English Language Development

(Elliott) #1

Figure 3.9 provides the 43 commonly identified English phonemes. Other languages have more or
fewer phonemes.


Figure 3.9. English Phonemes

Symbol As heard in... Symbol As heard in...

/ā/ angel, rain /g/ gift, dog

/ǎ/ cat, apple /h/ happy, hat

/ē/ eat, seed /j/ jump, bridge

/ĕ/ echo, red /l/ lip, fall

/ī/ island, light /m/ mother, home

/ǐ/ in, sit /n/ nose, on

/ō/ oatmeal, bone /p/ pencil, pop

/ǒ/ octopus, mom /r/ rain, care

/ǔ/ up, hum /s/ soup, face

/oo/ oodles, moon /t/ time, cat

/oo/ put, book /v/ vine, of

/ә/ above, sofa /wh/ what, why

/oi/, /oy/ oil, boy /w/ wet, wind

/ou/, /ow/ out, cow /y/ yes, beyond

/aw/, /ô/ awful, caught /z/ zoo, because

är car, far /th/ thing, health

ôr four, or /th/ this, brother

ûr her, bird, turn /sh/ shout, machine

/b/ baby, crib /zh/ pleasure, vision

/k/ cup, stick /ch/ children, scratch

/d/ dog, end /ng/ ring, finger

/f/ phone, golf

Source
Yopp, Hallie K., and Ruth H. Yopp. 2011. Purposeful Play for Early Childhood Phonological
Awareness, 13. Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Education. Reprinted with permission.

154 | Chapter 3 Transitional Kindergarten to Grade 1

Free download pdf