Sound analysis of a word: what it is and how to do it correctly

As soon as parents begin to think about how to teach their child reading skills, in addition to letters and syllables, the concept of "sound analysis of a word" appears. However, not everyone understands why it is necessary to teach a child who cannot read how to do it, because this can only cause confusion. But, as it turns out, the ability to write correctly in the future depends on the ability to correctly understand words into sounds.

Sound analysis of the word: what is it

First of all, it is worth giving a definition. So, the sound analysis of a word is called the definition in the order of their placement of sounds in a particular word and the characteristic of their features.

Why should children learn to perform sound analysis of a word? To develop phonemic hearing, that is, the ability to clearly distinguish sounding sounds and not to confuse words, for example: Tim - Dima. After all, if a child is not taught to clearly distinguish words by ear, he will not be able to write them down correctly. And this skill can be useful not only when studying the grammar of the native language, but also when studying the languages ​​of other countries.

The order of parsing a word by sound

When performing sound analysis of any word, you must first put stress, then divide it into syllables. Then find out how many letters are in the word and how many sounds. The next step is to gradually analyze each sound. After that, it is calculated how many vowels are in the analyzed word and how many consonants. At first, it is better for children to give simple monosyllabic or two-syllable words for analysis, for example, their names: Vanya, Katya, Anya and others.

When the child has gradually figured out how to correctly analyze using simple examples, it is worth complicating the examples of words being analyzed.

Sound analysis of the word: schema

When working with the youngest children, special colored cards are used for better assimilation of information.

With their help, children learn to create a sound analysis circuit.

The scarlet card is used to represent vowels. Blue - hard consonants, green - soft. To indicate syllables, two-color cards are used in the same color scheme. With their help, you can teach a child to characterize sounds and whole syllables. You also need a card to indicate stress and a card showing the division of the word into syllables. All these designations, which help teach a child to do sound analysis of a word (the scheme plays an important role in this), are approved by the official school curriculum of Russia.

Vowel sounds are their brief characteristics. Diphthongs

Before you start analyzing a word, it is important to know what features all phonetic sounds (vowels / consonants) have. When teaching children in the early stages, it is necessary to give information only about the simplest properties, everything else the child will study in high school.

Vowel sounds (there are six of them: [o], [a], [e], [s], [y], [and]) are percussive / unstressed.
Also in Russian there are letters that, in a certain position, can give a couple of sounds - yo [yo], yu [yu], i [ya], e [ye].

If they follow the consonants, they sound like one sound and give softness to the preceding sound. In other positions (the beginning of the word, after the vowels and "ъ" and "ь") sound like 2 sounds.

Brief characteristics of consonants

There are thirty-six consonants in our language, but only twenty-one characters represent them graphically. Consonants are hard and soft, as well as voiced and voiceless. They also may / may not pair.

The table below lists voiced and dull sounds that can form pairs, and those that do not.

It is worth remembering: the consonants [y`], [h`], [ny`] in any position are soft, and the consonants [w], [c], [w] are always hard. Sounds [q], [x], [h`], [uch`] - are absolutely always deaf, [m], [n], [l], [p], [y`] - (sonorous) or voiced ...

Soft and hard marks do not make sounds. The soft sign makes the previous consonant soft, and the hard sign plays the role of a separator of sounds (for example, in Ukrainian, the apostrophe plays a similar role).

Examples of sound analysis of words: "language" and "group"

With the theory out, it's worth trying to practice.

For example, you can perform a sound analysis of the word "language". This word is quite simple, and even a beginner will be able to make out it.

1) In this example, there are two syllables "ya-zyk". 2 syllable is stressed
2) The first syllable is formed with the help of the diphthong "I", which is at the beginning of the word, and therefore, consists of 2 sounds [y'a]. The sound [y`] is a consonant (acc.), Soft (soft) (green card), the second sound [a] is a vowel, unstressed (scarlet card). To designate this syllable in the diagram, you can also take a two-color green-red card.

4) Syllable 2 "tongue". It consists of three sounds [z], [s], [k]. The consonant [z] is firm, voiced (blue card). Sound [s] - vowel, shock (red card). Sound [k] - acc., Firm., Deaf. (blue card).
5) Stress is put and checked by changing the analyzed word.
6) So the word "language" has two syllables, four letters and five sounds.

It is worth considering one point: in this example, the word "language" was understood as for first grade students who do not yet know that some vowels in an unstressed position can produce other sounds. In high school, when students deepen their knowledge of phonetics, they will learn that in the word "language" unstressed [a] is pronounced as [and] - [yizyk].

Sound analysis of the word "group".

1) In the analyzed example, there are 2 syllables: "gru-ppa". 1 syllable is stressed.
2) The syllable "gru" is composed of three sounds [gru]. The first [g] - acc., Firm., Bell. (blue card). Sound [p] - acc., Firm., Bell. (blue card). Sound [y] - vowel, shock. (scarlet card).
3) A card is placed in the scheme, indicating the separation of syllables.
4) The second syllable "ppa" has three letters, but they produce only 2 sounds [p: a]. Sound [p:] - acc., Firm., Deaf. (blue card). It is also paired and pronounced long (blue card). Sound [a] - vowel, unstressed (scarlet card).
5) The accent is put in the scheme.
6) So, the word "group" consists of 2 syllables, six letters and five sounds.

The ability to do the simplest sound analysis of a word is not something difficult, in fact it is a rather simple process, but a lot depends on it, especially if the child has problems with diction. If you figure out how to do it correctly, it will help you pronounce words in your native language without mistakes and will contribute to the development of the ability to write them down correctly.