The 44 Phonemes In The English Language

Language development starts off with phonemes, the smallest distinctive sound unit in language. According to the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, phonemic awareness helps kids focus on phonemes in words. Some approaches to help kids include analogy phonics, analytic phonics, phonics through spelling, synthetic phonics, and embedded phonics. These approaches are given to a kid based on the way they comprehend phonemes (n.pag). The Dyslexia Reading Well states that there are about 44 phonemes in the English language. Each phoneme is a mix of letters in the alphabet. The 44 phonemes fall into three different categories: consonants, vowels, and digraphs, they conclude (n.pag). Morphemes are the smallest unit of meaningful sound and can be divided further than just the 44 phonemes. According to the Rochester Institute of …show more content…
According to Wayne Weiten, author of Psychology: Themes and Variations, semantics is the large area of language concerned with understanding the meaning of words and word combinations. Weiten also states that “learning about this includes learning about various other things and what those words refer to,” (Weiten, 315). After phonemes and morphemes and semantics in the structure of language, syntax comes next. It is “a system of rules that specify how words can be arranged into sentences.” A sentence must contain a verb phrase and a noun phrase, Weiten concludes. Children who don’t learn language during their critical period lose the ability to learn language in the future.
According to Veronica Cullinan and Agata Vitale, authors of “The contribution of Relational Frame Theory to the development of interventions for impairments of language and cognition”, Relational Frame Theory has random and useful relational responding and has key information dealing with language development and acquisition.