This article summarises the linguistic base of initial reading and spelling in English for the benefit of teachers and others engaged in education who need explicit understanding of parts of the linguistic base in order to teach initial literacy accurately. The aspects covered are those most relevant to children entering formal schooling: spoken language as the foundation of literacy; phonetics and phonology; phoneme-grapheme and grapheme-phoneme correspondences; sequencing in phonics teaching; vocabulary, morphology and syntax; and the linguistic effects of reading to children. Several aspects are discussed from two angles, first describing the full system, then summarising where 5-year-olds have reached in their development towards it.