Introduction to phonemic
symbols
English alphabet
consists of 26 letters
around 44 sounds 20 vowels and 24
consonants.
A vowel sound is a sound produced without
blocking the air flow from the mouth with our
teeth, tongue or lips.
A consonant sound is a sound produced by
blocking the air flow from the mouth with the
teeth, tongue or lips.
IPA
International Phonetic Alphabet is the most
widely used set of symbols for showing the
sounds of a language.
A phonemic symbol is a letter which
represents a sound.
Vowel sounds
Consonant sounds
Match the words with their
pronunciation
Lets try to read this!
then
though
that
thought
think
thoroughly
throughout
throat
tough
Digraph
a combination of two letters or characters
used to represent a single speech sound such
as ch, sh, th, wh, qu, etc.
E.g. sh in shoe
Diphtong two vowel sounds pronounced as
one syllable
Syllable
Is a word or part of a word that has one vowel
sound. It may also have one or more
consonant sounds.
e.g. Mother, mum
Word stress
Is the pattern of strong and weak syllables in a
word.
Party - ['pa:ti]
Sentence stress
Is the pattern of strong and weak syllables in a
sentence.
E.g. How do you do? OooO
Vowels
How many vowel letters do you know?
R: There are 5 vowel letters.
How many vowel sounds do you know?
R: approximately twenty.
/i:/ is a long sound and it is
usually spelled as ee or ea.
See, agree, seat, eat, team
NB: 8 letters of the alphabet have the sound /i:/
BCDEGPTV
// is a short sound and it is
usually spelled i
If, listen, miss, dinner, swim
Circle all the /i:/ sound and
underline all the // sounds :
big, busy, dinner, give, green, in, listen, meet,
office, people, pizza, please, repeat, six, tea,
three, lead, lid, wheat, wit, been, bin, cheek,
chick, feel, fill, reach, rich
/u:/ is a long sound and it is
spelled as oo, oe, ou, u, ue, ew
group, shoe, blue
When the spelling is u or ew there is a /j/
sound before the /u:/
Music, new
But: two, fruit, juice
/ju:/ is the name of the letter U in the alphabet.
// is a short sound and it is
usually spelled as u, oo, ou:
full, sugar, book, foot, would
Circle the words with the sound /u:/:
Food, four, June, look, news, room, school, soup,
spoon, sugar, town, Tuesday, two
Circle the words with the sound //:
Book, cookery, cough, could, good, looking,
lunch, soon, sugar, thought, through
/a:/ is a long sound and it is
usually spelled as a and ar:
After, afternoon, ask, bath, bathroom, cant ,
class, dance, fast, father, glass, tomato, bar,
car, card, far, park, star, start
But: aunt, laugh, heart, half,
In words with the letter r after /a:/, most
Americans and some British people
pronounce the r
The sound // is a short sound
and it is usually spelled u but also, ou, o.
E.g. bus, colour, come, cup, front, London, luck,
Monday, month, mother, much, nothing,
number, run, study, sun, uncle, under
Try to read : son and sun!
Write the words under the right
sound
the sound //
the sound /a:/
Luck, cud, barks, lark, card, dark, duck, last, lust,
carp, cup, bucks
// is a short vowel and
usually spelled o and sometimes a.
Bottle, box, holiday, chocolate, clock, coffee,
copy, cost, cross, doctor, dog, gone, got, holiday,
hospital, hot, job, lock, long, lost, lot, not, off,
often, possible, shop, song, sorry, stop, top,
wrong, quality, want, wash, watch, what
NB: the word was is sometimes pronounced
with //
is a long sound and has different spellings:
a all, ball, call, fall, tall
al talk, walk, au autumn, aw saw
augh caught, daughter, taught
ough bought, thought
ar quarter, warm
or born, short, sort
oor door, floor
ore before, more
our four
/e/ is a short sound and usually spelled as
e check, leg, letter, red, sentence
ea bread, head, read
ie friend
a any, many
ai again, said
// is a short sound and
usually spelled a
Back, camera, hat, jam, map, plan, traffic
// is a long sound and spelled
ir, or, ur, our, ear, er.
Ir bird, first, birthday, circle, thirty
Or word, work, world, worse, worst
Ur turn, Thursday
Our journey
Ear early, earth, heard, learn
Er service, Germany, prefer
Put the words into the correct
groups
/i/ is a long sound and is spelled in different
ways.
ea
real
ear ear beard clear hear year
eer beer cheers
ere here were
/e/ is a long sound and is spelled in different
ways:
are care, square
air air, chair, fari, hari
ear wear
ere where
aer aeroplane
/ e /is a long sound and is spelled in different
ways.
a age, came, plane, table
ai rain, wait
ay day, play, say
ey grey
Ea break, great
Eigh eight, weight
/a/ is a long sound and id spelled in different
ways
i
like, time, white
ie die
y dry, July, why
igh high, night, right
uy buy
// is a long sound and usually spelled as
oi coin, point, voice
oy boy, enjoy, toy
//is a long sound and usually spelled as:
o no, cold, post, close, drove, home, phone
ow know, low, show, slow
oa boat
oe toe
/a/is a long sound and usually spelled as
ow how now vowel
ou loud, mouth sound
Compare
