Today, we’re talking about the difference between continuous and stop sounds.
In this blog and video series, I’ve been comparing pairs of literacy terms to help you as you teach your learners.
Find all the videos and posts in this series by clicking one the images at the very bottom of this post.
Continuous and Stop Sounds: The Difference
First, let’s talk about continuous sounds. As the name implies, these are sounds (or phonemes) that can be stretched out or elongated.
Some examples of continuous sounds are /f/, /m/, and /s/. Notice, all of these sounds can be stretched out for as long as you have breath.
More examples of continuous sounds would include the sounds represented by these letters: f, h, j, l, m, n, r, s, v, y, and z. All of their sounds can be stretched out or elongated.
Something else to keep in mind is that all vowel sounds are continuous sounds.
Stop sounds, on the other hand, are sounds that CANNOT be stretched out or elongated.
That’s because the flow of air is blocked and then released, making the sounds short and quick.
Some examples of stop sounds are /b/, /t/, and /k/. Notice, all of these sounds are not elongated.
One of the dangers with stop sounds is that we might try to elongate them by adding /uh/ (or schwa) to the end. This leads us to distort the sounds like: /buh/, /tuh/, and /kuh/, which we don’t want.
More examples of stop sounds would include the sounds represented by these letters: b, c, d, g, k, p, and t. All of their sounds are quick and short.
The text in this blog post is the text from my video.
Watch the full video on my YouTube channel.
Continuous and Stop Sounds: Why Does it Matter?
Now that we know about continuous sounds and stop sounds, why does it matter? And while I’m sure entire books could be written about this, here’s one reason knowing the difference helps.
The answer? Blending sounds to read words! In general, continuous sounds can help our beginning or struggling readers blend the sounds together easier.
Take for example the word man. Because the m, the a, and the n all represent continuous sounds, sounding through or sounding out a word like man can be made easy for beginning readers because they can blend the sounds together.
The sounds kind of run into or “bleed” into each other because the voice is never stopped: /mmmmm/-/aaaaaa/-/nnnnn/
A word like mat is a little trickier because the /t/ at the end is a stop, but it is made easier by the continuous sounds of the first two letters. Just remember not to distort the last sound by adding schwa. {We don’t want /tuh/.}
Let’s compare using continuous sounds in blending to using stops with the word bat.
Bat starts with a stop sound. So, instead of being able to run right into the /a/, learners might be tempted to elongate the b, therefore distorting it into /buh/.
Bat may get sounded out like /buh/ -/aaaa/-/t/ or worse yet /buh/-/aaa/-/tuh/, leading students to think it’s a completely different word.
If you’d like some more tips and tricks for helping kids sound out words, I’d encourage you to visit my blog post, Helping Kids Sounds out Words.
Enjoy teaching!
~Becky
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