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professional vocabulary/jargon question (brain slipped cog)

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

Whatever I’m using for a memory has drawn a complete blank for a long time.

For PG and other technical phonics people out there:

There are two terms used for certain inconsistencies of the code; one is overlap and the other is _______?

One of them means one letter or group representing two or more different sounds, as c in cat and cent, or ch in chair and chef and choir.

The other term means one sound being represented by two or more different spelling patterns, as long o in boat and bowl and toe, or “s” in sat and cent.

Please remind me what the other term is, and which means which. Thanks.

Submitted by victoria on Thu, 04/15/2004 - 10:25 PM

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Thanks Janis — overlap is one grapheme for more than one sound, as ch in chair and chef and choir, OK; is Guest correct that the other way, one sound represented by more than one grapheme, is called variation? Or do I vaguely remember another term?

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 04/16/2004 - 2:35 AM

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I had to look it up, because I can never remember which is which.

Variation refers to multiple graphemes representing a single sound (e.g., “oi” as in toil and “oy” as in toy).

Overlap refers to the fact that a single grapheme can represent more than one sound (e.g., your example of “ch” in chair, chef and choir).

Nancy

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