In last article we discussed that human speech is universal and yet individualistic and we generate tones and rhythms that are uniquely human.
We discussed three human speech sounds, /p/ ,/b/ and/m/ consonants in detail.
We also did an activity to decide voicing or unvoiced sounds.
We also put some questions in a box like, “ How are the words like this pronounced ?”
Eg. Bags... /bæɡz/ or /bæɡs/ ?
Bats... /bæts/ or /bætz/ ?
Laughed... /lɑːft/ or /lɑːfd/ ?
Danced... /dænst/ or /dænsd/ ?
When we make plural by adding ‘s’ or ‘es’ and adding ‘ed’ to change the tense. How are they pronounced correctly?
Before going to decide we should know about some phonetics features / state of glottis.
Individual sounds in English can be divided into two categories voiced and voiceless knowing the distinction can be helpful when practising difficult sounds.
Voiced sounds require a vibration of the vocal cords which are located in our throat, feel the vibration by touching hands to our throat and then pronounce this sound /z/ Do we feel the vibration ? Many consonant sounds are voiced and all vowel sounds are voiced. Voiceless sounds do not have vibration of the vocal cords.
Voiceless: /p/, /t/, /k/, /tʃ/, /f/, /θ/, /s/, /ʃ/, /h/ =9
Remaining consonants and all vowels are voiced sounds.
There are three ways to Pronounce ‘-ed’ ending in Simple Past.
If the base form of the verb has a voiceless sound at the end of it, such as /p/, /k/, /tʃ/, /f/, /θ/, /s/ or /ʃ/, we pronounce the “ed” ending as a “t.”
(Please note that, the pronounciation depends on the last sound, NOT the last letter of the verb in the base form. For example, the verb ‘laugh’ in the base form ends with -gh which has the sound ‘f’ in the end, so we pronounce the -ed as ‘ť.)
asked
brushed
cooked
danced
dropped
finished
fixed
helped
jumped
laughed
looked
walked
washed
watched
worked
If the verbs ends in the sound /t/ or /d/, we pronounce the “-ed” ending as “id.”
accepted
decided
ended
hated
invited
needed
repeated
shouted
started
visited
waited
wanted
The rest of the sounds are pronounced as ‘d’.
Note: We never say the ending -ed as /ed/. We say -ed as /t/ , /d/ or /id/.
Pronunciation of Verbs ending in ‘-s’ and ‘-es’
1. If the base form of the verb or noun ends with the sound /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /3/, /tʃ/or /d3/, then pronounce -es as an extra syllable /ız/.
slice - slices
lose - loses
wash-washes
watch - watches
judge - judges
relax-relaxes
2. If the base form ends with the voiceless sound /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, or /θ/, then pronounce -s and -es as /s/.
sleep - sleeps
hit - hits
work - works
laugh - laughs
3. If the base form ends with any other consonant or with a vowel sound, then pronounce -s and -es as /z/.
learn - learns
go - goes
Today we are going to discuss another two consonant sounds- dental sounds /θ/ and /ð/.
The tip of the tongue makes a light contact with the edge of the upper front teeth. The soft palate is raised so as to shut up the nasal passage of air. The air escapes through the narrow space between the tip of the tongue and the front teeth, causing audible friction. The vocal cords do not vibrate. /θ/ is thus a voiceless dental fricative .
Spellings:
/θ/ is represted by the letters ‘th’ in thin path etc.
Distribution:
/θ/ can occur initially, medially and finally in a word
Think
Thank word -initial /θ/
Thick
Author
Pathos word -medial /θ/
Ethereal
Oath
Path Word-final /θ/
Tooth
Both
Note:
Most Indians replace /θ/ by થ (Devnagri symbol) the aspirated voiceless dental plossive. For international intelligibility, it is better to use fricative /θ/ . This sound can be easily produced by gently placing the tip of the tongue between the two rows of teeth and blowing out.
To avoid confusion between words like:
Thank and tank
Thought and taught
Three and tree
Fourth and fort
/ð/
/ð/ is articulated exactly like /θ/ described, above except that during the articulation of /ð/ vocal cords vibrate producing voiced, /ð/ is thus a voiced dental fricative.
Spellings:
/ð/ is representated by the letters /th/ as in then and that.
Distribution:
/ð/ occurs initially, medially and finally in words:
This
Then Word-initial /ð/
Though
Either
Neither Word-medial /ð/
Without
Leather
Loathe
Bathe Word-final /ð/
With
Soothe
Most Indian speakers replace /ð/ by /d/ the voiced dental plossive- the sound represented by the Devnagri symbol દ. For international intelligibility, it is better to use /ð/.
To avoid confusion between words like:
They ans day
There and dare
Breathe and breed
We have discussed five sounds in two articles:
/p/ voiceless ,bilabial and plossive.
/b/ voiced , bilabial and plossive .
/m/ voiced, bilabial and nasal
/થ/ voiceless, dental and fricative.
/ધ/ voiced, dental and fricative.
We will meet in next articles till then practise the different interesting pronunciation of human sounds. Enjoy the world of sounds .
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