Thursday, May 28, 2009

Patterns of Sound, Spelling, and Meaning

What do you make of the final consonant sounds in words like the following? Do you find any interesting patterns? Do you find a useful pattern? We are pattern finders aren't we?

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hiss, his, bus, buzz, buzzes, buses, words, ways, means, business, businesses, parts, homes, benefits, boss, bosses, markets, as, ass, rise, rice, sources, sores, noose, rides, rites, news, tens, tense, trends, niches, competitors, success, successes, profits, sites, opportunities, brands, edges, tactics, qualities, prioritize, less, sells, seals, budgets, solutions, costs, places, place,palms, sides, says, avoids, navels, press, peas, peace, piss, hands, force, fours, lungs, exercise, exercises, states, is, politics, rights, powers, acts, has, this, these, those, acts, ease, Texas, foods, fishes, was, dollars, does, doze, cheeks, checks, deposits, keys, kiss, things, thinks, pays, pace, bays, bees, base, lights, reasons, friends, problems, pause, paws, cares, mouse, bits, pieces, pis, fords, speakers, perhaps, materials, plurals, groups, bottoms, features, taxes, mince, rice, source, sores, noose,
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Add as many of your own as you wish.

A way to begin to find patterns is by dividing them into two groups; the ss group and the zz group. The ss group could be made up of words ending in an 's' sound as in: tactics, hiss, parts, success. The zz group could be made up of words ending in a 'z' sound as in the words: buzz, buzzes, his, words.

Can you hear the difference?

I'll try to get back to this to point out some patterns I find.

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6-10-9 PATTERNS continued
Here are some words which I say end in the zz sound: symbols, his, has, is, years, clues, these, fifties, areas, journeys, tales, others, problems fields, falls, letters, names, terms, sins, suggestions, references, tens, advise, raise, bards,heroes, stories, practices, believes, questions, peoples, sores, cultures, resemblances, places. What words might you add?
Here are some which I believe end in the ss sound: myths, hiss, base, this, house, limits, evidence, false, accents, cents,scents, science, books, looks, likes, acknowledgements, visits, advice, groups, assistance, helpfulness, race, acquaintance, works, giants, religious, beliefs, Celts, attacks, less, ships, source, tense noose, shops. What ss ending words might you add?

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6-15-9

Have you found any patterns yet?
Here is a pattern I found that relates to spelling and pronunciation:
(likes, looks, lakes, walks, woks, wakes) The words in parentheses all end in the ss sound, don't they. Can you find a word that ends i the ss sound that doesn't have the 'k' sound as it's penultimate sound. We may not only be finding a pattern but also a law. We might start by saying that when a word ends in an s preceded by a k the s sounds ss.
What can you add to the list? Find another pattern or rule.

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What might say about pairs like the following? Are there pairs of more than one sort here?
sores ...... source
as ......... ass
news ....... noose
rise ....... rice
his ........ hiss
tens ....... tense
plays ...... place
keys ....... kiss
What similar pairs can you add?
How about:
saves ...... safes
sins ....... since
fours ...... force
bays ....... base
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6-29-9
Who is interested in spelling and pronunciation?
How interested are they?
Have you noticed that English speakers like the final 'ss' sound when it is preceded by a 't' sound?
For example: parts, profits, budgets, rights, acts, limits, visits, giants, Celts.

I'm failing to start conversations here. I've made about 500 attempts without one success. I'm not ready to give up completely, but I am ready to give up this attempt to discuss English pronunciation.

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