoir e
usually
#uO#
hoop, booe
##
'ool, f oot, soot
#o# brooch
before ,d
##
loo, 'ood
#uO#
f ood, brood, spoo
#M# blood, :ood
before r
#Q#
door, #Q# mooring
poor
out, aloud, bough
soup, you, through touch, trouble, country soul, dough, boulder
oeu
oi1 oy
shoe (sh3), canoe (cano3)
toe (t3), #uO# f oe (f 3)
ou
stressed
#a#
before r
#O#
#uO# #M# #o#
tourist, #aQ# contour,
hour, our, deour
## courier, should #K# cough
## courier
pour
#Q#
camou:a ge, labour, nerous
stressed
#a#
cow, sow, allow
before r
#aQ# dowry
unstressed
ow
unstressed
#o#
#O#
9ourney, courteous, scourge
#M# courage
#o#
now, show
#K# acnowledge
##
put, f ull, pudding
yellow, rainbow, narrow
u •
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before multiple consonants #M# 2nal o'el in 'ord #9uO#
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before single consonant before cons " (
butter, dump, current
luminous ## , mute, tuba bugle, rubric duel, fatuous, druid, [anuary
sugar
#J# busy
aboe after #r#, #U#, #Z#, #9#, cons. " #uO# #l#
rule, chute, [une, :u truant, :uent, menstru ate
before 2nal r or r " cons. #O# (and in deried terms)
curdle, burr, f urry
before r " o'el #9Q#
lure, purity, curing
aboe after #r#, #U#, #Z#, #9#, cons. " #Q# #l#
rural, 9ury, plural
after g, before e, i k
guess, #9uO# disguise, #'# tongue
unstressed
#Q#
supply
#R# minute, lettuce
#9uO#
cue, hue, nuisance
#'eJ# suede #'iO# suite #J# build, biscuit
usually ue1 ui
aboe after #r#, #U#, #Z#, #9#, cons. " #uO# #l#
blue, tissue, fruit, 9uice
uy
#aJ#
buy, guyed
y
#J# •
before multiple
#9Q#
myth, #aJ# cryptic cylinder,
failure
#I# bury
argue, ague linguistics, segue
hyphen, psyche
consonants •
•
•
•
•
follo'ed by ? or more unstressed syllables
typical, pyramid cynic
next syllable contains #J# before single consonant before cons #aJ# " (
typing, style, paralye cycle, cypress sy, supply, bye
before 2nal r or r " cons. #O# (and in deried terms)
myrtle, myrrh
before r " o'el #aJQ#
lyre, tyrant, gyrate
unstressed
sibyl, martyr
#Q#
unstressed, 'ord< #i# 2nal
city, happy
0onsonants
See also& Bigraph (orthography) Notes&
cyclically
•
•
•
•
•
>n the tables, the hyphen has t'o dierent meanings. / hyphen after the letter indicates that it must be at the beginning of a syllable , e.g. 9< in 9umper and a9ar. / hyphen before the letter indicates that it cannot be at the beginning of a word, e.g. solated foreign borro'ings are excluded. *a+or alue ,-PA.
