英語フォニックスガイド：音・ルール・パターン

短母音

"/æ/ — short A"

The "flat" vowel sound as in "cat", "hat", "map". Lips spread wide and jaw drops slightly.

""The cat sat on the mat — a classic short /æ/ drilling sentence.""

短母音

"/ɛ/ — short E"

The mid-front vowel in "bed", "pen", "red". Mouth is slightly open with lips pulled back.

""She went to bed and read her pen pal's letter.""

短母音

"/ɪ/ — short I"

The high-front lax vowel in "sit", "bit", "him". Tongue is high and slightly back of the "ee" position.

""Did the fish flip its fin in the big dish?""

短母音

"/ɒ/ — short O"

The low back rounded vowel in "hot", "dog", "top" (British English). Jaw drops fully.

""The dog got on top of the box by the log.""

短母音

"/ʌ/ — short U"

The mid-central vowel in "cup", "run", "mud". Often spelled with "u" but also "o" in words like "son".

""The sun is fun — run and jump in the mud!""

短母音

"CVC pattern"

Consonant–Vowel–Consonant structure: the standard frame for teaching short vowels (e.g., "pin", "hop", "wet").

""Every CVC word follows the same rule: the middle vowel is always short.""

短母音

"word families"

Groups of words sharing the same rime (vowel + final consonant), e.g., the "-at" family: bat, cat, fat, hat, mat, rat, sat.

""Learning the -ig family (big, dig, fig, jig, pig, wig) in one lesson saves time.""

短母音

"closed syllable"

A syllable ending in a consonant that forces the vowel to be short (e.g., "cac-tus", "ham-ster").

""In the word 'rabbit', both syllables are closed: rab- and -bit.""

長母音とサイレントE

"magic E rule"

A final silent "e" makes the preceding vowel long: pin→pine, hop→hope, bit→bite, cut→cute.

""Adding an 'e' to 'cap' makes it 'cape' — the vowel is now long /eɪ/.""

長母音とサイレントE

"vowel team "ai/ay""

The digraphs "ai" (mid-word) and "ay" (end of word) both represent the long /eɪ/ sound.

""It may rain today — both 'ai' in rain and 'ay' in may/today follow the pattern.""

長母音とサイレントE

"vowel team "ee/ea""

"ee" and "ea" typically produce the long /iː/ sound, as in "tree", "sea", "meet", "heat".

""He eats green beans near the sea every week.""

長母音とサイレントE

"vowel team "oa/ow""

"oa" (mid-word) and "ow" (end of word) usually represent the long /oʊ/ sound.

""A slow boat floats down the low road to the coast.""

長母音とサイレントE

"open syllable"

A syllable ending in a vowel that is therefore long (e.g., "go", "she", "ba-by", "ti-ger").

""In 'pi-lot', the first syllable 'pi' is open — the vowel says its name.""

長母音とサイレントE

"/iː/ — long E"

The tense high-front vowel in "see", "feet", "chief". Lips spread into a wide smile.

""She needs three green leaves to complete her piece.""

長母音とサイレントE

"/aɪ/ — long I"

The diphthong in "time", "bike", "night". Starts open then glides to /ɪ/.

""My kite might fly high in the bright night sky.""

長母音とサイレントE

"/juː/ — long U"

The "yoo" diphthong in "cube", "cute", "mute". Often preceded by a /j/ glide in most accents.

""The student used a cute mule in the music video.""

子音ブレンド・クラスター

"initial L-blends (bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl)"

Blends where L follows another consonant at the start of a word: "black", "clap", "flat", "glad", "play", "slip".

""The black cloud flew slowly above the plane on the flat plain.""

子音ブレンド・クラスター

"initial R-blends (br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr)"

R-blends at word beginnings: "brick", "crab", "drop", "frog", "grab", "price", "trip".

""The frog grabbed a cricket from the dripping branch.""

子音ブレンド・クラスター

"initial S-blends (sc, sk, sl, sm, sn, sp, st, sw)"

S precedes another consonant: "scan", "skip", "slim", "smell", "snack", "spin", "stop", "swim".

""She swam to the stone step and snapped a small stick.""

子音ブレンド・クラスター

"final blends (-nd, -nt, -st, -sk, -mp, -lt)"

Two-consonant endings: "hand", "tent", "best", "desk", "lamp", "melt".

""He bent his hand and felt the cold wind against his wrist.""

子音ブレンド・クラスター

"three-letter initial blends (spl, spr, str, scr, shr, thr)"

Three-consonant clusters at word start: "split", "spring", "string", "scream", "shred", "three".

""Three strong sprouts split through the shredded straw.""

子音ブレンド・クラスター

"blend vs. digraph distinction"

A blend keeps both sounds (/bl/ = /b/+/l/); a digraph creates one new sound (/sh/ = neither /s/ nor /h/ alone).

""'sl' in 'slide' is a blend; 'sh' in 'ship' is a digraph — very different rules.""

子音ブレンド・クラスター

"consonant cluster simplification"

In natural speech, clusters are often reduced: "next" sounds like "neks", "acts" like "aks" in casual talk.

""Knowing cluster simplification helps learners decode fast native speech on podcasts.""

子音ブレンド・クラスター

"CCVC and CVCC words"

Words with clusters at start (CCVC: "frog") or end (CVCC: "band"). Both types appear on standardized phonics checks.

""'Sled' is CCVC; 'last' is CVCC — teach both shapes before moving to longer words.""

二重字と三重字

"ch — /tʃ/"

Produces the affricate sound in "chip", "church", "much". Also appears as /k/ (school) or /ʃ/ (chef) in loanwords.

""The cheerful child chose chocolate chip cookies for lunch.""

