Long vowels
The vowel letters a, e, i, o and u typically represent short vowel sounds (such as those presented in the last section) but they can also represent long vowel sounds. They are called short and long vowel sounds because long vowel sounds have a longer duration (when you say them) compared with short vowel sounds. Long vowel sounds are most often found in words containing open syllables and split digraphs.
What is an open syllable?
An open syllable is a type of syllable that ends with a vowel sound. In an open syllable, there is no consonant at the end of the syllable '“closing” the syllable, like there is in a closed syllable. This feature makes the vowel sound longer than in a closed syllable, where a consonant follows the vowel.
Examples of open syllables can be found in the words be, me, hi, a-corn, a-pron, e-mu, e-ven, o-pen and u-ni-corn.
Examples of closed syllables may be found in the words cat, fish, help, sprint, pic-nic, cob-web and sun-set.
What is a split digraph?
A split digraph (also known as a "magic e" or "silent e") is pattern in English spelling where a vowel-consonant-e (VCe) structure is formed. In a split digraph, the "e" at the end of the word is silent (meaning it doesn’t represent a speech sound) and instead serves to modify the pronunciation of the preceding vowel letter, turning it into a long vowel sound.
The term "split" refers to the consonant that separates the two vowels in this letter pattern and the term “digraph” means “two letters”. The split digraph pattern is an essential concept to understand when learning English reading and spelling, as it helps to explain why certain vowels represent long sounds in some words.
To understand how split digraphs work, compare the pronunciation of the vowel letters in these word pairs:
cape - cap
tape - tap
gape - gap
plane,- plan
pipe - pip
stripe - strip
wine - win
bite - bit
hope - hop
mope - mop
grope - grip
pope - pop
Long vowel a like in alien:
Also found in words such as cape, scrape and acorn. Represents the long vowel phoneme /eɪ/. Found in open syllables such as those in the words acorn, apron and alien. Also found in words containing the split digraph a_e (where the blank space represents a consonant), such as cape, tape and scrape.
Long vowel e like in emu:
Also found in words such as even, eden and equal. Represents the long vowel phoneme /i/. Found in open syllables such as those in the words e-ven and e-qual. Also found in words containing the split digraph e_e (where the blank space represents a consonant), such as these, eve and delete.
Long vowel i like in ice cream
Also found in words such as pipe, nine and lion. Represents the long vowel phoneme /aɪ/. Found in open syllables such as those in the words hi, tri-angle and bi-cycle. Also found in words containing the split digraph i_e (where the blank space represents a consonant), such as time, hide and surprise.
o like in open
Also found in words such as rope, home and go. Represents the long vowel phoneme /oʊ/. Found in open syllables such as those in the words a-go, bo-ny and o-ver. Also found in words containing the split digraph o_e (where the blank space represents a consonant), such as rode, cone and note.
Long vowel u like in unicorn
Also found in words such as cute, ute and unit. Represents two phonemes: /ju/. Found in open syllables such as those in the words mu-sic, u-nit and pu-pil. Also found in words containing the split digraph u_e (where the blank space represents a consonant), such as cute, cube and mute. Note that technically, when a letter ‘u’ represents a long vowel, it is not a grapheme as it represents more than one phoneme, but it is usually treated as one!
After learning about split digraphs and long vowels, students are taught to decode words, like: