 |
|
Sounds and meaning
On this page we will explore the relationship between spelling and sounds
in English. Because this relationship varies a little from one English
accent to another, we will use just one accent to avoid confusion. We
will use Received Pronunciation (RP), the accent associated with most
BBC news readers, as this accent is probably the most widely known in
the UK..
Spelling and sounds
When we talk about patterns of alliteration,
assonance
and rhyme,
we are talking about patterns of distinctive speech sounds (phonemes).
But people often confuse sound patterns with spelling patterns. The English
writing system is based on the idea that a spelling letter represents
a phoneme. So, for example, the word 'bed' has three letters in its written
version and also three sounds in its spoken version: /bed/ (the 'slash
brackets' indicate a phonemic transcription, as opposed to a spelling
- which we put in inverted commas in the standard way). A reasonably exact
relationship between spellings and phonemes exists for many simple words
in English (e.g. 'mat', 'cap', 'lit'), but there are also plenty where
things are nothing like so straightforward. The word 'back' has four letters,
for example, but only three phonemes: /bæk/,
and 'scuffle' has seven letters but only five phonemes: /skʌfl/.
Sometimes the numerical relationship is the other way round. 'Fox' has
three letters but four phonemes: /fɒks/.
There are also lots of inconsistencies in how our spelling system represents
phonemes. So, the 'x' in 'fox' represents at the same time both the /k/ and the /s/ in /fɒks/. But elsewhere,
/k/ can be represented in spelling terms as a 'k' (as in 'kin') or a 'c'
(as in 'can'). There are 26 letters (21 consonants, 5 vowels) in the English
alphabet, but approximately 45 phonemes (22 consonants,
3 approximants,
12 pure vowels
and 8 diphthongs)
in English (exactly how many varies a little from one dialect to another).
It is no wonder that children sometimes have difficulties learning to
spell!
Rhymes and Eye Rhymes
It is this 'lack of fit' between the spelling and sound systems that
gives rise to the distinction between rhymes (a property of sounds: what
you can hear) and eye rhymes (a property of letters: what you can
see). So:
'fine' (/faɪn/) and 'line' (/laɪn/ are rhymes and also eye rhymes
'scoff' (/skɒf/) and 'trough' (/trɒf;/)
rhyme, but are not eye rhymes
'bough' (/bɑʊ/) and 'cough' (/kɒf/)
are eye rhymes but do not rhyme
|
