Syllables
syllable: a segment of speech usually consisting of a vowel with or without accompanying consonant sounds
Now that you know what the basic materials of our english language are phonemes and graphemes, it is time to study the structure to see patterns of how they are put together to create language. Words can be broken into distinct parts called syllables. It is a unit of speech that can be pronounced with one breath of air. The syllables can contain vowels and consonants, two distinct types of phonemes or graphemes. Vowels are sounds made with an open vocal tract while consonants are sounds created with a constricted vocal tract. It is not necessary to understand how these sounds are created unless a student is having extreme difficulty grasping the phoneme to grapheme (sound to symbol) relationship. To simplify, vowels are very important. They are the glue of our language holding the syllables and words together. Every syllable has to have a vowel. Consonants are more of the bricks used to complete words. Together they are are the raw materials used to create written and spoken language.
Morphemes
morphemes: the basic building blocks of words and each morpheme has an associated meaning.
Morphemes are the smallest unit of language that convey meaning. This was the language structure used in Greek and Latin. In this structure the morpheme has three forms, prefix, base, and suffix. These forms can be combined in different ways to create words. For example, look at the word telephone, it is a word of Greek origin that combines the morphemes 'tele' , meaning “far away” and 'phone', meaning “sound”. A prefix and suffix can also be added to a base. Look at the word rejected. It is of Latin origin. The base is derived from the Latin word jacio or jactum meaning “throw” with a prefix of re– meaning ’back’ and a suffix –ed making it past tense. So rejected would translate to throw back in Latin. Not all morphemes continue to have a present day meaning .
Some educators believe that the explicit teaching of key Greek and Latin morphemes would contribute to improved vocabulary and reading comprehension.
