While a few pronunciation and spelling problems can arise when a regular symbol combination sends different sound signals, e.g. “ear” with its four sounds, the real challenge is to cope with those situations where different symbols produce the same sound, e.g. wh-o - y-ou; kn-ee - k-ey; au-th-or - w-ar-n; st-ea-k - ei-ght - a-te; sew - plat-eau - th-ough.

It is not hard to accept that the symbol combinations “or”, “ore”, “oor”, “oer”, “oar” and “our” might make the same sound “or..” as in “for”, but it is more difficult when it comes to other combinations such as “au”, “aw”, “augh”, “ough”, “aur”, “a” in “talk” and “ar” in “warn”.
Again, while it is easy to understand why “sh” makes the sound it does in “ship”, it is more difficult to see how “ti”, “ci”, “ce”, “si”, “se”, “su”, “tu”, “xi”, and “sci”, “ssi”, “ssu” can produce the same “sh..” sound, e.g. station, precious, decision, ocean and anxious, etc.

The “ti” Family

All of these symbol combinations are members of the “ti” Family of Consonant-
Vowel Digraphs and are common pronunciation and spelling traps in English.

The most common is “ti” and is found in hundreds of everyday words in the combinations “ton”, “tian”, “tial”, “tient”, “tience” and “tious”, e.g. position, dietitian, confidential, patient, impatience, cautious. The key to correctly pronouncing and spelling these words is to know the 4S Key To Understanding that: “ti” usually says “sh..” when followed by a vowel.

The validity of this 4S Key is seen when one compares the words, action and active – the former followed by a vowel and the latter followed by a consonant.

In the word, action, the combination “ti” is saying “sh..” whereas in active, where “ti” is followed by the consonant “v”, both the “t” and the ”i” just make their regular sound.

The next most common combination is “ci” that again occurs in five different combinations, i.e. “cial”, “cian”, “cion”, “cient” and “cious” in a great number of common words such as: special, politician, suspicion, sufficient, delicious. It will be noted that like ”ti”, “ci” usually says “sh..” when followed by a vowel. The “ce” in ocean can be also added to this list.

The other immediate relatives of “ti”, namely “si”, “se”, “tu”, “xi”, as well as “sci” and “ssi” also usually make an “sh..” sound when they too are followed immediately by a vowel, e.g. Ephesians, mansion, nauseous, complexion, anxious, unctuous, conscious, Russian, discussion.. One can also add “ss” in issue.

Knowing these core combinations, the many extended symbol combinations they form and their variations, is an invaluable tool in literacy as they are to be found in middle and end symbol combinations in thousands of words.

The “ti” Family Cousins

Other groups of symbol combinations are “cousins” of the “ti” group. One group produces the regular “ch..” sound rather than “sh..” when the “tion” and “tian” symbol combinations are preceded by the consonant “s”, e.g. question and Christian.

A “ch..” sound also occurs in some “te” words, e.g. words that contain the combination, “teous” e.g. righteous. Again, “tu” also can make a regular “ch..” sound in picture and century.

The symbol combination “sion” usually says “shun” as in pension. However, it sometimes produces a “French-j - zh..” sound heard in measure when it is preceded by a vowel, e.g. television and erosion.

Like many other symbol combinations in the English language, some members of the “ti” family can make more than one sound. For example, while the combination “sure” can say “sh..” in pressure, it makes a “zh..” sound in words such as pleasure and treasure. It will also be noted that the “ti” group never produce their “sh..”, “ch..” or “zh..” sounds when they begin words, e.g. tiara, tied, Siam, cease.

When teaching the “ti” Family, 4S also teaches about other Consonant-Vowel Digraphs such as “di”, “gi” and “ge” that are found in the combinations “dier”, “gious”, “geous”, “gion” and “geon”. These combinations all make a “soft g” sound as one hears in giraffe. Consider the words: soldier, religious, gorgeous, region and pigeon.

When teaching the “ti” Family – its close “relatives” and its “cousins”, it is wise to always progress from the Simple to the Complex and more importantly, from the Known to the Unknown. Obviously, beginning with “tion” words is the easiest approach to take as there are so many everyday, common words that contain the “tion” combination.

Again, there is value applying other proven 4S accelerated teaching techniques, particularly using “related” words such as action, fraction, traction, reaction, contraction, attraction, retraction – motion, lotion, potion, notion, devotion, emotion, commotion, promotion, demotion, commotion.

E-mail contact@4Sliteracy.com.au for a free copy of the 4S Primer Alphabet Chart.

(The author Keith W. Wright is a former politician, an educator and the director of the Australian International Language Academy).