* Ch: This represents a single phoneme, a voiceless palatal-alveolar affricate (like the "ch" in "chair").
* i: This is the short "i" sound, a high front vowel.
* c: This represents the phoneme /k/, a voiceless velar stop.
* a: This is the "ah" sound, a low back vowel.
* g: This represents the phoneme /g/, a voiced velar stop.
* o: This is the long "o" sound, a mid back vowel.
Therefore, "Chicago" has 6 phonemes.