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Question

Difficulty: MediumConsonant Sounds

Fill in each blank with the correct phonetic symbol representing the consonant sound of the underlined letter(s).

Answer:In the word 'laugh', the underlined digraph 'gh' represents the consonant sound 【/f/】, whereas in the word 'shepherd', the underlined letter sequence 'ph' represents the consonant sound 【/p/】.

Answer

The letters 'gh' in 'laugh' produce the voiceless labiodental fricative /f/, while 'ph' in 'shepherd' produces the voiceless bilabial plosive /p/.
The correct phonetic sound for 'gh' in 'laugh' is /f/, as seen in standard IPA transcriptions (/lɑːf/). The correct phonetic sound for 'ph' in 'shepherd' is /p/, as the word derives historically from 'sheep-herd' (/ˈʃɛpəd/).

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the pronunciation of the underlined digraph 'gh' in 'laugh'.
The word 'laugh' is pronounced /lɑːf/, where 'gh' articulates as the voiceless labiodental fricative /f/.
English etymology maps certain historical 'gh' spellings to the /f/ sound at the end of words.
2
Analyze the pronunciation of the underlined letter sequence 'ph' in 'shepherd'.
The word 'shepherd' originates from 'sheep-herd' and is pronounced /ˈʃɛpəd/, where 'ph' articulates as the voiceless bilabial plosive /p/.
In compound words like 'shepherd', 'p' and 'h' belong to separate morphemes, so 'ph' does not form the Greek-derived /f/ digraph sound.

Key Concept

Orthographic variations and morphophonemic rules of English consonant sounds
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Topics

Consonant Sounds

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