This is the most common spelling unit in English. In case of a short vowel, the syllable is closed off by one or more than one consonant sound. As a result of this, in case a closed syllable is linked to another her syllable which starts with a consonant, two consonant letters will be present between the syllables as in ‘com-mon ,but-ter’
Here, two or more consonant letters in most cases come after short vowels in the closed syllables. For example in the following words: dodge, mess, jazz ,back .Each of the examples of the words in the example has just a single consonant phoneme at its end .The letters provide the short vowel sound some kind of extra protection against the undesired influence of vowel suffixes as in :stuffed, messy and backing.
Vowel –Consonant-e(VCe)syllables
This type of syllables is also known as “magic e” syllable patterns .They contain long vowels sounds that are spelled with a single letter ,which is followed by a single consonant ,and a silent letter e. The words with VCe syllables include: hare, rude, yore, while, and wake. Every single vowel can be spelt with a VCe pattern. However, the spelling of ‘long e’ with a VCe is rare.
Open Syllables
An open syllable is a syllable that ends with along vowel sound, which is spelt with only one vowel letter.There will be absolutely no consonant to close or open an open ended syllable as it will end with a vowel letter. Examples are found in the vowels such as: to-tal, mo-tor, and ri- val.
There are a few single-syllable words in English language which are also open syllables. They include words such as me, no she he, so and go.
Vowel Team Syllables
These are syllables with long vowel or short vowel spellings which use two to four letters to spell the vowel sound .A vowel team syllables may present along, short or even a diphthong vowel sound .Some of the vowel team syllables are found in words such as: hay, suit, boat ,and thief.
There cases when consonant letters are used in the vowel teams. For example, the letter ’y’ in ey,ay,oy and uy,and the letter ‘w’ as found in’ ew ‘,’ aw’,and’ ow’.These words are mainly drawn from the Anglo Saxon English.Other vowel sounds with consonant letters are –igh,ough, and –augh.
Vowel –r Syllables/r-controlled syllables
These are syllables with er, ir, or, ar, or ur .Here, pronunciation of the vowel often changes before /r/.Simply put, the sequence of letters in this class of syllable is a vowel which is followed by ‘r’. The vowel-r syllables are very many, variable, and are also hard for many to master .Hence, they require constant, and continuous review by its learners. Examples of vowel-r syllables are found in the words such as:perform ,wart ,ardor ,mirror ,and worth.
Works Cited
Moats, L, & Tolman, C . Excerpted from Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling (LETRS): Spellography for Teachers: How English Spelling Works (Module 3). Boston: Sopris West,2009.
Abarcrombie ,D.Elements of General Phonetics.Edinbugh:Edinburgh University Press,1967.
