Dictionary of the British English Spelling System - cover image

Copyright

Greg Brooks

Published On

2015-03-30

ISBN

Paperback978-1-78374-107-6
Hardback978-1-78374-108-3
PDF978-1-78374-109-0
HTML978-1-80064-480-9
EPUB978-1-78374-110-6
MOBI978-1-78374-111-3

Language

  • English

Print Length

522 pages (xxx + 492)

Dimensions

Paperback156 x 27 x 234 mm(6.14" x 1.05" x 9.21")
Hardback156 x 29 x 234 mm(6.14" x 1.13" x 9.21")

Weight

Paperback1598g (56.37oz)
Hardback1994g (70.34oz)

Media

Illustrations38

OCLC Number

1120671924

LCCN

2019452886

BIC

  • EBD
  • CFH
  • CBD

BISAC

  • LAN019000
  • LAN011000
  • FOR007000

LCC

  • PE1143

Keywords

  • British English
  • spelling
  • dictionary
  • phonetics
  • phonics
  • graphemes phoneme correspondence

Dictionary of the British English Spelling System

This book will tell all you need to know about British English spelling. It’s a reference work intended for anyone interested in the English language, especially those who teach it, whatever the age or mother tongue of their students. It will be particularly useful to those wishing to produce well-designed materials for teaching initial literacy via phonics, for teaching English as a foreign or second language, and for teacher training.
English spelling is notoriously complicated and difficult to learn; it is correctly described as much less regular and predictable than any other alphabetic orthography. However, there is more regularity in the English spelling system than is generally appreciated. This book provides, for the first time, a thorough account of the whole complex system. It does so by describing how phonemes relate to graphemes and vice versa. It enables searches for particular words, so that one can easily find, not the meanings or pronunciations of words, but the other words with which those with unusual phoneme-grapheme/grapheme-phoneme correspondences keep company.
Other unique features of this book include teacher-friendly lists of correspondences and various regularities not described by previous authorities, for example the strong tendency for the letter-name vowel phonemes (the names of the letters <a, e, i, o, u>) to be spelt with those single letters in non-final syllables.

Endorsements

Here at last we have a comprehensive and authoritative guide to phoneme-grapheme correspondences and grapheme-phoneme correspondences in British English. It can be consulted by those attempting to devise literacy education programmes using the now highly fashionable – even orthodox – teaching approach generally referred to as 'synthetic phonics'. It can also be used to assess critically the adequacy of synthetic phonics approaches. It is not partisan in relation to educational debates but can make those debates much better informed. For those with a more specific interest in the English spelling system, it will provide a highly accessible work of reference.

Peter Hannon

Emeritus Professor, School of Education, University of Sheffield

Additional Resources

Contributors

Greg Brooks

(author)
Emeritus Professor of Education at University of Sheffield