Sounds (Phonemes)

Phoneme – an individual speech sound that changes the pronunciation or meaning of a word; changing /m/ in mat to /s/ changes the word to sat and changes the pronunciation and meaning
Example: sat has 3 phonemes /s/ /ă/ /t/; three has 3 phonemes /th/ /r/ /ē/; break has 4 phonemes /b/ /r/ /ā/ /k/

Phonemic Awareness – the ability to hear sounds, identify sounds, and manipulate sounds in spoken words. Spoken words are made up of speech sounds (phonemes). English has 40-44 phonemes. For learners to become successful in understanding how sounds and symbols go together, learners must be able to detect phonemes in words.

Vowel Phonemes

(Grab a mirror or your phone's selfie camera for this part.)

All phonemes have certain characteristics. Let’s make a discovery about Vowels. Say these words: at, alligator, after, apple.

When you say each word, what is the first sound you hear? Now, just say that initial or beginning sound in at, alligator, after, apple. That single sound, or phoneme, is the short 'a' sound. When we attempt to "write" that sound it looks like this: /ă/. Look in a mirror at your mouth while you say /ă/. What is your mouth doing? Your mouth is wide open. Place your fingers on your vocal cords (the front of your throat) and say /ă/. Can you feel your vocal cords vibrate? Yes. We say the sound is "voiced" when the vocal cords vibrate to make the sound.

Let's try a different vowel sound. Say these words: apron, ate, acorn, agent.

Once again, only say the initial, or beginning, sound of apron, ate, acorn, agent. That single sound is the long 'a' sound. When we attempt to "write" that speech sound it looks like this: /ā/. Look in the mirror at your mouth while you say /ā/. What is your mouth doing? Your mouth is wide open. Place your fingers on your vocal cords and say /ā/. Can you feel your vocal cords vibrate? Yes. So, whether the vowel is the "short" sound or the "long" sound, it will always be open and voiced.

All vowels are open and voiced.

Vowel – speech sound that opens the mouth; vowel sounds are voiced; vowel letters in English are a, e, i , o, u and sometimes w and y
"Vowels (Hand Gestures) on YouTube

Consonant Phonemes

Now, let's make a discovery about Consonants.

(When working on consonant sounds, be careful not to add an "uh" to the sound. We're bright, not buhright!)

Say these words: lucky, lemon, lively, love.

Look in the mirror as you say those words again. Now, say just the initial (beginning) sound. When we "write" this sound, it looks like this: /l/. What happens in your mouth when you say /l/? Is your mouth still open? No, now your mouth is blocked. When our mouths move to make the /l/ sound, the tip of our tongue touches the roof of our mouth just behind our front teeth. So, we say this sound is blocked by the tongue. Touch your vocal cords. Do they still vibrate? Yes, but because this sound is blocked and no longer open, it can't be a vowel sound. It is a consonant sound.

Consonants are blocked by the tongue, teeth or lips.

Look in the mirror as you say these words: snake, sick, silly, Sunday. Now, just say the initial (beginning) sound. When we "write" this sound, it looks like this: /s/. What happens in your mouth when you only say the beginning sound in snake, sick, silly, Sunday? Is your mouth open? No, your mouth is blocked. When our mouths move to make the /s/ sound our teeth come together and air pushes our tongue and the roof of our mouth. So, this sound is blocked. Touch your vocal cords. Do they vibrate? This is our first sound when our vocal cords do not vibrate. When our vocal cords are not active, the sound is unvoiced. Because this sound is blocked and unvoiced, it is a consonant sound.

Consonants are blocked by the tongue, teeth, or lips. Consonants can be voiced or unvoiced.

Look in the mirror as you say these words: back, button, beach, bite. Now, just say the initial (beginning) sound. (Remember, no "uh"!) When we "write" this sound, it looks like this: /b/. What happens in your mouth when you only say the beginning sound in back, button, beach, bite? Is your mouth still open? No, your mouth begins completely blocked by your lips, then our lips open in a release. So, we say that this sound is partially blocked because our mouth is not blocked the entire time. Touch your vocal cords. Do they vibrate? Yes. It is a consonant sound.

Consonants are blocked or partially blocked by the tongue, teeth, or lips. Consonants can be voiced or unvoiced.

Consonant – a speech sounds blocked or partially blocked by the tongue, teeth, or lips; consonant sounds may be voiced or unvoiced
"Consonants (Hand Gestures) on YouTube

Phoneme Characteristics

Open - the mouth is unblocked by the tongue, teeth, or lips while producing the sound as in /ă/, /ī/, /ŭ/

Blocked - the position of the tongue, teeth, or lips blocks the production of sound as in /m/, /l/, /s/

Partially blocked - there is a release of the tongue, teeth, or lips during the sound production; the sound is not blocked during the entire production of the sound as in /p/, /t/, /k/

Continuant (continuous) - produced continuously as with /l/, /s/, and /m/

Clipped - has a brief production as with /g/, /t/, and /p/; it is important to not add /ŭh/ to the end of clipped sounds

Voiced - sound activates the vocal cords during production as in /l/ and /m/

Unvoiced - sound does not activate the vocal cords during production as in /s/, /t/, /h/

Have you spotted the exception? The /h/ sound (hello, home, handle, hunt) is the only consonant sound where our mouth is open like for a vowel sound. But /h/ is unvoiced, so it isn't a vowel.

Phoneme Inventory Videos on Vimeo