Basic Elements of Phonetic Analysis
• Syllabication
• Diphthongs
• Digraphs
• Variant vowel sounds such as r-controlled
Syllabication is the process
of analyzing the patterns of
vowels and consonants in a
word to determine where
the word breaks into
syllables
A syllable is a unit of
pronunciation containing a
single vowel sound with or
without more closely
combined consonant
sounds
Practice
Syllable
absolutely
alphabet
bloomed
dreadful
flower
garden
name
perfect
thirteen
wilted
Syllable
Syllable
Syllable
Answers
Syllable
Syllable
Syllable
absolutely
ab
so
lute
alphabet
al
pha
bet
bloomed
bloomed
dreadful
dread
ful
flower
flow
er
garden
gar
den
name
name
perfect
per
fect
thirteen
thir
teen
wilted
wilt
ed
Syllable
ly
A diphthong is a complex
speech sound or glide that
begins with one vowel and
gradually changes to
another vowel within the
same syllable
“Chrysanthemum grew and grew and grew.”
“She loved the way it sounded when her mother woke her up.
She loved the way it sounded when her father called her for
dinner.
And she loved the way it sounded when she whispered it to
herself in the bathroom mirror.”
A vowel digraph is two
vowel letters in a word that
represent only one sound
A consonant digraph is two
consonant letters in a word
that represent only one
sound
“Chrysanthemum thought her name was absolutely perfect.
And then she started school.
On the first day, Chrysanthemum wore her sunniest dress
and her brightest smile. She ran all the way.
“Hooray!” said Chrysanthemum. “School!””
“But when Mrs. Chud took roll call, everyone giggled
upon hearing Chrysanthemum’s name.”
When a vowel letter is
followed by an r, the vowel
and the r represent one
murmuring vowel sound;
therefore, the vowel sound
is r-controlled
“The day she was ____ was the happiest day
in her parents’ lives.”
O
F
B
R
N
T
K
“The day she was born was the happiest day
in her parents’ lives.”
B
F
O
R
N
T
K
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“The fluent reader sounds
good, is easy to listen to,
and reads with enough
expression to help the
listener understand and
enjoy the material.”
—Charles Clark
References
• Henkes, Kevin. Chrysanthemum. New York:
Greenwillow Books, 1991.
• The Literacy Company. 21 September 2009.
The Literacy Company. 28 September 2009.
<http://www.readfaster.com/readingquotes.asp>
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