Figuring out how to pronounce words with two or more separated vowels can be a problem. However, there are guidelines which often help.
If a word has two consonants of the same letter in the middle of the word, the split into syllables happens between the two consonants. These words are easy to segment and to pronounce. Words like this include
- happen
- little
- mitten
- ribbon
- puddle
- peddler
- attic
- minnow
- biggest
If a word has two different middle consonants preceded by and followed by short vowels, the split into syllables usually happens between the two consonants. Usually the vowel sound to the left of the double consonants is short because the first syllable creates a CVC “word,” and the syllable after the split is short for the same reason. Words like this include
- Hagrid
- often
- piston
- Wilson
- walnut
- mascot
- dentist
- impish
- whiplash
Sometimes in the middle of a two-syllable word are three consonants composed of a consonant and a blend or a blend and a consonant. The three consonants are preceded and followed by a single vowel. The split into syllables happens before or after the blend, in such a way as to keep the blend together. Usually these words contain short vowels before and after the split. Words like this include
- chinchilla
- tundra
- umbrella
- ashes
- pumpkin
- sandbox
- liftoff
- pigskin
- distress
All of these two-syllable words have certain features in common which make pronunciation easy:
- they have either two consonants or one consonant and a blend in the middle of the word,
- and they have a single vowel preceding and following the middle consonants.
- The first vowel is a short vowel, and usually the second vowel is short also if it is followed by a single consonant or a blend.
But what if there is only one consonant between two vowels? Does the consonant go with the first vowel or the second? It depends. We’ll talk about that soon.
comicphonics for early readers 