Oregon Educator Licensure Assessments (ORELA) Practice Exam

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What term describes the consonant sound that precedes the vowel of a syllable?

Rime
Onset
Phoneme
Segment

The correct answer is: Onset

The term that describes the consonant sound preceding the vowel of a syllable is "onset." In syllable structure, the onset is the initial consonant or consonant cluster of a syllable. For instance, in the word "cat," the onset is the letter "c," while the vowel "a" constitutes the nucleus of the syllable. The other terms have distinct meanings: "rime" refers to the vowel and any consonants that follow it within the same syllable, essentially forming the ending part of the syllable. "Phoneme" is the smallest unit of sound in language that can distinguish one word from another but does not specifically relate to syllable structure. "Segment," in a linguistic context, generally pertains to dividing words into their phonetic components but does not specifically define the relationship between consonants and vowels within a syllable.