Accent Reduction: 3 Reasons Knowing Phonemic Symbols can Accelerate your Progress

There are 3 Reasons knowing phonemic symbols can accelerate your accent reduction progress.  Phonemic symbols are used to represent phonemes.  Phonemes are the smallest meaningful unit of speech.

3 Reasons

  1. Phonemic symbols are used because alphabet letters simply don’t have the power to show the different speech features.
  2. There are multiple phonemic symbols for the same letter.
  3. There are multiple letters for one phonemic symbol.

Keep reading for further information and examples to illustrate these points.

Why we Need Phonemic Symbols

We need phonemic symbols because the letters of the alphabet do not fully represent the number of phonemes. Phonemic symbols are used for representing sounds being spoken, while alphabet letters are used to for written communication, not spoken communication.  Even combinations of single letters do not represent the full number of phonemes. Think of phonemic symbols as a way to fill in the gaps that the alphabet can not.  Alphabet letters can not represent the features of speech such as voicing.  Keep reading in order to consider an example using a digraph (defined below) that can not alone in its letters indicate voicing differences.

Example using a Digraph

A digraph is a combination of letters that represents one phoneme, or meaningful speech sound. Yet consider this example to understand why phonemes are needed and why alphabet letters are not sufficient.  The two letters together “t” and “h” represent the digraph “th”.  However; in the English language, these two letters “t” and “h” combined, which comprise the digraph “th”, represent two different phonemes. The English language has a voiced “th” and an unvoiced “th.”  Therefore, two separate phonemic symbols are used to represent this one digraph.

Example using a Vowel

Another example of the case for using phonemic symbols is in letters that represent vowels.  For example, the letter “a” represents xx different phonemes.  The letter “a” represents what is sometimes considered the “short a” and the “long a”.  However, there is a third “a” vowel sound that does not fit into either of those categories, and for which a third phonemic symbol is needed.

Example using a Consonant

Here is an example of the need for phonemes using a consonant.  This example actually involves one phoneme that represents multiple single letters and digraphs.  There is one phoneme that represents the following letter and letter combinations.: k, ck, c, cc, cch, ch, and qu.

Summary

Knowing phonemic symbols can accelerate your accent reduction progress.  There are three main reasons for this:

  1. Phonemic symbols are used because alphabet letters simply don’t have the power to show the different speech features.
  2. There are multiple phonemic symbols for the same letter.
  3. There are multiple letters for one phonemic symbol.

To your accent reduction success,

Cher

16 Comments

Mateja PetjeJuly 23rd, 2014 at 7:11 am

Thank you for sharing this I learned some new things!

SangitaJuly 23rd, 2014 at 10:07 am

Hi Cher,
WOW, learning something new about letters to write and phonemic symbols when speaking. Makes so much sense specially when someone is speaking multiple languages, like I do and it does get difficult sometimes to speak when directly reading from a paper. Thank you for sharing 🙂

veronicaJuly 23rd, 2014 at 4:32 pm

Very informative article. I did not realize what a “digraph” is and appreciate the explanation. I went through something similar when learning Italian. This is a key piece of information for anyone learning English and wanting to enunciate correctly.

Vickie LegareJuly 23rd, 2014 at 5:04 pm

Very interesting article Cher!. Thank you for sharing I learned alot from it.

Tina GamesJuly 23rd, 2014 at 9:32 pm

Thank you for such an informative post, Cher! ~ It took me back to my college days when I studied speech pathology. Certain courses were required for those of us who were majoring in broadcast journalism. 🙂

marthaJuly 24th, 2014 at 5:12 pm

Interesting and very informative post Cher! This all a new concept for me. Thank you for your insight and wisdom!

Jill GreinkeJuly 24th, 2014 at 7:40 pm

Thank you for all your information Cher! I learn so much from you each week.

TeenaJuly 25th, 2014 at 7:29 am

Hi Cher – Super informative post for me – I didn’t know what a Phonemic Symbol or a Digraph were until now. I love learning new things particularly ways to communicate more clearly. Thank you for sharing your expertise 🙂

Teena
http://www.coupletherapyconnection.com

Cher GundersonJuly 26th, 2014 at 10:34 am

Teena,
Yes, most of my clients who speak English as a second or other language aren’t aware of phonemic symbols either. When they begin using them, it makes a huge difference in the rate of their progress 🙂
Cher

Cher GundersonJuly 26th, 2014 at 10:35 am

Jill, you’re very welcome. I also learn a lot from your articles 🙂
Cher

Cher GundersonJuly 26th, 2014 at 10:37 am

Martha,
You’re very welcome. This is almost always a new concept for my clients who speak English as their non-native language too :). The phonemic symbols greatly accelerate their communication progress because it gives them a much more efficient foundation to work from.
Cher

Cher GundersonJuly 26th, 2014 at 10:38 am

Tina,
Wow! It’s interesting that you were required to take speech pathology courses in broadcast journalism. That’s great, and hopefully you have good memories associated… 🙂
Cher

Cher GundersonJuly 26th, 2014 at 10:39 am

Vickie,
You’re welcome. It’s the world of phonemics and phonetics that is a great foundation for speakers of English as a non-native language.
Cher

Cher GundersonJuly 26th, 2014 at 10:41 am

Veronica, yes, as you point out, it is a key foundation that speeds progress for anyone speaking a different language than their own. How many years of Italian did you study?
Cher

Cher GundersonJuly 26th, 2014 at 10:41 am

Sangita,
Yes, I would expect this article to be very informative and helpful for you. Which languages do you speak besides English?
Cher

Cher GundersonJuly 26th, 2014 at 10:42 am

Mateja,
You’re very welcome 🙂 Glad I could share some new information with you.
Cher

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