二重字と三重字

"sh — /ʃ/"

The voiceless palato-alveolar fricative in "ship", "fish", "shine". Lips round slightly forward.

""She shared fresh shellfish from the shop by the shore.""

二重字と三重字

"th — /θ/ or /ð/"

"th" is voiceless in "think", "bath" (/θ/) and voiced in "this", "breathe" (/ð/). Both require tongue between teeth.

""Those three thin threads are worth the thought and effort.""

二重字と三重字

"wh — /w/ or /hw/"

In most accents today "wh" = /w/ (same as "w"). In Scottish and Irish English it stays /hw/ — audibly different from "witch"/"which".

""Whether the weather is wet or warm, the whales swim west.""

二重字と三重字

"ph — /f/"

The Greek-origin digraph that spells /f/: "phone", "graph", "dolphin", "phobia". Common in academic vocabulary.

""The photographer took a photo of the physical geography of the Philippines.""

二重字と三重字

"ng — /ŋ/"

The velar nasal in "ring", "song", "king". The /g/ is silent in this position; tongue touches the soft palate.

""The king sang a long strong song during the spring evening.""

二重字と三重字

"ck — /k/"

Double consonant digraph used after short vowels to spell the /k/ sound: "black", "duck", "trick", "lock".

""Jack's black duck clucked and kicked the clock off the dock.""

二重字と三重字

"tch — /tʃ/ trigraph"

Three-letter spelling of /tʃ/ used after short vowels: "catch", "fetch", "itch", "notch", "hutch".

""The witch's sketch showed a watch and a patch — a match!""

母音の変形とR支配音

"ar — /ɑːr/"

R-controlled vowel in "car", "park", "star", "farm". The vowel is lengthened and coloured by the /r/.

""The farmer drove his car far from the barn to the dark market.""

母音の変形とR支配音

"er / ir / ur — /ɜːr/"

Three spellings, one sound: "her", "bird", "burn" all produce the stressed mid-central R-coloured vowel.

""The bird perched on the curb and stirred up dirt near the fern.""

母音の変形とR支配音

"or — /ɔːr/"

R-controlled "or" in "for", "horn", "morning", "storm". Lips round and tongue is back.

""The storm forced the horse toward the fort on the north shore.""

母音の変形とR支配音

"schwa — /ə/"

The most common vowel in English — an unstressed mid-central sound. Written as any vowel: "a" in "about", "e" in "taken", "i" in "pencil".

""A doctor's banana — every unstressed vowel in that phrase is a schwa.""

母音の変形とR支配音

"oi / oy — /ɔɪ/"

The diphthong in "coin", "boil", "boy", "toy". "oi" appears mid-word; "oy" at the end.

""The boy avoided the noisy oil spill on Royal Street.""

母音の変形とR支配音

"ou / ow — /aʊ/"

The diphthong in "out", "cloud", "cow", "down". "ou" is common mid-word; "ow" appears mid and end.

""The crowd shouted out loud at the brown owl in the flower tower.""

母音の変形とR支配音

"oo — /uː/ or /ʊ/"

"oo" has two sounds: long /uː/ in "moon", "food", "boot" and short /ʊ/ in "book", "foot", "wood". Context distinguishes them.

""The cook took a good look at the food on the wooden spoon.""

母音の変形とR支配音

"au / aw — /ɔː/"

Vowel digraph producing the mid-back rounded vowel: "author", "pause", "claw", "jaw", "dawn".

""The author saw the fawn pause at dawn on the autumn lawn.""

応用フォニックスと語構造

"floss rule"

After a short vowel in a single-syllable word, double the letters F, L, and S: "off", "hill", "miss", "bell", "buff", "fuss".

""The spelling rule says: spell 'fill' not 'fil' — the double L is required after the short vowel.""

応用フォニックスと語構造

"doubling rule"

When adding a vowel suffix (-ing, -ed, -er) to a CVC word with a stressed short vowel, double the final consonant: "run→running", "hop→hopping".

""She's running and hopping — not 'runing' — because both end in short-vowel CVC.""

応用フォニックスと語構造

"drop-E rule"

When adding a vowel suffix to a magic-E word, drop the silent E: "hope→hoping", "make→making", "use→using".

""'Hoping' loses its silent E when '-ing' is added, but 'hopeful' keeps it.""

応用フォニックスと語構造

"Y-to-I rule"

When adding a suffix to a word ending in consonant+y, change y to i unless the suffix starts with i: "happy→happier", "cry→cried", but "cry→crying".

""She cried every day but is now smiling — y changed to i for the -ed suffix.""

応用フォニックスと語構造

"soft C and G"

C makes /s/ and G makes /dʒ/ before E, I, or Y: "cell", "city", "cycle"; "gem", "giant", "gym". Before A, O, U they are hard (/k/ and /ɡ/).

""Circus uses both a hard C and a soft C — the rule applies to each syllable separately.""

応用フォニックスと語構造

"syllable division (VC/CV)"

In a VCCV word, split between the two consonants: "bas-ket", "pil-low", "nap-kin". Each syllable stays intact.

""When dividing 'rabbit', split between the two b's: rab-bit, keeping each syllable closed.""

応用フォニックスと語構造

"high-frequency irregular words"

"Sight words" or "tricky words" that do not follow regular phonics patterns: "said", "was", "their", "one", "two", "have", "come".

""The word 'said' is spelled s-a-i-d but sounds like /sɛd/ — it must be memorised, not decoded.""

応用フォニックスと語構造

"morphophonological spelling"

Spelling is preserved across morphemes even when pronunciation shifts: "sign/signal", "muscle/muscular", "bomb/bombard" share letters for meaning.

""Knowing that 'sign' and 'signal' share a root explains the silent G — spelling encodes meaning, not just sound.""