Page 4 - TipuriDeSuneteSilabaAccentul_TypesOfSoundsSyllableAccent

2. Types of sounds. Syllable. Accent

In the fifth class you will become acquainted with a new science. Phonetics is the science that studies language
sounds. Although it seems to be unknown to you, you will find out that you have met it from the primary classes.
One of the phonetics’ challenges is to identify the number of sounds and letters that form a word.
Fortunately, the sounds of the Romanian language are generally kind, so everyone has its sign, that is a letter.
You already know that the sound is the one that can be heard and the letter is the written form of the sound.
In other words, we pronounce the sounds and we write down the letters and read them. Thus, any word has
a sound form made up of sounds and a graphic/written word.
Taking as an example the word clasa, we can easily notice that we speak 5 sounds and write 5 letters: c, l, a, s, a.
But because all that is too easy become boring, a few sounds and letters thought of being exceptions to
the rule and transform it challenges for fifth class students.
The first exception is the letter x. It is different because it
transcribes two sounds: Cs (in words like pix, excursie or taxi) or
gz (in examples as exercițiu, exemplu, examen).

5 letters (m, a, x, i, m)
maxim
6 sounds (m, a, c, s, i, m)

Practice

1. Determine the number of letters and sounds of words:

vocală consoane
vowel consonant

experiență examen
experience exam

As exceptions, we can find four letters used in words borrowed from various languages: y - which we
pronounce “i”, w - which we pronounce “v”, q and k - which we pronounce “c”.
Another challenge comes from the letter groups. There are two-letter groups (ce, ci, ge, gi) or three-
letter groups (che, chi, ghe, ghi). Depending on the situation, they:
• transcribe a single sound if there is a vowel in the syllable they belong to:
5 letters 6 letters 6 letters
cea-pă cior-bă ghea-ță
4 sounds 5 sounds 4 sounds

• transcribe two sounds if there is no other vowel in the syllable they belong to:

6 letters 7 letters 9 letters
ci-re-șe cer-curi ghir-lan-dă
6 sounds 7 sounds 8 sounds