Spelling
usually b1 bb
#b#
bit, rabbit, obtain
k
E(amples o' other alues bdellium, debtor, subtle
2nally after m (and in deried k terms)
climb, comb, numbing
before e, i, y, ae, or oe
#s#
cellar, city, cyst, #tU# face, prince, #U# nicer ## caesium, coelacanth
initially before n, t
k
cnidarian, ctenoid
else'here
##
cat, cross
k
ictual, indict
accept, eccentric, occidental
## #tU# #s#
soccer, recce, siccing bocce, breccia, cappuccino
c
cc
4ther E(amples o' alue ma+or alue s
before e, i or y #s#
cello, ermicelli special, li8uorice Celts, chicer
:accid else'here
usually
ch
\ree
##
account, accrue, occur, yucca
#tU#
chase, chin, ## attached, #h# chore k
##
chasm, chimera, chord
French
ck
d1 dd1 dh
#d#
!dg! before e, i, or y #dZ# '1 !5
#f#
g
before e, i, y, ae, or oe
#dZ#
ached chutpah yacht
chaise, machine, cached, parachute
tack , tick et
die, ladder, #dZ# 9odhpurs k
graduate, gradual (both also #d9# in P) @ednesday, handsome
lodger, pidgin, edgy ' ine, o5
##
gentle, magic, #`# gyrate, #Z# page, algae
o' get, eager, algae
(P) collage, gigue
(\/) in
k
diaphragm, gnome, signing, reign
else'here
#`#
go, great,
#`#
signify, repugnant
#dZ#
margarine
guest
#`#
stagger, :agging
#`#
ghost, ghastly
else'here
k
#f# #x# or dough, high, ## right, #`#, daughter ##, or #x# #p#
laugh, enough lough ugh hiccough
usually
#h#
he, alcohol
k
ehicle, honest, hono(u)r, piranha
after ex
k
exhibit, exhaust
#h#
exhale
#dZ#
+ump, a +ar
#9# #Z# #h# k
=allelu +ah 6ean +alapeno, fa +ita Nari +uana
##
k ey, bak e, trekk ing, sheikh
gg
initially
gh
h
+<
k1 usually !kk1 kh
initially before n k
l1 ll
#l#
m1 usually
#m#
mine, hammer
n1 nn
initially before n k
mnemonic
usually
nice, funny
#n#
before ## or #`# #V#
suggest, exaggerate
k nee, k noc line, ale, alley
mm
#dZ#
lin, bangle,
k #9#
hale, bal, salmon tortilla
anchor 2nally after m (and in deried k terms)
hymn, autumn
2nally and in terms deried from ng<2nal 'ords
#V#
long, ingly, singer, clingy
#V`# #ndZ#
anger, 2nger danger, ginger, dingy
#p#
pill, happy, soup, corpse, k script
coup, receipt
k
pneumonia, #p# psyche, ptomaine
psst
ph1 pph
#f#
photograph, ## sapphire
Stephen
7 (not before u)
##
>ra7, >7aluit
#r#
ray, parrot, rhyme, diarrhoea
ng
medially other'ise
usually p1 pp
initially before n, s, t
usually
r1 rr1 rh1 rrh
•
•
•
before consonant k in non< rhotic 2nally dialects such as P before 2nal e
k
iron
cart, burr, 2r, care, 'aler, tear, hurt
See belo' for combinations of o'el letters and the letter r
s1 ss
## #U# #Z# k
usually
#s#
song, as, message, misled
##
rose, prison #s#
'ord<2nal
pets, shops
'ord<2nal
##
beds, magaines
#s#
scene, scepter, scissors, scythe
sc< before e, i or y
#s# #U#
scissors, dessert, dissole, >slam sugar, tissue, aggression ision islet, aisle, debris
basis
sceptic, scirrhus fascism schedule (in P,
sch!
#s#
school, scheme, schio
sh
#U#
shin, fashion
#t#
ten, bitter, cation, chaste, 'allet
t1 !tt
usually
#U# #s#
#U# #tU# #d# k
other'ise& #s#), schist schism (in P, other'ise& #s#)
ratio, Nartian 8uestion, bastion indergarten castle, chasten,
ballet in unstressed
k
listen, rustle, #t# sof ten
#tU#
batch, itchen
th
#W# #X#
#t# thin, both, #tW# the, bothers #th# k
1 !
##
ine, say
#'#
k sward, #uO# swere, wale ##
!tch
w
usually
#'# or #h'# in =iberno< -ng. and wheel Southern /m. -ng.
before o
#h# or #h'# in =iberno< -ng. and who, whole #'# Southern /m. -ng.
wh!
thyme eighth outhouse, potherb asthma
two, sword, answer, gunwale cwm 8eltanschauung
whopping, whorl
#r# or #'r# in Scottish wrong, wrist -ng.
wr! (
tungsten, existent
initially
##
(ylophone
else'here
#s#
e(tent, #`# e(cuse, a(e #`Z# #U# k
e(it (in some pronunciations) lu(ury (in some pronunciations)
an(ious fau(
#s#
e(cellent, e(cited
y<
#9#
yes, young
##
#ts# 9oo, pi99a99 k
91 !99
Spellin g
*a+or alue ,-PA.
