ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

ELA 4: Phonemes st, th, and ch 6 Views


Share It!


Description:

Sting, thing...ching. What do all of those have in common? They're all made up of phonemes. Everything in this description is made of phonemes. Even you. Not you you, though. The word you. You're not a phoneme. As far as we know.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

[Coop and Dino singing]

00:13

Kick your brain-engines into high gear because we're about to ask you the hardest question [Man driving with brain on the bumper of the car]

00:18

you've ever been asked...

00:19

Ready?

00:20

Here it is:

00:21

What word…is….THIS?!

00:25

…Okay, so you probably answered that question in half a second.

00:27

Yeah, it’s “cat.”

00:29

And sure, “cat” might not be the hardest word to read and say aloud, but have you ever [A list of words]

00:34

thought about how you're able to do that?

00:36

What is it about the word cat that makes it sound like, well, the word cat?

00:40

Now that’s a hard question.

00:42

The answer is something called phonemes. [Coop talking about phonemes]

00:45

A phoneme is basically a fancy word for a sound used in speech – any old sound, really.

00:49

So when we look at the word cat, we find three phonemes that allow us to say the word. [A cat perched on top of a billboard]

00:54

Let’s break it down.

00:55

First is “CUH” and then is “AH,” and finally comes “TUH”.

01:00

Cuh-ah-tuh.

01:02

Cat.

01:02

Pretty straight-forward, right?

01:04

It’s just like when you learned to read for the first time.

01:06

All you have to do is sound it out!

01:08

Oh, and if you're wondering why each phoneme has a slash on either side of it, that's just [Arrows pointing to phonemes]

01:12

how phonemes are written.

01:13

It’s one of those rules that nobody ever questions, like why we have to sit down in

01:17

the classroom. [Boy stands up in class]

01:18

We just do.

01:19

Anyway, let’s take a look at some more phonemes.

01:21

So this first one is pretty straightforward.

01:23

It has an S and a T, and when you put those two sounds together, we get “ssssttt.”

01:30

This phoneme is important for words like “stone” and “west” and “street.” [A stone and a compass appear]

01:35

And what about this phoneme?

01:37

It has a T followed by an H, but unlike the previous phoneme, we don't simply combine

01:41

those two sounds, because “tuh”-”huh” doesn't sound right at all.

01:46

Instead, this combination of letters makes an entirely new sound - “thuh”

01:50

This “thuh” sound can be found in words like “teeth” and “nothing” and “month.” [Girl brushing her teeth]

01:56

Let's look at one more phoneme, because, hey, this stuff is kind of fun! [Students falling asleep in class]

01:59

Seriously, we do this at parties…we also don't get invited to a bunch of parties anymore…hm.

02:03

Wonder why…

02:05

Anyway, just like our previous phoneme, when we put two these letters together, we get

02:08

an entirely new sound. [/CH/ phoneme written in notepad]

02:10

In this case, the combination of C and H forms the sound “chuh” like in the words “chase”

02:15

and “witch” and “chair.” [A witch chasing a young boy]

02:17

Even though we might not think about it very often, we're constantly using and interpreting

02:21

phonemes in order to correctly pronounce words – well… unless we’re pretending to be

02:25

a Sim or something. [Two girls standing in a simulated Sims game]

02:26

Knowing all your phonemes is the difference between saying “cuh-hair” instead of “chair,”

02:31

saying “kit-cuh-hen” instead of “kitchen."

02:35

In other words, if you don't want to sound like a total weirdo to everyone around you, [Girl at a party and man appears]

02:39

knowing your phonemes is key.

02:40

But if you still want to sound like a sim, then throw your phonemes out the window!

02:44

Nebbe cronks now! [Witches chase Sims characters]

02:45

Sul sul!

Up Next

ELA 4: How Words Can Help
1205 Views

Sticks and stones, right? Well...only sometimes. It's a good idea to make sure your words aren't going to hurt others. Let's look at some ways to d...

Related Videos

ELA 4: Debating Like a Champ
744 Views

Learn to debate like a champ. It's way better than debating like a chimp. That just takes mudslinging to a whole new level.

ELA 4: Types of Biographies
277 Views

Today we'll learn about biographies and autobiographies. And no, the second one has nothing to do with the lives of cars. 

ELA 4: Complete Sentences
775 Views

In this lesson we'll subject you to some verbs and predicates. Each one is a necessary part of a complete breakfas—er...sentence.

ELA 4: Word Choice
222 Views

Choosing words carefully is important. You may end up vexing the assemblage of citizens you're conversing with...or you might even just plain bore...