Why is orthography important?
In the article, "How Words Cast Their Spell," the writers posit that spelling is "not a matter of memorization" but "an integral part of learning the language" (pg. 6). They assert that "spelling instruction underpins reading success by creating an awareness of the sounds that make up words and the letters that spell those sounds" (pg. 6) Learning to spell makes reading easier. Furthermore, there is a high "correlation between spelling and reading comprehension [...] because both depend on a common denominator: proficiency with language" (pg. 9). If we want our students to master reading comprehension, we must help our students master spelling.
“If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them.” -- George Orwell
Important Orthography Vocabulary
- Phoneme -- A speech sound that combines with others in a language system to make words.
- Consonant -- A phoneme that is not a vowel and is formed with obstruction of the flow of air with the teeth, lips, or tongue; English has 40 or more consonant phonemes.
- Vowel -- An open phoneme that is the nucleus of every syllable and is classified by tongue position and height, such as high/low or front/mid/back; English has 15 vowel phonemes.
- Grapheme -- A letter or letter combination that spells a single phoneme; in English, a grapheme may be one, two, three, or four letters, such as e, ei, igh, or eigh.
- Morpheme -- The smallest meaningful unit of language.
- Syllable-- Unit of pronunciation that is organized around a vowel; it may or may not have consonants before or after the vowel.
We Spell with Letters and Letter Combinations -- Graphemes.
Consonant Grapheme Types
- Single letter (including blends) as in trap, spend
- Digraphs (one sound/two letters) as in chain, phone
- Trigraphs (one sound/three letters) as in edge, switch
- Silent Letter Combinations as in autumn, walk
Vowel Grapheme Types
- Single Letter Spelling (long and short) as in robot, cat
- Vowel Teams as in east, south, blue
- Vowel –r Combinations as in her, bird, fur, car
- Vowel-Consonant-e as in cape, kite
The Position of a Phoneme or Grapheme Influences What Letters are Used to Spell Sounds
Spellings for ng
- Spell ng for the /ng/ sound at the end of a word/syllable
- Spell n for the /ng/ sound when it falls before a /k/ or /g/
Spellings for long a
- Spell long a ai in the middle of a word as in rain
- Spell long a ay at the end of a word as in may
Phoneme-Grapheme Consonant Generalizations
- /n/ kn, gn – Silent letter spellings only at the beginning of Anglo-Saxon origin
- /g/ gh, gue – a limited set of English words spelled with gh are ghost, ghastly, and ghoul. The –gue closes off French words such as league, fatigue.
- /k/ k, c, ck, ch- The spellings for /k/ depend on the sound’s position and the language of origin. After an accented short vowel, a –ck is used. In Greek words, the ch is used.
- /kw/ qu- This is the only two letter spelling that stands for 2 speech sounds (/kw/). Letter q is always followed by u in English.
- /f/ ff, ph, gh- A double f is used after short, accented vowels (stuff), ph is used in words of Greek origin (philosophy), gh is used at the ends of a handful of Anglo Saxon words (tough, rough, cough, laugh)
- /ch/ tch, ch- A –tch occurs after an accented short vowel (thatch) and –ch occurs after long vowels, diphthongs, or consonants (ouch)
- /j/ dge, ge- No word in Engligh ends in j! At the ends of syllables after an accented short vowel, the dge is used (fudge, dodge, sledge)
We Spell by Letter Patterns
Never Double - h, k, y, j, v, w, x, nor any consonant digraphs (ng, sh, th, ph, ch, gh, wh)
Double Consonant or it’s substitute is found between a stressed short vowel syllable and an inflection beginning with a vowel (grabbing, drugged)
Spellings ck, dge, tch, and x replace/act as a double consonant after a short vowel in words and signal the vowel is short as in picnicking, boxing, pitching
Letters j and v Never End Words! Thus spellings for the j sound maybe –dge or –ge at ends of words. In words ending with the /v/ sound, the marker e is placed at the end of the word so as to not violate the v rule. (Letter e is holding the v up so he doesn’t fall over!)
Letter e Has Many Jobs. It mat act as a phoneme directly (wet, be). It can act as a marker in a larger orthographic pattern (spade, make). The letter e can indicate when a vowel is long (drape, probe). It indicates when a c or a g should be ‘soft’ as in stooge, receive, nice. It also is placed at the end of words with s to keep them from looking like plurals (house, please, cheese).
Letter u as a Marker – Letter u in words like guest and guide intervenes between the g and the e/I to keep g from having the soft sound.
Families that Violate ‘Long Vowel’ Spelling Conventions – find, kind, most, post, wild, mild, old, cold, pint
The Language of Origin Explains a Word's Spelling
Anglo Saxon – one syllable, very common things and ideas, oldest words in English, have digraphs, diphthongs, and silent letters
French/Romance – Have spellings such as ou for coupon or que for bouquet, have words for food, concepts of enlightenment as in magnificent
Latin – Include prefixes, roots, and suffixes. They are built around roots. They have endings. No th or vowel teams.
Greek - Use ph for /f/, ch for /k/, and y for /i/ (short i). Combines morphemes more freely and in different sequences than Latin counterparts. Are often used as scientific or mathematical terms.