E(amples o' ma+or alue
ayer, ayor
#IQ(r)#
layer, mayor
o'er
#aQr#
dowry, tower, :owery
*inor alues ,-PA.
schi9ophrenic, pi99a rende9ous
E(amples o' E(ceptio minor alue ns
0ombinations of other consonant and o'el letters Spelling
ah
*a+or alue ,-PA.
E(amples *inor E(amples o' o' ma+or alues E(ceptions minor alue alue ,-PA.
#LO#
blah
al
#Hl#
pal, talcum, #Ol# algae, alp
alf
al'al' a, #LOf# (P) cal' , hal' #Hl# #lf# pal' rey #Hf# (\/) mal' easance
al
#O#
all
#Ol# #Hl#
'alk , chalk ing, talk atie call, f allout, smaller shall,
#Hl# #Kl# #(Q)l#
bald, f alcon
alk aline, grimalk in
#l# balk anise
'allet, #Il# (\/) s'allo' marshmallo' allo', dialled , pall
callus, f allo' calm (also& #LOlm#), dalmatian, almond salmonella #Hm# salmon (also& #Hlm# almanac #(Q)lm# #Hlm#), #Olm# (also& #Hlm#), signalman palmistry almost (also& # LOlm#)
alm
#LOm# (all three examples hae alt. pronunc.)
alt
alter, malt, #Klt# (P) #Hlt# salty, #Olt# (\/) #Olt# basalt
aoh, oh
#o#
#Llt# gestalt alto, shalt, (\/) saltation #(Q)lt# royalty, altar, asphalt penalty
pharaoh, oh
unstressed ci< before a #U# o'el
special, gracious
#si#
species
#'#
ac7uaint, ac7uire
##
lac7uer, rac7uet
'ord<2nal
#Rd#
'aited
'ord<2nal
#t#
topped, surf ed
#Id#
biped, unf ed
#Id#
imbed, misled, infrared
'ord<2nal
#d#
climbed, failed, ordered
after a lenis sound eh
#eJ#
eh
'ord<2nal
'ashes, boxes
unstressed ex< before a #R`# o'el or h
e(ist, e(amine, e(haust
#Is#
e(hale
gu< before a #`'#
bilingual, guano, language
#`#
guard, guarantee
'ord<2nal
little, table
<(a)isle
#aJQl#
aisle, isle, enisle, lisle
#V#
dengue (also tongue, #V`i#), harangue, #V`eJ# distingu, meringue merengue (dessert) (music#dance)
old
#old#
blindf old, #Qld# older, bold
ol
#o#
yolk , f olk
oll
#Kl#
doll, f ollo', colletc., holler
#ol#
roll, stroller, polling, toll'ay
olm
#Klm#
olm, dolmen
#olm#
enrolment, holmium
'ord<2nal
sca old, obold (also #Kld#
#om# holm (oa)
ong
'rong, #KV# (P) strong, #OV# (\/) song
8u<
#'#
7ueen, 7uic
#KV#
0ongress, congregation
##
li7uor, mos7uito
#eJ#
ris7u
#9uO# barbe7ue
#ro#
roll
#Q(r)# iron
8uar< before 7uarter, #'O(r)# 7uart consonant 'ord<2nal <8ue
##
mos7ue, bis7ue
'ord<2nal
#Qr#
ogre
ro
#rK#
rod
unstressed sci< before a #tU# o'el
conscience #si# (#U# in P)
sci< (stressed)
#saJ#
science
#sQl#
corpuscle, muscle
#s#
house, mouse
##
house, raise
unstressed
#s#
expansion #Z#
omniscient (P only)
chase
diision, illusion
#i# physiology, busier, caesium :imsiest #si# tarsier
unstressed
mission
unstressed
#ZQr#
leisure, treasure
unstressed
#U#
nation, #Z# ambitious
unstressed
#tUQr#
nature, picture
unstressed <ure
#ZQr#
sei9ure, a9ure
#si#
potassium, dossier
e8uation
#ti# patio, #taJ# cation
