What is phonograms

Definition of Phonogram

What are phonograms? Phonograms are the letter symbols that comprise a sound. Phonograms may be made up of one letter or letter teams. For example, the /b/ in the word 'boy' is made up of a single letter 'b.' However, the /ch/ in the word 'chip' is comprised of a letter team 'ch' that come together to make a single sound.

Letter teams may be consonant teams, such as /ck/ in 'duck', or they may be vowel teams, such as the 'ai' in 'pail.' Letter teams also represent the 'r-controlled vowels,' such as /er/ in 'bird.' Letter teams may represent irregular sounds as well, such as 'ci' that contains the /sh/ in 'mortician.'

Every sound within a word has a phonogram to represent it. For example, in the word 'rip,' you hear three individual sounds (/r/-/i/-/p/), which are represented by three phonograms (r-i-p). However, in the word 'right,' you also hear three individual sounds (/r/-/i/-/t/) that are represented by the phonograms (r-igh-t). The number of phonograms matches the number of sounds, but does not necessarily match the number of letters that are used to create that sound.

Understanding phonograms makes decoding and spelling words much easier. Let's review some phonograms you should learn.

Examples of Phonograms

We will start with letter phonograms. Each of the letters of the alphabet represents at least one phonogram; however, some letters represent more than one phonogram. Here are a few irregularities:

• Each vowel has both a long and a short form.
• The letter 'c' can be used to represent the /k/ or the /s/.
• The letter 'g' can be used to represent the /g/ or the /j/.
• The letter 's' can be used to represent the /s/ or the /z/.
• The letter 'q' can be used to represent the /k/ or the /kw/. When it represents the /kw/, it is spelled 'qu.'
• The letter 'y' can be used to represent a consonant or a vowel.

Now we will look at the consonant teams. The following letter teams are phonograms that create a unique sound:

Let's look at the vowel teams. The following may be paired to create vowel sounds:

Lastly, let's look at the combination of consonants and vowels that make irregular sounds:

Lesson Summary

Phonograms are the letter or letters that form the individual sounds that are heard in words. Some phonograms are represented by a single letter, while others are represented by letter teams. Letter teams may be consonant teams, vowel teams, or a combination of consonants and vowels that make irregular sounds.

To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member.
Create your account

Phonogram Activity

Recognizing Phonograms

For this activity, you will identify the phonograms that make up each word in the below list. Keep in mind that the number of letters in a word and the number of phonograms (sounds) a word has is not the same thing. However, a word can have the same number of letters as it does phonograms.

Directions:

Write how many phonograms each word has, and then re-write the word using the slash symbol (/) to separate the different phonograms.

1. Water
2. Pineapple
3. Cowboy
4. Friendship
5. Buffalo
6. Dodge
7. Thoughtful
8. Freedom
9. Chicken
10. Humanity
11. Dog
12. Tree
13. Winter
14. Strawberry
15. Lights
16. Baby
17. Stocking

Answers:

1. W/a/t/er (4)
2. P/i/ne/a/pp/le (6)
3. C/ow/b/oy (4)
4. F/r/ie/n/d/sh/i/p (8)
5. B/u/ff/a/l/o (6)
6. D/o/dge (3)
7. Th/ough/t/f/u/l (6)
8. F/r/ee/d/o/m (6)
9. Ch/i/ck/en (4)
10. H/u/m/a/n/i/t/y (8)
11. D/o/g (3)
12. T/r/ee (3)
13. W/i/n/t/er (5)
14. S/t/r/aw/b/err/y (7)
15. L/igh/t/s (4)
16. B/a/b/y (4)
17. S/t/o/ck/i/ng (6)

Register to view this lesson

Are you a student or a teacher?

Unlock Your Education

See for yourself why 30 million people use Study.

Become a Study.com member and start learning now.

Become a Member

Already a member? Log In

 Back

Resources created by teachers for teachers

Over 30,000 video lessons & teaching resources‐all in one place.

