Explanation of the Phonemes

Kword-read was developed to help learners of English as a second language recognize the multiple spellings of some of the same phonemes in the English language. Below is a list of phonemes used in the English language. There are approximately 41 phonemes yet when we write the English language there are approximately 77 different spellings of these 41 phonemes. It’s no wonder learners of English as a second language have so much difficulty

In kword-read we have developed one spelling for each of the 41 phonemes. Kword-read is a translation program that will translate standard English into a form of English that is totally phonetic. Comparing standard English to a phonetic English will help learners correctly pronounce and recognize the multiple spellings in the English language. Below are lists of words that contain these multiple spelling followed by the kword-read spelling.

Long vowels

In standard English the long vowel sound for each vowel is spelled many different ways. In Kword-read the long vowel sound is spelled with the double letter of that vowel. Some examples are;

play = plaa
eat = eet
light = liit
show = shoo,
mute = muut

Long /a/ vowel phonemes	kword = aa
Standard English	kword
table	taabl
take	taak
train	traan
eight	aat
day	daa
steak	staak
vein	vaan
trey	traa

Long vowel /e/ phonemes	kword = ee
Standard English	kword
be	bee
bean	been
sleep	sleep
key	kee
mete	meet
shield	sheeld
happy	hapee
weird	weerd

Long vowel /i/ phonemes	kword = ii
Standard English	kword
tiger	tiigr
bike	biik
fight	fiit
mild	miild
by	bii
pie	pii

Long vowel /o/ phonemes	kword = oo
Standard English	kword
go	goo
hole	hool
goat	goot
window	windoo
gold	goold
toe	too

Long vowel /u/ phonemes	kword = uu
Standard English	kword
music	muusik
mute	muut
feud	fuud
few	fuu
argue	orguu

Short vowel sounds

Kword-read spells the short vowel sounds with the single letter of the vowel. Some examples would be, cat, sit, sub and top. There is one exception. The vowel team ea can also make the short /e/ sound.

Standard English	kword
bread	bred
sweat	swet

“R” controlled vowels

When the letter “r” stands behind the vowel it can modify the sound that vowel makes.

Standard English	kword
car	kor
corn	koorn
her	hr
bird	brd
turn	trn

Special consonants spellings

In standard English sometimes the letter s is used to spell the /z/ phoneme. In kword-read the letter z will always be used to spell the /z/ phoneme.

Standard English	kword
is	iz
his	hiz
rise	riiz

In standard English the phoneme /f/ can be spelled with the letter f or the letters ph. In kword-read the phoneme /f/ is only spelled with the letter f.

Standard English	kword
phone	foon
graph	graf

In standard English the phoneme /k/ can be spelled with the letter k, the letter c, or the letters ck together. In kword-read only the letter k is used to spell the /k/ sound.

Standard English	kword
keep	keep
cup	kup
truck	truk

In standard English the “ch” phoneme is spelled two different ways. The first spelling is ch like in the word bench. The second spelling is tch like in the word ditch. The kword-read spelling is ch.

Standard English	kword
match	mach
batch	bach
pitch	pich

In standard English the phoneme /s/ can be spelled with the letter s or the letter c. In kword-read only the s will be used to spell the phoneme /s/.

Standard English	kword
city	sitee
cyst	sist
cent	sent

In standard English the /j/ phoneme can be spelled with the letter j, the letter g, or the letters dge. In kword-read only the letter j will spell the /j/ phoneme.

Standard English	kword
jump	jump
large	lorj
fudge	fuj

“Y” as a consonant or a vowel

In standard English the letter “y” can be a consonant, or a vowel. When the letter “y” is a consonant it is pronounced like the “y” in the word yes. The “y” can also make the short vowel sound of “i” like in the word hymn, The long vowel sound of “I” like in the word “dry”, and the long vowel sound of “e” like in the word candy. In kword-read the letter “y” is used to spell the consonant sound of the letter “y”. The long and short vowel sounds the letter “y” can make are spelled using kword-read spellings for the respective vowels.

Standard English	kword
yet	yet
try	trii
system	sistem
handy	handee

Three different spellings for the suffix “Ed”

In standard English the suffix “ed”can be pronounced three different ways. The first pronunciation of the suffix “ed” is /d/ like in the word learned. The second pronunciation of the suffix “ed” is /t/ like in the word worked. The third pronunciation of the suffix “ed”is /id/ like in the word planted.

Standard English	kword
smelled	smeld
helped	helpt
added	adid

Diphthongs

In kword-read, the diphthong /oo/ like in the word moon spelled “uo.” The diphthong /oo/ like in the word book is spelled “ou.”

Standard English	kword
room	ruom
took	touk

In standard English the digraph “ow” is pronounced /o/ like it snow and /ow/ like in the word cow. In the kword-read spelling the word cow is spelled short vowel “o” and the letter “w”.

Standard English	kword
town	town
down	down
grow	groow
row	roow

In standard English the sound “ou” like in the word ouch can be pronounced two different ways. The first is /ou/ like in the word ouch. The second is /ou/ like in the word soup. In kword-read the first sound ouch is spelled ow, (short vowel “o”sound with the letter “w”). The second sound /ou/, like in the word soup is spelled uo, like in the kword-read word muon “moon”.

Standard English	kword
cloud	clowd
group	group

In standard English the digraph “aw” like in the word saw can be spelled three different ways. It can be spelled “aw” like in the word saw, “au” like in the word haul, or “al”like in the word talk.

Standard English	kword
saw	sau
haul	haul
talk	tauk

In standard English the diphthongs “oi” and “oy” are pronounced long “o” consonant “y” like in the word boil and boy. In kword-read these diphthongs are pronounced /ooy/.

Standard English	kword
hoist	hooyst
employ	emplooy