1. The Structure of the English Language

In this lesson, we introduced the basic structure of the English Language and challenged one to consider English as a code to be broken. A few facts about the English language.

• There are 26 letters in the English alphabet that can combine to make approximately 44 sounds. ^[1]
• There are two types of letters in English: vowels and consonants.
• Vowels (a, e, i, o, u and sometimes y and w) are always voiced. Our mouths are always open when we produce a vowel sound.
• Consonants can be voiced or unvoiced. We stop a consonant sound by using our teeth, tongue or lips.
• A Syllable is a word or part of a word with a talking vowel.
• The English we speak today consists of more than one language. In fact, 75% of the language comes from Latin, Greek and Anglo-Saxon.  The other 25% is borrowed from languages around the world.

Practice

Fill in the blanks with the correct word from the list below.

• long
• consonants
• tongue
• open
• short
• vowels
• teeth
• lips

1. The two kinds of letters in the alphabet are _____________and ____________,
2. The 2 most common sounds for vowels are ___________ and _____________.
3. When you say a vowel, your mouth is always__________________.
4. When you say a consonant, the sound is stopped by your  ______________, _______________ and _________.