Video lessons

Quizzes & Worksheets

Classroom Integration

Lesson Plans

I would definitely recommend Study.com to my colleagues. It’s like a teacher waved a magic wand and did the work for me. I feel like it’s a lifeline.

Jennifer B.

Teacher

Try it now

Back

A Helpful Guide For Parents

Phonograms are the foundation of your child’s reading and spelling success. But what resources do you need to teach them to your child?

While phonograms sound like an intimidating literary concept, they are actually relatively easy to teach and for kids to understand. All you need is a clear plan to get started, and that’s what we’ll help you with in this article.

However, before sharing our effective learning tips with you, let’s start by evaluating what a phonogram is.

What Are Phonograms?

Phonograms are the letters or combinations of letters that represent a sound. Think of letter combinations such as oy, ck, th, and ch. These are common phonograms that you’ll often come across in the English language.

When a child doesn’t know these letter combinations and the sounds they make, it becomes challenging to write or spell correctly. But when they understand them, they know that “oy” makes an /oi/ sound (e.g., boy), “ck” makes a /k/ sound (e.g., pack), and so forth.

There are also letters that give different sounds depending on the word. For instance, “s” is a phonogram with an /s/ sound in some words (e.g., sing) and a /z/ sound in other words (e.g., has).

The Importance Of Learning Phonograms

Phonograms are an important pre-literacy skill. They are the building blocks of words because they help make reading and spelling much easier.

Let’s take the word cat as an example. For a child learning to spell, they will usually pronounce the individual sounds (i.e., phonemes) of the word: /c/-/a/-/t/.

This is fairly easy. So, let’s take things up a notch with the word talk. A child who understands phonograms doesn’t need to separate each letter of the word. Instead, they will pick up on the /alk/ sound and then be able to spell the word correctly: /t/-/alk/.

This is an essential skill because many words, especially longer ones, can be formed more quickly by remembering that certain letter combinations make certain sounds.

For example, we don’t pronounce the word holiday by going /h/-/o/-/l/-/i/-/d/-/a/-/y/. Sure, you can, but there are 26 letters in the English language. Imagine how much time you’d spend sounding out each letter of every word you want to spell.

A much better strategy is to focus on segmenting the word by phonograms: /h/-/o/-/li/-/day/. Understanding phonograms makes spelling and reading fluently much easier and more efficient.

And a child who understands phonograms may have a better chance of correctly spelling words they are unfamiliar with. For example, when a child can spell winter, they have a better chance of spelling sister, mister, enter, after, etc.

Phonogram Vs. Phoneme

When many people think of phonograms, they often mistake them for phonemes. They both involve the individual sounds that make up a word, so they must be pretty much the same, right?

While their concepts may be closely related, there are fundamental differences between the two. Let’s take a look.

What Is A Phoneme?

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in our spoken language. We have 44 phonemes in the English language, and we combine these individual units of sound to make words.

For example, from the five-letter word light, we only hear or pronounce three individual sounds: /l/-/i/-/t/.

How’s This Different From A Phonogram?

A phonogram, on the other hand, is a visual symbol that represents a speech sound. So, from the above example, the /igh/ part of the word has the /i/ phonogram.

In total, there are 75 basic phonograms in the English language. We commonly use around 49 of them, some of which include /igh/, /dge/, /oo/, /dger/, /th/, /sh/, /ch/, and /ph/.

As highlighted above, these are the building blocks of reading and spelling, so the more familiar children are with these sounds and letter combinations, the more comfortable they will be when reading and spelling.

Here are a few tips to help your young learner grasp these concepts at home.

Tips For Teaching Phonograms At Home

1) Start Simple

There is no perfect pace for teaching phonograms. Some children may master the concepts and skills very quickly, while others may need a little more time.

No matter where your child is on their learning journey, the best approach is to start with a few and build from there.

For example, introducing three to five phonograms at a time could be a great starting point. Once your child gets comfortable with those, you can then move on to the next three to five, and so forth.