There is no 'ay to tell if it is the morpheme or an integral part of the 'ord. 0ompare snaed and naed. Same as aboe; compare the t'o pronunciations of a(es. Small text indicates rare 'ords. Yoans 'ords& SP for Spanish, &# for French. Sound to spelling correspondences The follo'ing table sho's for each sound, the arious spelling patterns used to denote it. The symbol 33 stands for an interening consonant. The letter se8uences are in order of fre8uency 'ith the most common 2rst. Some of these patterns are ery rare or uni8ue, such as au for the H* sound in laugh (some accents). >n some cases, the spellings sho'n are found in only one no'n -nglish 'ord (such as 3mh3 for #m#, or 3yrrh3 for #r#). Consonants -PA
Spelling
E(amples
#p#
p, pp, gh
pill, happy, hiccough
#b#
b, bb
bit, rabbit
#t#
t, tt, ed, pt, th, ct
ten, hitter, topped, pterodactyl, thyme,
ctenoid
#d#
d, dd, ed, dh, t (in some die, ladder, failed, dharma, 'aiter, dialects), tt (in some :atter dialects)
#`#
g, gg, gue, gh
##
c, , c, ch, cc, 8u, c8u, cat, k ey, tack , chord, account, li7uor, cu, 8ue, , h, 8, x ac7uis, biscuit, mos7ue, trekk er, khan, (changing its #s# sound bur7a, e(citement into its ## sound)
#m#
m, mm, mb, mn, mh, gm, chm
#n#
n, nn, n, gn, pn, nh, cn, nice, funny, knee, gnome, pneumonia, mn piranha, cnidarian, mnemonic
#V#
ng, n, ngue
sing, lin, tongue
#r#
r, rr, 'r, rh, rrh
ray, parrot, wrong, rhyme, diarrh(o)ea
#f#
f, ph, , gh, pph, u
' ine, physical, o5 , laugh, sapphire, lieutenant (+r)
##
, , f, ph, '
ine, say, o' , Stephen, weltanschauung
#W#
th, chth, phth, tth, fth (in some dialects)
thin, chthonic, phthisis, Natthe', t'el'th
#X#
th, the
them, breathe
#s#
s, c, ss, sc, st, ps, sch (in some dialects), cc, se, ce, (in some dialects)
song, city, mess, scene, listen, psychology, schism, :accid, horse, 9uice, citi9en
##
s, , x, , ss, e, c (in some dialects)
has, 9oo, (ylophone, fu99, scissors, bree9e, electricity
#U#
shin, nation, special, mission, expansion, sh, ti, ci, ssi, si, ss, ch, s, tissue, machine, sugar, conscience, sci, ce, sch, sc ocean, schmooe, crescendo
#Z#
si, s, g, , 9, ti, sh (in
go, stagger, catalogue, ghost
mine, hammer, climb, hymn, mho, diaphragm, drachm
diision, leisure, genre, sei9ure, +et,
some dialects) #tU#
e8uation, Pershing
ch, t, tch, ti, c, cc, tsch, chin, nature, batch, bastion (some c accents), cello, bocce, putsch, C9ech
g, 9, dg, dge, d, di, gi, #dZ# ge, gg
magic, +ump, 9udgment, bridge, graduate, soldier, +elgian, dungeon, exaggerate
#h#
h, 'h, 9, ch
he, who, fa +ita, chutpah
#9#
y, i, 9, ll, e
yes, onion, hallelu +ah, tortilla, eoarchean
#l#
l, ll, lh
line, hallo, "hasa
#'#
', u, o, ou, 'h (in most we, persuade, choir, 4ui9a board, what dialects)
#h'#
'h (in =iberno<-ng. and wheel Southern /m. -ng.)
