Phonemes represent the sounds we hear, while letters represent the graphic signs of a language. When writing, we use letters to graphically represent the phonemes we hear.
The number of letters and phonemes in a word can be the same or vary. This is because some letters do not represent phonemes, while other phonemes can be represented by more than one letter.
Take these words as an example:
| Letters | Phonemes |
|---|---|
| Taxi | /t/ /a/ /k/ /s/ /i/ |
| Today | /today/ |
| Purchase | /c/ /õ/ /p/ /r/ /a/ |
What are phonemes?
Phonemes are the smallest unit of sound that exists in a word, being responsible for the distinction between one word and another. For example, the words ract and mact are distinguished because of the phonemes /r/ It is /m/.
But phonemes are not to be confused with the letters themselves, as they are just the way sounds are reproduced.
A phoneme can be represented by more than one letter of the alphabet, for example, the phoneme /z/ can be represented by the letters z, s, x, as in the case of the words zero, mesthe and andxlove.
On the other hand, a letter can represent more than one phoneme, for example, in the word shoe, the letter s represents the phoneme /s/, while on the word Brazil, the letter s represents the phoneme /z/.
What are letters?
Letters are the graphic signs of words, being the way phonemes are written. When we talk about the letters in a word, like the letters B, w or d, we are describing the way the word sounds, not the way we hear it.
The number of letters in a word is not always the same number of phonemes, for example, the word Taxi is formed by 4 letters (t/a/x/i), but it has 5 phonemes (/t/a/k/ s/i/).
Some letters do not represent phonemes
O m, n, in certain words, do not represent phonemes. This is because they only indicate the nasalization of the vowels that come before them. For example, we have the words bomb It is Never.
O H, when it appears at the beginning of words, it also does not represent a phoneme, as we do not pronounce it. For example, the word hour has 4 letters (h/o/r/a), but since we don't speak H, it has only 3 phonemes (ho/r/a/).
Phonemes and their representation by letters
In the Portuguese language, we have 12 vowel phonemes and 19 consonant phonemes. The vowel phonemes and their letter representations are:
| Phonemes | Letters |
|---|---|
/a/ |
A |
| /e/ | AND |
| /é/ | AND IS |
| /i/ | I |
| /o/ | O |
| /ó/ | The / O |
| /u/ | U |
| /ã/ | Ã / AM / AN |
| /ẽ/ | IN / EN |
| /ĩ/ | IM / IN |
| /õ/ | OM / ON |
| /ũ/ | UM / UN |
The consonant phonemes and their representations are:
| Phonemes | Letters |
|---|---|
| /p/ | P |
| /b/ | B |
| /m/ | M |
| /f/ | F |
| /v/ | V |
| /t/ | T |
| /d/ | D |
| /n/ | No |
| /nh/ | NH |
| /l/ | L |
| /lh/ | LH |
| /r/ | R |
| /rr/ | RR / R |
| /z/ | Z / S / X |
| /s/ | S / SS / Ç / C / SC / SÇ / X / XC |
| /j/ | J/G |
| /x/ | X / CH |
| /g/ | G/GU |
| /q/ | W/WHAT |
Also read about the differences between:
- Phonetics and Phonology
- Literacy and Literacy
- Speech, Tongue and Language