Since there are so many, it’s OK to set the goal of introducing a certain amount each week. However, if your young learner hasn’t mastered the ones you taught them last week, give them as many days as they need before progressing to new phonograms.

This will keep them excited about learning and prevent them from becoming overwhelmed. Don’t worry about a specific timeline; they will eventually get the hang of it!

2) Read Together Regularly

Here at HOMER, we’re huge fans of early childhood reading. Not only do books expose children to incredible worlds and help with cognitive and language development (and so much more!), but reading also plays an essential role in helping children get more familiar with phonograms.

Whenever your child is reading and comes across a word they’re unfamiliar with, remember to pause and go back to the basics of phonemes and phonograms. Help them sound out the letters and letter combinations.

You can also reinforce a phonogram by highlighting other similar words your child might know. For example, if they’re learning the /ch/ sound, remind them of words they may know, such as chair, chips, chat, child, etc.

With the above tips in mind, here are a couple of activities to make learning phonograms at home fun.

Phonogram Activities

1) Phonogram Simon Says

What You’ll Need:

• 8 Index cards
• Marker
• 8 single-letter phonograms
• Crayons

What To Do:

Start by writing down eight phonograms (one on each card) with your child. As you’re writing, say the sound the letter or letter group makes. Then, have your child decorate each card in fun ways.

Once you’re done making your cards, stand on one side of the room and have your child stand on the other side. Then, hold up a card and say, “Simon says make the sound!”

If your child pronounces the phonogram correctly, they take a jump toward you. If they don’t, they have to jump backward. (Note: If there’s no room for them to go backward, they can stay put.)

The goal is for your child to reach you before the deck is done!
Tip: If your child is still mastering individual letter sounds, you can play this game with single-letter phonograms instead of letter groups.

2) 52 PickUp, With A Twist

What You’ll Need:

• The same index cards from Sound-Letter Simon Says (and more if your child is ready).

What To Do:

To start playing, toss the cards in the air. Then, have your child go around the room and say the sound for every letter or phonogram that is facing up.

If they can make the sound correctly, they get to keep that card. Any cards they cannot pronounce go back to the deck. Then, it’s your turn (feel free to fake it a bit here).

Take turns going back and forth until all the cards are picked up. The person with the most cards wins!

3) Feel The Letter

What You’ll Need:

• Magnetic or foam letters

What To Do:

Start by asking your child to put their hands behind their back. Then, place a magnetic or foam letter in one of their hands and have them feel its shape.

To get a point, your child needs to tell you the letter. And to get a bonus point, they need to tell you the sound that letter makes. You and your child can take turns guessing to make it a fun competition!

Remember to keep things fun. For example, if your young learner gets a phonogram wrong, simply correct them and move on without stressing too much. The point of this game is to practice, and repetition is a great way to solidify phonogram knowledge.

One Phonogram At A Time

Working with your child to master phonograms can be a fun journey!

When practicing, remember to start simple by introducing just a few phonograms at a time before moving on to more. In addition, reading regularly together will also help reinforce all the language rules your child is learning.

While there are many phonograms to master, try not to focus on how quickly your child is grasping them. Instead, build their confidence around each set you introduce, and they will make a little progress each day.

Armed with all these skills, they’ll soon be able to spell accurately (most of the time) and read fluently. Just wait and see!

For more on helping develop your child’s reading and spelling skills, check out our Learn & Grow app.

Author

Difference of live sound from phonogram and backing track

This article is devoted to live performances of musicians and the tricks they use to give the listener the maximum pleasure from the concert and ... to deceive him as much as possible.

The article is aimed at people who do not understand live sound and is intended to help them understand the process of live performances.

