Getting to Grips with Phonics Jargon (Part 2)

Welcome to part 2 of our blog posts on getting to grips with the terminology of phonics and reading. In our last post, we defined decoding, encoding, phoneme, grapheme, morphology, morpheme, phonics, phonological awareness, and phonemic awareness.

Now is a good time to pause and check you are confident in explaining each of those terms.

If so, let’s proceed.

Consonant (C): All letters other than a, e, i, o, and u. They are produced when the breath channel is constricted or closed.   

Consonant Cluster/Blend: A sequence of two or three consonants, in which each is heard e.g., blend, fold, stream etc.

Digraph: Two letters which combine to make one sound. There are vowel digraphs (e.g., ai), consonant digraphs (e.g., ch) and split digraphs (e.g., a_e as in make).

Diphthong: Single vowel sounds formed by the combining of two vowel in a single syllable. They are sometimes known as gliding vowels as our mouth changes position whilst saying them. We begin saying the initial vowel sound and then move towards the second. The topic of diphthongs is complex. As diphthongs vary between dialects, there is dispute over the precise number that exist. Typically, 8 diphthongs are recognised: /ɔɪ/ as in oil, /aʊ/ as in cow, /əʊ/ as in low, /aɪ/ as in eye, /eɪ/ as in great, /eə/ as in air, /ɪə/ as in ear, and /ʊə/ as in pure.

Semi-vowel: A phoneme between a consonant and a vowel, e.g., w and y. Y represents different sounds, e.g. funny, cry, gym. W and Y are frequently paired with vowels to produce various vowel sounds, e.g., boy, may, paw, wow, and new.

Syllabication: The division of words into syllables.

Syllables: Often termed beats, these are the smallest units of sound in words. Almost every syllable contains a vowel sound. (Exceptions are found in words such as rhythm and chasm.) The vowel in a syllable may stand alone or may be surrounded by consonants, e.g. a/bove, un/der, sun, sun/shine. There are 6 syllable types: closed, open, split digraph (VCe), vowel team, and r-controlled syllables and consonant + le.

• Closed Syllables: These end with a consonant. As a consequence, the vowel represents a short vowel sound, e.g., dog, sunshine.
• Open Syllables: These end with a vowel representing a long vowel sound, e.g., me, open
• VCe Syllables: In these split digraphs, the final silent e influences the vowel; together these represent a long vowel, e.g., mine, cupcake, caveman.
• Vowel Team Syllables: These syllables feature 2 vowels together (digraphs or diphthongs) that form a new sound, e.g., oil, paw, book.
• R-controlled Syllables: These feature vowels plus r (ar, er, ir, or, ur) where the r is said to ‘control’ the vowel and alter its sound.
• Consonant + le Syllables: These syllables end in -ble, -cle, -dle, -fle, -gle, -kle, -ple, -tle, -stle and -zle, e.g., tumble, handle, nozzle.

Vowel (V): The letters a, e, i, o, and u. When saying these phonemes, air flows through the mouth unobstructed and the tongue position determines the sounds produced. Vowel sounds may be short (as in cap, met, rid, hob & fun) or long where we hear the letter name (e.g. pain, meet, fine, flow & cure).

Understanding this terminology supports the teaching of phonics and reading.