Affricates: Sounds made by forcing air between the teeth; also called "scratchers" or "scratching" sounds ." Examples: |ch|, |j|.

Blending: Orally combining the separate sound units of a word into an integrated whole; orally combining the separate sound units of a word to produce the whole word. Example: |ssss| |aaa| |t|, |ss| |aa| |t|, |sat|.

Continuous sounds: Sounds that you can continue to say in the same way until you run out of breath. Examples: |f|, |l|, |m|, |n|, |ng|, |r|, |s|, |sh|, |th| as in thumb, |TH| as in this, |v|, |z|, |zh| as in measure.

Dialect: Distinctive variety of language spoken in a particular region or by a particular group.

Diphthong: A single phoneme in which there is a glide from one vowel position to another. Examples: |oi|, |ow| |I|.

Fricatives: Sounds made by forcing air through a very small opening, e.g., between the top teeth and the tongue or lip; also called "hissing" or "hisser sounds". Examples: |f|, |th| as in thumb, |s|, |sh|, |v|, |TH| as in this, |z|, |zh| as in measure. (|h| is sometimes considered to be in this category.)

Glides: Phonemes that require the tongue, lips and teeth to glide into position to produce sound. Examples: |w|, |y|.

Hissing or hisser sounds: Another term for fricatives; sounds made by forcing air through a very small opening.

Liquids: Sounds produced without friction. Examples: |l|, |r|.

Mnemonic device: Creative device used to assist or intended to assist memory. Example: HOMES gives us the beginning letters of the Great Lakes, Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie and Superior.

Nasals: Sounds that are made when air is being forced out of the nose instead of the mouth, causing the nose to vibrate. Examples: |m|, |n|, |ng|.

Phoneme: The smallest speech sounds that makes a difference in the meaning of a word. (There are 39-45 phonemes in the English language.) Example: Changing the phoneme |s| in 'sad' to the phoneme |m| would change the word 'sad' to the word 'mad'.

Phonemic awareness: "An explicit understanding that words are composed of segments of sound smaller than a syllable, as well as knowledge, or awareness, of the distinctive features of individual phonemes themselves" (Torgesen, 1999, p. 129).

Phonological awareness: The broadest term used to refer to one's sensitivity to the sound structures of words. The ability to recognize and manipulate different sizes of sound units, including syllables, rhyming units, onset rime units, and phonemes.

Phonology: The system or science of speech sounds in a language, focusing especially on the history and theory of sound changes.

Scratching or scratcher sounds: Another word for affricates; sounds made by forcing air between the teeth.

Stops and stop-like sounds: In contrast to continuous sound; sound is made by a sudden release of air after being blocked by the position of the lips or tongue. Examples: |b|, |ch|, |d|, |g|, |j|, |k|, |p|, |t|, |w|, |y|.

Unvoiced sounds: Whispered sounds that do not require vocal vibration. Examples: |ch|, |f|, |h|, |k|, |p|, |s|, |sh|, |t|, |th| as in 'thumb'.

Voiced sounds: Sounds that require vibration of the vocal cords. Examples: |b|, |d|, |g|, |j|, |l|, |m|, |n|, |ng|, |r|, |v|, |w|, |y|, |z|, |zh|, as in measure.

Voicing: Method of categorizing sounds with regard to presence or absence of vocal cord vibration. Sounds are either voiced or unvoiced.

Vowel circle map: Visual representation of each vowel phoneme according to placement of mouth, tongue, and lips. Includes |E|, |i|, |A|, |e|, |a|, |o|, |aw|, |O|, |oo|, |OO| |er|, |u|, |oi|, |I|, |ow|.