In the last article, we already wrote how the sound is formed at concerts and by what principle the sound is built. Here we learn how artists perform at concerts. For clarity, I will show the performance models in the form of a list and an algorithm:

1. Performance to a phonogram

Sound check is missing or short. The musician or band takes the stage. The musicians have instruments in their hands, the vocalist has a microphone. The equipment on the stage is a dummy, used only for the picture. The sound engineer is at the console and plays a key role in the artist's performance, as his mistake can cost the artist's reputation. In this performance, his task is to turn on and off the phonogram in time.

Only monitors work on the stage so that the musicians can hear the sound and move along with the music. The musicians pretend to play, the vocalist pretends to sing, but they do not make sounds

Everything is clear here: the audience hears the sound and see how the musicians play, it's more of a show than a concert. Face deception. I think a quarter of those present at the concert guess that they are being deceived, but they are being deceived beautifully. Therefore, such artists for the most part have their own audience.

2. Full plus performance

No sound check or short duration. An artist or group takes the stage. The musicians have instruments in their hands, the vocalist has a microphone. The sound engineer turns on the music and mixes the sound of instruments and voices into the phonogram signal.

All the equipment works on the stage - these are monitor lines, guitar and bass amplifiers, a drum kit, all the equipment is sounded. The musicians really play, the vocalist sings. But they play from above to the same backing track. That is, they repeat what was recorded in the studio, only they do it live.

You can't call it a deception as such, but it's still there. Such performances are common these days, as the sound quality is greatly improved compared to a live performance, and the cost and speed of sound setup is reduced. The convenience and benefits of such performances are visible to the naked eye.

3. Live sound

The concert is preceded by a long sound check. Musicians appear on the site long before the performance, the instruments and voices are being tuned. After the start of the concert, the sound engineer fully performs his function, unlike the previous paragraphs. In this performance, all sound comes from the stage, so only the sound that was set to the sound check is relied upon.

This is the complexity of live sound, in contrast to the performance with substrates and phonograms. You can not hide behind the record, the listener gets only what is here and now. But that's the thrill of live performance. The musicians, although they play the same thing, but each time is not like the previous one, there is a moment of improvisation.

Well, the listener gets his pleasure, because he hears not a recording created in the studio sometime, but the sound, performance and emotions of the performer that are born before his eyes and he becomes a witness to this.

4. Minus performance

Minus performance can be conditionally divided into two categories:

• In the first, the algorithm is similar to the previous one. Only the live sound of the group is mixed with a recording that the sound engineer puts on. It features backgrounds, effects, backing vocals, instruments that are not present or cannot be present on stage. This is not a phonogram, since everything is performed live, and the recording only adorns the performance.
• In the second performer, whether it be a vocalist or an instrumentalist, performs his part live, and the recording (backing track) on which he plays plays in the background. Sometimes you can find a live performance of a soloist under a minus, and musicians standing in the form of scenery depicting the performance of this minus.

Possible other performances are an interpretation of the above or their partial confusion.

Of course, each performer chooses how to perform. It all depends on the funds invested in the performance and the subsequent return, on the skill of the performer, on the technical equipment of the site, on the reputation of the performer and his abilities.

Orange VINIl performs exclusively live! We only have live drums, bass, guitar, keys, vocals and saxophone. We come to the corporate party in full force and perform the most popular songs!

PHONOGRAM - What is a PHONOGRAM?

The word consists of 10 letters: first f, the second o third n, the fourth o fifth g, sixth p, seventh a, eighth m, ninth m last a,

The word phonogram in English letters (transliteration) - fonogramma

• The letter f occurs 1 time. Words with 1 letter f
• The letter o occurs 2 times. Words with 2 letters o
• The letter n occurs 1 time. Words with 1 letter n
• The letter d occurs 1 time. Words with 1 letter g
• The letter р occurs 1 time. Words with 1 letter p
• The letter and occurs 2 times. Words with 2 letters a
• The letter and occurs 2 times. Words with 2 letters m

Meanings of the word phonogram. What is a phonogram?

