The Rainbow Passage

The Rainbow Passage

• When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors.

• These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon.

• There is , according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

• There • according • legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end.

People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

• Throughout the centuries people have explained the rainbow in various ways. Some have accepted it as a miracle without physical explanation. To the Hebrews it was a token that there would be no more universal floods.

• The Greeks used to imagine that it was a sign from the gods to foretell war or heavy rain. The Norsemen considered the rainbow as a bridge over which the gods passed from earth to their home in the sky. Others have tried to explain the phenomenon physically.

• Aristotle thought that the rainbow was caused by reflection of the sun's rays by the rain. Since then physicists have found that it is not reflection, but refraction by the raindrops which causes the rainbows.

• Many complicated ideas about the rainbow have been formed. The difference in the rainbow depends considerably upon the size of the drops, and the width of the colored band increases as the size of the drops increases.

• The actual primary rainbow observed is said to be the effect of super-imposition of a number of bows.

• If the red of the second bow falls upon the green of the first, the result is to give a bow with an abnormally wide yellow band, since red and green light when mixed form yellow.

• This is a very common type of bow, one showing mainly red and yellow, with little or no green or blue.

• The Rainbow Passage, a public domain text, can be found on page 127 of the 2nd edition of Grant Fairbanks' Voice and Articulation Drillbook. New York: Harper & Row.

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Vowel Sounds

(Phonemes)

Possible Spellings (Phonograms)

Long Vowels(They say their own name.)

/ā/ /ē/ /ī/ /ō/ /ū/

Long /ā/

• a as in baby (at the end of a syllable or word)• a-e a-e as in cake• ai as in rain (at the beginning or middle of a syllable or

word)• ay as in day (at the end of a syllable or word)• ea as in break, great, steak (only 3 words use this

spelling)• ei as in vein• eigh as in eight• ey as in they

Long /ē/

• e as in me• ea as in eat• ee as in feet• y as in candy (at the end of a word with two or

more syllables)• e-e as in these• ei as in ceiling• ey as in key• ie as in chief

Long /ī/

• i as in cry• i-e as in pine• igh as in light• y as in cry• ie as in pie (chief)• y-e as in type

Long /ō/

• o as in go• oa as in boat (beginning or middle of syllable

or word)• o-e as in home• ow as in snow• oe as in doe, foe, hoe, Joe, Poe, roe, toe, woe• ough as in dough

Long /ū/

• u as in music• u-e as in cube• ew as in few• eu as in feud• ue as in rescue

/ā/ /ē/ /ī/ /ō/ /ū//ă/ /ĕ/ /ĭ/ /ŏ/ /ŭ/

Short Vowels

short /ă/

• a as in bat

short /ĕ/

• e as in net• ea as in bread

short /ĭ/

• i as in kit• y as in gym

short /ŏ/

• o as in hot• ou(gh) as in cough

short /ŭ/

• u as in cut• o as in other• ə unaccented vowel as in above, synthesis,

decimal, harmony, medium, syringe• ou(gh) as in rough

R-controlled Vowels

/or/

• or as in ford• ar as in war (after a w)

/ar/

• ar as in car

/er/

• er as in her• ir as in bird• ur as in burn• ar as in collar (unaccented syllable)• ear as in learn• or as in doctor (unaccented syllable)• or as in worm (after a w)

/air/

• air as in fair• are as in care• ear as in bear• err as in merry

Diphthongs

/au/

• a as in ball (and after a w as in water)• au as in haul• aw as in draw (usually at the end of the

syllable or word)

/ou/

• ou as in out• ow as in cow• ough as in bough

/oi/

• oi as in oil (beginning or middle of a word)• oy as in boy (end of a word except for royal

and oyster)

/oo/

• Long /oo/ • oo as in moon• ew as in grew• ou as in soup• ough as in slough• u as in tulip• ue as in true• u-e as in rule

/oo/

• Short /oo/ • oo as in book• u as in put

• * ə This is the symbol of the schwa sound. Any vowel may say /ŭ/ when in an unaccented syllable of a multisyllabic word. Any R-controlled vowel can say /er/ in an unaccented syllable.

Consonant Sounds Possible Spellings

/b/

• b as in bed

/d/

• d as in dig

/f/

• f as in fan• ph as in phone• gh as in laugh and cough

/g/

• g as in good

/h/

• h as in him

/j/

• j as in jam• g as in gem (when g is followed by e, i, or y)• dge as in judge (1-syllable word directly after 1

short vowel)

/k/

• k as in kit• c as in cat• ck as in luck (1-syllable word directly after 1

short vowel)

/l/

• l as in lamp

/m/

• m as in map

/n/

• n as in no• gn as in gnat and sign• kn as in knock

/p/

• p as in pig

/r/

• r as in rug• wr as in wren

/s/

• s as in sun• c as in cent (when c is followed by e, i, or y)

/t/

• t as in top

/v/

• v as in van

/w/

• w as in wet

/y/

• y as in yes

/z/

• z as in zoo• s as in has and nose

/ch/

• ch as in chin• tch as in match (1-syllable word directly after 1

short vowel)

/sh/

• sh as in ship

/zh/

• s as in treasure and vision

/th/

• th as in these (th is voiced)

/th/

• th as in thistle (th is unvoiced)

/wh/

• wh as in whale

/ng/

• ng as in ring

• These letters are not represented because they don’t have their own unique sound.

• c borrows the sounds of /k/ and /s/• q is the combination of /kw/• x is the combination of /ks/ (box) or /gz/

(exist)