- Language and its Parts
- Words
- Phonemes
- Morphemes
- Reading
- Its Relationship to Language
- Alphabetic Principle
- Phoneme Awareness
- Phonics
August 1, 2020
Outline for Today
Language & Speech Come First
Language and its Parts
Private & Public Language
Private & Public Language
Much of language lives privately inside a brain.
Speech is the public face of language.
Its purpose is to get a message from one brain to another.
Words
What is a Word?
An association between a Pronunciation & a Meaning.
Some Examples?
Words
Coffee
Each Word is an association between a pronunciation and an idea.
Parity: Words in my head are close enough to the words in your head to allow communication (close enough in terms of their pronunciations and their paired meanings).
Phonemes
Speech Sounds?
Phonemes
Speech Sounds?
Something Else?
Phonemes
k æ t
æ k t
t æ k
s t æ k
Same Phoneme, Different Clothes
t æ k
s t æ k
Power of Combinations
How Many Phonemes are there in English?
A small number of phonemes can be productively combined to form an unlimited number of (potential) word forms.
Morphemes
An association between a pronunciation & a meaning.
Sound familiar?
Morphemes
kæt.s
tæk.s
Morpheme, Different Morpheme
Not Morpheme
sing.er
paint.er
bigg.er
loud.er
corner
water
Even More Morphemes
un.lock.able
un.dress.ed
dent.ist.ry
pian(o).ist.s
trans.fer.able
con.fer.al
Morphemes
How Many Morphemes are there in English?
Lots!
Reading
Language & Speech Come First
Language & Speech Come First
Reading & Language
Reading is Hard Because Listening is Easy.
— Alvin Liberman
We have a genetic predisposition for Language & Speech,
but not so much for Reading & Writing.
The Treachery of Images
The Treachery of Images
The famous pipe. How people reproached me for it! And yet, could you stuff my pipe? No, it’s just a representation, is it not? So if I had written on my picture “This is a pipe”, I’d have been lying!
— René Magritte
Print Rides Piggyback on Speech
Reading is in some sense parasitic on speech.
— Alvin Liberman
Reading depends on speech & language but,
speech & language get on just fine without reading.
The Alphabetic Principle
Letters represent speech sounds.
The Alphabetic Principle
Letters represent speech sounds phonemes.
The Alphabetic Principle
Letters represent phonemes.
There is a MORE OR LESS predictable relationship
between written letters and Phonemes.
Knowledge of letters.
Knowledge of phonemes.
Knowledge of the connections between them (PHONICS!)
The Alphabetic Principle
It’s Complicated
How many phonemes are there in English?
How many letters are there in the English Alphabet?
Is that a problem?
Phoneme Awareness
Phonemes live (privately) in the brain.
Phoneme Awareness
Conscious awareness of phonemes.
Phoneme Awareness
Phoneme Blending.
Phoneme Substitution.
Phoneme Elision.
Phonics
Explicit KNOWLEDGE of relationships
between letters and phonemes.
Explicit INSTRUCTION in relationships
between letters and phonemes.
Phonics
English phonics is complicated by the fact that
the connection between letters and phonemes
is only MORE OR LESS predictable.
The Big 5 Ideas in Reading
Recap of Today
- Language and (some of) its Parts
- Words
- Phonemes
- Morphemes
- Public vs. Private Language
- Reading
- Speech & Language Come First
- Alphabetic Principle
- Phoneme awareness
- Phonics
Further Reading
Thank You!
email: davebraze@gmail.com
website: davebraze.org