#'r# 'r (in Scottish -ng.)
wren Vowels
-PA
Spelling
E(amples
#iO#
be, beach, bee, cede, 0aesar, deceit, e, ea, ee, ee, ae, ei, machine, f ield, people, amoeba (ariant ie, ie, eo, oe, ie...e, of ameba), hygiene, 8uay (P only; #eJ# in ay, ey, i, y, oi, ue, ey, a \/), ey, si, city, chamois, Portuguese, geyser (P only; #aJ# in \/), araoe
#J#
bit, myth, build, pretty, been (some i, y, ui, e, ee, ie, o, u, a, accents), siee, 'omen, busy, damage, ei, ee, ia, ea, i...e, ai, ii, counterf eit, carriage, mileage, medicine, oe bargain, shiitae, oedema
tool, luminous, 'ho, :ute, soup, 9ewel, oo, u, o, ue, ou, e', true, lose, fruit, maneuer, manoeure ue, oe, ui, eu, oeu, oe, #uO# (+r. ariant of prec.), can oe, through ough, 'o, ioux, ieu, (form. ariant of 3thru3), t wo, Siou(, oup, ', u lieutenant (\/), coup, cwm, thru (inf.) ##
oo, u, o, oo...e, or, ou,
loo, f ull, 'olf, gooseberry, 'orsted,
oul
courier, should
bass, rate, 8uaalude, reggae, rain, cocaine, arraign, straight, alph (dated a, ae, aa, ae, ai, ai...e, +r.), gaol (/ustralian ar. of 39ail3), g auge aig, aigh, al, ao, au, ay, (ar. of gage), pay, uulele (caf ), crepe, e (), e...e, ea, eg, ei, stea, thegn, eil, beige, reign, eight, #eJ# ei...e, eig, eigh, ee (e), matinee (soire), eh, dossier, demesne, eh, er, es, et, ey, e, ie, ballet, obey, che9, lingerie (1S), oeh, ue, uet boehmite (also& #o#), deng ue (usually& #i#), sobri8uet (also& #It#; ar. of 3soubri8uet3) #Q#
another, anthem, a'esome, atrium, a, e, o, u, ai, ou, eig, y, mountain, callous, foreign, beryl, ah, ough, ae, oi Nessiah, borough (+r), Nich ael, porpoise
o, oe, oa, o', ou, oe, so, bone, boat, now, soul, f oe, brooch, #o# oo, eau, oh, e', au, beau, oh, sew, maue, pharaoh, aoh, ough, eo furlough, yeoman #I#
e, ea, a, ae, ai, ay, ea met, 'eather, many, aesthetic, said, e, ei, eo, ie, ieu, u, ue, says, cleanse, heifer, 9eopardy, friend, oe lieutenant (+r), b ury, guess, f oetid
#H# a, ai, al, au, i
hand, plaid, salmon, laugh (some accents), meringue
#M#
u, o, oe, oe, ou, oo, 'o
sun, son, come, does, touch, :ood, twopence
#O#
a, au, a', ough, augh, o, oa, oo, al, uo, u, ao
f all, author, 9aw, bought, caught, cord, broad, door, 'al, :uorine (+r), sure (some accents), extraordinary
#K#
o, a, eau, ach, au, ou
loc, 'atch, bureaucracy, yacht, sausage, cough
#LO# a, ah, aa, i
fa ther, blah, baa, lingerie (1S)
#aJ# ae, ai, aie, aille, ais, ay, aye, ei, eigh, ey, eye, i, ie, ia, ie, ic, ig, igh, is, oi, ui, uy, uye, y, y...e,
maestro, rait, shanghaied, canaille (P), aisle, aya, aye, heist, height, geyser (1S), eye, mic, f ine, diaper, tie, indict, sign, high, isle, choir, guide, buy, guyed,
