How many speech sounds are represented by letters in the English orthography?

The correct answer reflects the complexity of the English language, where there are approximately 44 individual phonemes, or speech sounds, represented by various combinations of letters and letter groups (graphemes). This means that even with a total of 26 letters in the alphabet, the nuanced nature of English phonology allows for many different ways to represent these sounds visually in writing.

In English orthography, graphemes can vary from single letters to multiple letters representing a single sound (for example, "sh" in "ship" or "ough" in "though"). This abundance of graphemes illustrates the flexibility needed to transcribe the range of phonemes present in the language.

The other options do not accurately capture the relationship between the distinct sounds used in spoken English and their representation in written form. For instance, stating a lower number of speech sounds or suggesting that all sounds can be represented with fewer graphemes vastly oversimplifies the intricacies of English spelling and pronunciation. Understanding this relationship is crucial for teaching reading and spelling, especially to those with dyslexia or other reading difficulties.