Letterpairs

Letterpairs, also known as digraphs, are a sequence of two letters that represent a single sound or phoneme. This is a common concept in linguistics and phonetics. Examples of letterpairs in English include "sh" as in "ship," "ch" as in "chair," "th" as in "thin" or "this," and "ph" as in "phone." These pairs are often encountered when learning to read and spell, as they deviate from the standard one-to-one correspondence between letters and sounds.

The function of letterpairs can vary. Some are consistent, always producing the same sound, while others can be context-dependent. For instance, "ea" can sound like "ee" in "read" (present tense) but like "eh" in "read" (past tense). The "qu" combination is another interesting case, where the 'q' is almost always followed by 'u' in English, and together they typically produce a /kw/ sound as in "quick."

Letterpairs are also found in other languages, though their specific combinations and pronunciations differ. Understanding letterpairs is crucial for phonemic awareness, which is a foundational skill for reading acquisition. It helps learners decode words by recognizing that two letters can act as a single unit to represent a sound. This concept extends to trigraphs (three letters representing one sound) and other grapheme-phoneme correspondences.