Since English is the evolved product of the assimilation of many languages, it is impossible to provide prescriptive and immutable rules for its spellings.

For instance, here I show “ch” demonstrating three sound values: ch (like tj) – chin/chop, k – chasm/chaos, sh – champagne.

I require:
1. The identification of a letter cluster group which can represent 7 different sounds (5 are pure vowel sounds).
2. At least one word to demonstrate the use of each of these sounds. [If a given word may not be in my solution, I will accept a rhyming word that uses the letter cluster].

Note: That my spelling orientation is generally based upon Oxford English, this challenge should present more effort for a phonetic speller than one who uses American spellings.

[This was presented to me in my primary school years, many years ago, as a demonstration that while native English users may have difficulty, how much harder for those using it as a second language. I have also been careful that the cluster is not in the body of this text]

(In reply to More than 7 (okay only 7) by Bob Smith)

I saw this problem a while back, where it was claimed there were nine sounds in English represented by this cluster. The common ones match yours exactly. The extras were

lough (rhymes with dock, comes from the Irish and has the same meaning and pronunciation as the Scottish-derived loch)

and

hiccough (acceptable variant spelling of hiccup)


Go figure.

Posted by Paul on 2005-08-24 08:46:00