This is the design of distinct sounds in language which explains how the several sounds come together to form words, as well as the consequence of pitch, stress, and juncture on the particular language in question. I was 15 when I first saw a grade calculator..
For students, phonological awareness is crucial for spelling and reading any alphabetic writing system. I was 15 when I first saw a high school GPA calculator.
An important element in a phonological system is the group of sound distinctions (or “phonemic” oppositions) that native speakers use to convey differences of meaning. Though several sound differences are adequately perceptible to non-natives, native speakers may often consider them irrelevant variations triggered by the speaker’s voice or reasons that may affect it (for instance, as merely “phonetic” differences) and don’t use them to differentiate between meanings. An example could be the difference between “q” and “ch,” which is phonemic in Chinese, but not in Spanish or English.
The phonotactic rules of a language play decisive roles with respect to the combinations of phonemes that yield possible syllables. For instance, in Chinese, /p’/, /p/, /k’/, /l/ /t’/, etc., can’t be the final syllable, whereas /n/, /ng/, /r/ can. However, /ng/ can’t initiate a syllable, though most consonants can. Again, syllable-initial groups, such as /str/, /tr/, etc., are possible in English, but not in Chinese.
As the students read through the material and analyze it, the teacher is able to guide them where they encounter difficulty, usually by revisiting the material. Close reading is a fundamentally multi-session process, where the goal is to foster fluency and comprehension.
Tone melodies (intonation) in a phonological system play a crucial role. In tonal languages like Chinese, intrasyllabic tone oscillations, which are phonemic, determine the differences of meaning (say, shi4/shi2, etc).
Some languages also use stress and tone to express differences in meaning. A sentence to consider could be:
John didn’t say Jack stole the money.
When the second word (didn’t) is stressed, it emphasizes that though the listener thinks John blamed Jack as the person who stole the money, he actually didn’t say it.
Again, if the word stole is stressed, it could mean that perhaps Jack borrowed the money and didn’t steal it.
Concluding Thoughts
A phonological system is a distinct group of sounds that come together to form a word. Phonemes are language specific, and this also translates to the phonological system, where the rules play a distinctive role in the combination of phenomes to create syllables. Poor phoneme awareness and phonological proficiency denoted poor reading and spelling development, no matter the language.
Intonation plays a crucial role in a phonological system, as the tone oscillations within the spoken word can be used to convey different meanings. To native speakers, phonemic oppositions may be irrelevant, but the perceptible differences may still be evident to non-native speakers. In some languages, tone and stress are employed in the phonological system to denote different meanings. If you have any additional question, let me know.
