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Proof that all spellings of the “AIR” sound are identical at the normal speed of speech
In phonics Activity 73 — found in Phonics Scope & Sequence activities Set Six — we cover the “AIR” sound and its 9 spelling groups: AR / ARE, AIR, ER / ERE, ERR, ARR, EAR, AER, EIR, (and one outlier root word with UR).
This particular “AIR” sound made by these spellings is a “BLEND,” where first you hear the most frequent sounds of letters-A and -E (commonly recognized as “short-A” and “short-E,” as in the words “at” and “egg”).
Here’s the complication: after the short-vowel sound, the blend sound continues on into the “ER” sound (spelled many ways, but all the same sound, as in “her, sir, word, fur, learn,” etc.). In more technical terms, this movement into the “ER” sound somewhat cuts off the full / crisp “complete” short-vowel sound. The technical term for this is “an R-controlled vowel.”
So, why do we argue that these various “AR” spellings sound the same as “ER” spellings when the sound is “AIR?” Wouldn’t there be a slight difference with this blend, starting with a short-A vs. a short-E?
We contend that if you really think about it and work your “mouth musculature” intentionally, yes, you can make the spellings sound different. Take “vary” and “very.” You can force the sound “va-ree” to be different than the sound “ve-ree.” But that’s with intention, and at a slow speed of pronunciation.
However, when you speak at a normal speed, the “R-controlling-the vowel” makes something different happen. The vowel sound comes out at something more like a 50% short-A and 50% short-E. In fact, we stumbled on one phonics write-up that contended that this 50/50 short vowel sound was actually its own unique phoneme!
Rather than try to prove this with a complex monograph of some kind, we’re going to just let your ears make your decision for you. Click the green speaker button at the front of the words listed below, and if you can hear a difference between the A-involved and the E-involved pronunciations, then you have more sensitive ears than we do. : ) Listen with your eyes closed, first.
vary, very; Barry, berry, bury; Mary, marry, merry; tarry, Terry; parry, Perry; there, their; Cary, carry; bare, bear; pair, pare, pear; fairy, ferry; stare, stair; chary, cherry; wares, wears; parish, perish.
Return to Phonics Activity 73) in Phonics Scope & Sequence Set Six
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