Phonogram

Phonogram (from the Greek φωνή - sound and γράμμα - record) - a record stored on an audio medium. The general definition of a phonogram should be distinguished from the definition in copyright and related rights law, where a phonogram is any...

en.wikipedia.org

Phonogram (from the Greek. phone - sound and ... gram), signalogram obtained as a result of sound recording. F. classification is carried out mainly according to the following criteria: physical phenomena, on the basis of which the recording is carried out . ..

TSB. — 1969—1978

PHONOGRAM (from the Greek phone - sound and ... gram), a recording medium with sound vibrations recorded on it. Depending on the method of sound recording, a phonogram is distinguished: mechanical (on a plastic disk), magnetic (on magnetic tape) ...

Modern encyclopedia. - 2000

Passion phonogram

"Phonogram of Passion" is a romantic thriller directed by Nikolai Lebedev. Prize "Nika" in the nomination "Best work of a sound engineer" (2010) Special prize to Nikolai Lebedev and Evgeny Mironov for the best producer debut - "Cut!" (2010)...

en.wikipedia.org

Phonogram (linguistics)

Phonogram (sound mark) - a grapheme corresponding to a phoneme or a combination of phonemes, for example, as letters of the Latin alphabet or Japanese kana. Contrasted with the logogram. Phonetic writing (phonography) consists of phonograms.

en.wikipedia.org

Phonogram copy

A copy of a phonogram is a copy of a phonogram on any material medium, made directly or. indirectly from a phonogram and including all or part of the sounds ...

Levonensky V. Law of Belarus. - 2002

A copy of a phonogram - according to the legislation of the Russian Federation - a copy of a phonogram on any material carrier, made directly or indirectly from a phonogram and including all sounds or part of the sounds recorded in this phonogram.

Dictionary of financial terms

A copy of a phonogram - according to the legislation of the Russian Federation - a copy of a phonogram on any material carrier, made directly or indirectly from a phonogram and including all sounds or part of the sounds recorded in this phonogram.

glossary.ru

Phonogram producer

Producer of a phonogram - a person who takes the initiative and responsibility for the first recording of the sounds of a performance or other sounds or representations of these sounds. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, a person is recognized as the producer of a phonogram...

en.wikipedia.org

Phonogram producer

PHONOGRAM MANUFACTURER - a natural or legal person who takes the initiative and responsibility for the first sound recording of a performance or other sounds ...

Director's guide. — 2004

Phonogram producer - a natural or legal person who takes the initiative and responsibility for the first sound recording of the performer or other sounds . ..

Copyright Law Dictionary

Producer of a phonogram - a natural or legal person who has taken the initiative and responsibility for the first sound recording of a performance or other sounds...

Dictionary of communication terms

PHONOGRAM MANUFACTURERS

PRODUCERS OF PHONOGRAMS - in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, individuals or legal entities that made or ordered the first sound recording of any work.

Dictionary of legal terms. - 2000

PHONOGRAM MANUFACTURER

PHONOGRAM PRODUCER - in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation on copyright and related rights - an individual or legal entity that has made or ordered a new sound recording of k. -l. works.

Dictionary of Economics and Law. - 2005

Sound recording

Soundtracking is a technique in which sound recorded separately (phonogram) is synchronized with the movements of the performers on stage. In music, a “backing track” (slang. “backing track”) is distinguished - recording a separate accompaniment ...

en.wikipedia.org

Russian

Phonogram, -s.

Spelling dictionary. — 2004

Examples of the use of the word phonogram

According to the diplomat, the information that the singer allegedly used a phonogram is "quite symptomatic."

Let's say how not to break the heel on the stage or what to do if the light suddenly turns off, the phonogram ends or not on time.

Learn more

• 
  Letters that sound good together
• 
  The three little pigs read
• 
  Books kindergarteners can read
• 
  How to teach 1st graders math
• 
  Fun winter activities indoors
• 
  Long and short vowels worksheets 1st grade
• 
  Wheels of bus go round
• 
  Sound symbol relationships
• 
  How to learn alphabet
• 
  Games with compound words
• 
  Words to describe preschool