Vowels and consonants

​Vowels and Consonants

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Pavithra Madushani Wickramaarachchi​

MR/ Nadugala Maha Vidyalaya, Matara. ​

​Introduction

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The English Language has 44 English sounds. They can be divided into two main categories: consonants and vowels. A consonant sound is a sound where the airflow is stopped, either partially or completely, when the sound is uttered. 

A vowel sound is a sound where the airflow is unstopped when the sound is produced. The vowel sounds are the rhyme or shift of our language. Monophthongs and diphthongs are the two categories of vowel sounds. Vowel sounds are also divided into long vowel sounds and short vowel sounds.

In English, a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y are the vowel letters. The rest of the letters in the alphabet represent consonants such as b, d, g, n, r, s, and t. some consonants produce more than one sound.

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​What is a vowel?

​A vowel is a speech sound where the mouth is open and the tongue doesn’t touch the top of the mouth, the teeth, etc. so that the flow of air is not limited.

A vowel is a sound made by blowing air out of the mouth without closing your mouth or teeth. It is the louder sounding part of a word.

It is necessary to know that there is a difference between a vowel sound and a vowel letter in the alphabet.

​Vowels are,

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​Long vowels and Short vowels

​The sounds of the letters of the English alphabet can somehow vary. In some cases, it can get tricky. Not all letters produce the same sound in all words. The letters can have different sounds according to how they are used. 

​A consonant is a sound that is produced by blocking air from flowing out of the mouth with the teeth, tongue, lips or palate. Consonants may come alone or in clusters but have to be connected to a vowel to form a syllable.

​What is a consonant?

​Consonants

​The English vowel sounds are written with letters in the English alphabet. All English words have vowel letters. They are vowels in English: A, E, I, O, U, and sometimes Y.  Y is “sometimes” a vowel because the letter Y presents both vowel and consonant sounds, like ‘fry’. 

​Vowels

​Points to remember.....

​English has 21 consonant letters, for 24 consonant sounds in most English accents:  H, J, K, L, M B, C, D, F, G, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X,  Z and (sometimes Y). The letter ‘y’ produces a consonant sound if at the beginning of a word ‘yellow’ but a vowel sound if at the end of a word ‘sunny’. 

What Do You Know about Place and Manner of Articulation of Consonants and Vowels?

​Manner of Articulation refers to the “how” of making sounds. There are six different ways or manners of articulation.

Place of Articulation refers to the ‘where’ of pronunciation. It is the location where sounds are made.

Let’s check the below charts that show the manner and place of articulations of consonants and vowels.

Some text here about the topic of discussion

​Manner of Articulation

​Place of Articulation

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Some Fun Activities For Learning Vowels and Consonants

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Short Vowel Craft Stick: Learners take turns to say a word with a short vowel sound out loud. The other learners catch up with the correct sound stick.

Picture Sorts: Students hold cards with the sounds and have to match pictures to the correct sounds.

Short or Long? The teacher says a word out loud, and the students have to know the sound and whether it is short or long.

Bend letters with pipe cleaners: Kids use the pipe cleaners to make consonant sounds.

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Multiple Choice

Circle the missing vowel or consonant letter for the word.

…..ouse

• c

• h

• p

• x

Multiple Choice

c......t

• b

• i

• a

• e

Multiple Choice

b...g

• e

• a

• u

• i

Multiple Choice

f..sh

• o

• l

• i

• a

Multiple Choice

..at

• n

• m

• p

• s