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Graphemes – A Functional Writing Element
Here we will explore one of the most basic functions of a written language. It's not a part of speech, like a noun, verb, etc. Without it, we couldn't translate text into speech. It works in conjunction with another element, the phoneme. In fact, without graphemes, phonemes would serve no purpose.
Phonemes are a very important building block of a spoken language. Graphemes are the building blocks of written language that allows us to utilize the right phonemes for various combinations of letters.
The Simple Explanation
To put it more simply, graphemes provide the options for how letters or combinations of letters are pronounced. For instance, the word, “stitch” contains the grapheme “tch”, which represents the phoneme, “/tʃ/”. (Don't worry about how to type that; it represents the single sound you know “tch” makes. We're not concerned with typing the symbols, but with recognizing the sounds.
If you know about phonemes, you know that the phoneme for the “tch” grapheme is classified as voiceless, palatal and affricate.
To demonstrate a different example, consider the word, “choir”. It contains the grapheme, “ch”, which can be pronounced differently in the word. “chair”, or in the word, “chalet”. So, without worrying about how to type the phonemes, you can see that the grapheme “ch” can represent 3 different phonemes.
Alphabetic Graphemes
These graphemes may be classified fairly simply, by the number of letters they contain. The classifications have names that designate those numbers.
Monograph: a single letter grapheme
- “t” represents the phoneme for the letter “t”
- “a” (as a single letter) can represent various phonemes: “wash, wave, bat, sofa, fall”
Digraph: a two-letter grapheme
- “ae” represents the long “i” phoneme
- “ee” represents the long “e” phoneme
- “ea” most often represents the long “e” phoneme
- “at” represents the short “a” phoneme, followed by the hard “t” phoneme
Trigraph: a tree-letter grapheme
- “ish” as in “squeamish”
- “tch” as in “fetch”
Note that there is at least one four-letter grapheme: “eigh”, as used in “sleigh” and “eight”.
Note, also, that several of the examples above include vowel pair graphemes that result in a single phoneme. Others include “ie/ei”, “ai”, “oe” and a few more, and they're quite common in the English language. Consonant pairs may sometimes have that effect, such as the “kn” in “knight” and “know” and doubled consonants, as in “alley ” (a-l-ee).
The classifications listed above are referred to as “units” and are common in the English language. It's important to understand that these graphemes produce single sounds, though they may combine multiple letters. This means that the usage of certain letters may affect the grapheme count, along with syllables.
Vowels that can be audible or silent also affect grapheme count. The most common of these is “e”, which is most often silent at the end of a word (“since”) and pronounced when enclosed (“seven”).
Another quirk that's most prevalent in English is some inconsistency in the sound of graphemes, for instance, “through”, “tough”, and “though” represent the phonemes for “oo”, “uf” and “owe”, respectively. Note also that the “gh” in one of those words represents an “f” phoneme, while it's silent in the other two. The “f” phoneme can also be referenced by “ph” and “ff”.
Alternate Classifications
Graphemes can be classified in a few various ways. Thus far, we've been focused on Alphabetic Graphemes, but it's also possible to group them by syllable count. This gives us the Syllable Graphemes classification, as: “e/mo/tion”.
A third, though somewhat obscure, classification is the Logographic category, in which graphemes represent symbols or concepts. Two examples of this would be in some Native American and Chinese languages. Bear in mind that in this article, we're concerned more with the written word rather than the spoken word.
With that in mind, we could conclude that ancient pictographs could be considered graphemes, too, since they are the basis of a writing system. After all, an alphabet is nothing more than a collection of symbols. Groups of these symbols become graphemes when we combine them according to the customs of our languages.
Why Do You Need to Know About Graphemes?
You may be wondering what value there is to you in knowing about graphemes. That's a fair question, and to many readers, it may not go beyond the satisfaction of learning something new. You don't need to be a linguist to benefit from the knowledge, though.
Poets and songwriters will need to be concerned with meter and rhyme. A good working knowledge of how words are formed and pronounced will come in handy in building strong verses and lyrics, like for a haiku. Even free verse will benefit from the rhythmic effects of the right graphemes. Remember, this is a case where it matters how what you write is spoken or thought.
Any creative writing task will benefit from a good knowledge of how the words written will sound when read. The best public speakers, singers, actors, and anyone who delivers words to an audience carefully rehearses their work to ensure that the words emphasize the points they need to make. Graphemes are clusters of phonemes and phonemes are sounds. The sounds of the words have impact.
Whether you need to elicit an emotional response, drive home specific points, or simply ensure your message is clear, each word on the written page has the potential to reach an audience, and graphemes are the key to making phonemes work for the reader, speaker, or singer. It's hard to overestimate the value of that impact.
Closing Thoughts
I hope you've enjoyed this piece and found personal value in what you've read. As always, I've tried to provide a good overview of the subject without too many tiresome details. There's more to be learned on the subject of graphemes, but I believe I've provided the basis for a great journey to creating more effective writing, no matter what the job.
Thanks for using our Grapheme Counter!
Good luck on your journey!