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syllables

Definition

A syllable is a word or part of a word pronounced as a unit. Words can have multiple syllables. In English we only have 42 English phonemes, smallest unit of sound, but we spell these with over 500 hundred different graphemes, the representation of one sound with letters.Think about all the ways to make long vowel sounds (words where the vowels say their name): pain, pane, reign.

Why? English takes root in the language of the conquered and conqueror. Words and spelling came in from French, Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Latin, Greek, and West African histories colliding through centuries.

Reading Syllable Divisions

When reading syllabic spelling we use: C-for consonant V for vowel Cle for consonant L-E words

In English we have four main divisions of syllables

  • Two consonants between vowels like bigger or sicker
  • One consonant between two vowels like loser or forest
  • Three consonants between two vowels like candle and complex.
  • Consonant-le words such as rifle and bubble.

CLOVER syllable Classification

We classify syllables using the mnemonic device: CLOVER

Closed- A syllable ending in one or more consonants with a short vowel sound.

cLe- Every syllable must have an onset or a rime and thus a vowel. the cle world like bubble, muscle, show mus/cle as two different sounds each with a vowel.

Open- A syllable that ends with a long vowle sound like she, he, me, tree, flea.

Vowel combinations. These mean two or more vowels and come in flavors of CVVC, CCVVC. CVVC. They can include digraphs (talkers, vowels that say the first names)and dipthongs (whiners, voewls you say went you gett hurt…ooo, ou, oi).

VcE- The famous magic E. Really a split digraph, a fancy way of saying long vowel sounds made up of two vowels. The magic e always makes the first vowel say it's name. Turns cap into a cape.

R controlled vowels. The bossy r. A vowel followed by an r that cannot be removed. Think cave and carve. Try saying carve and leaving the sound out.

In the Classroom

syllables.txt · Last modified: 2021/06/07 15:46 by 76.23.135.43