LESSON 36 • TEACHER ANSWER KEY & LINGUISTIC GUIDE
Master Phonetic Analysis of 16 Digraph Words • Dental Stop Shortening • Sibilant Voicing
PAGE 24 KEY
| Word |
Rime |
Webster |
Sound Value |
IPA |
Linguistic & Historical Phonology Rationale |
| food |
-ood |
fōōd |
Long oo |
/fuːd/ |
OE fōda; tense /uː/ preserved before voiced dental stop -d; contrasts with good/wood. |
| hoof |
-oof |
hōōf |
Long oo |
/huːf/ |
OE hōf; standard /huːf/; colloquial shortening to /hʊf/ treated as dialectal variation. |
| mood |
-ood |
mōōd |
Long oo |
/muːd/ |
OE mōd; tense /uː/ retained without shortening; member of small tense -ood set with food. |
| school |
-ool |
schōōl |
Long oo |
/skuːl/ |
OE scōl / Greek skholē; 'ch' spelling represents Greek chi /k/; tense /uː/ preserved. |
| root |
-oot |
rōōt |
Long oo |
/ruːt/ |
Late OE rōt from ON rót; high back tense /uː/; standard orthoepy prescribes long vowel. |
| boot |
-oot |
bōōt |
Long oo |
/buːt/ |
OF bote / ME bote; tense vowel before voiceless dental stop -t; contrasts with foot. |
| toot |
-oot |
tōōt |
Long oo |
/tuːt/ |
Imitative echoic origin; tense /uː/ mimicking horn blast; regular long sound. |
| shoot |
-oot |
shōōt |
Long oo |
/ʃuːt/ |
OE scēotan; palato-alveolar fricative /ʃ/ + tense /uː/ + voiceless stop -t. |
| cook |
-ook |
co͝ok |
Short oo |
/kʊk/ |
OE cōc; regular 17th-century pre-velar vowel shortening before voiceless stop -k. |
| goose |
-oose |
gōōse |
Long oo |
/ɡuːs/ |
OE gōs; high back tense /uː/ followed by voiceless alveolar fricative /s/. |
| noose |
-oose |
nōōse |
Long oo |
/nuːs/ |
OF nous / ME nose; tense vowel /uː/ + voiceless sibilant coda /s/. |
| loose |
-oose |
lōōse |
Long oo |
/luːs/ |
ON lauss / ME loos; voiceless coda /s/ strictly contrasts with voiced verb lose /luːz/. |
| foot |
-oot |
fo͝ot |
Short oo |
/fʊt/ |
OE fōt; conditioned Early Modern vowel shortening before dental stop -t; exception to -oot. |
| poor |
-oor |
pōōr |
Long oo / Rhotic |
/pʊər/ ~ /pɔːr/ |
OF povre / ME poure; classical Webster marked as pōōr (/puːr/) before rhotic coloring. |
| book |
-ook |
bo͝ok |
Short oo |
/bʊks/ |
OE bōc; standard phonological pre-velar shortening before coda -k to lax /ʊ/. |
| choose |
-oose (v.) |
chōōse |
Long oo |
/tʃuːz/ |
OE cēosan; affricate /tʃ/ + tense /uː/ + voiced sibilant /z/ (contrasts with loose /s/). |
HISTORICAL PHONOLOGY & PEDAGOGICAL INSIGHTS:
1. Dental Conditioning Split (boot/root/shoot vs. foot): While Middle English /oː/ regularly became /uː/, words with dental stop codas experienced an irregular split. Foot underwent early shortening to /ʊ/, whereas boot, root, toot, and shoot maintained the long tense /uː/. Emphasize this critical contrast to prevent overgeneralization.
2. The -ood Phonogram Split (food, mood vs. good, wood, stood): Young spellers often assume words with identical rimes share the same vowel value. Point out that food and mood maintain the original long tense /uː/, while good and wood underwent dental laxing to /ʊ/.
3. Sibilant Voicing Contrast (loose vs. choose): In goose, noose, loose, the ending -se denotes voiceless /s/. In choose, -se represents voiced /z/. Contrast with the noun choice and verb lose (/luːz/).
CLASSROOM DICTATION SCRIPT (10 CONTEXTUAL SENTENCES)
-
food:
Wholesome food gives us energy to study and play.
-
hoof:
The pony lifted each iron-shod hoof with great care.
-
mood:
A pleasant morning song puts everyone in a happy mood.
-
school:
The town bell rings at eight o'clock for morning school.
-
root:
The deep root held the great oak firmly in the storm.
-
boot:
The hunter laced up his sturdy leather boot.
-
toot:
We heard the distant toot of the steam whistle across the river.
-
shoot:
A tender green shoot emerged from the rich garden soil.
-
cook:
The baker and cook prepared fresh honey buns in the kitchen.
-
choose:
You may choose whichever library book you wish to read.
DIAGNOSTIC SCORING RUBRIC (50 POINTS)
| Target Skill |
Criteria for Mastery |
Pts |
| Careful Copying |
Accurate letter formation & baseline control across all 16 words. |
/16 |
| Diacritical Marking |
Correct identification of Long ōō (13 words) and Short ŏŏ (3 words). |
/16 |
| Phonetic Contrast |
Accurately completes the 4 contrast questions in Exercise 3. |
/8 |
| Dictation Sentence |
Exact transcription of synthesis sentence from teacher dictation. |
/10 |
| TOTAL SCORE: |
/50 |
EXERCISE 3 ANSWER KEY: 1. long ōō; 2. long ōō; 3. k; 4. choose.
COMMON ERRORS: Pronouncing foot with long /uː/ or food with short /ʊ/; confusing voiceless /s/ in loose with voiced /z/ in lose.