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9.1. Voiced, voiceless and sibilant sounds.

A voiced consonant (or sound) means that it uses the vocal cords and they produce a vibration or humming sound in the throat when they are said. Put your finger on your throat and then pronounce the letter L. You will notice a slight vibration in your neck / throat. That is because it is a voiced sound.

A voiceless sound (sometimes called unvoiced sound) is when there is no vibration in your throat and the sound comes from the mouth area. Pronounce the letter P. You will notice how it comes from your mouth (in fact near your lips at the front of your mouth). The P sound doesn't come from your throat.

Another sound which is relevant to this is the sibilant sound which is produced by forcing air out toward your teeth. It is characterised by a hissing sound (sssss), a buzzing sound (zzzzz) or the sound teachers make when they want you to be quiet (shhhh!).

Cuadro abstracto de colores.

The ending is pronounced /s/ after a voiceless sound, it is pronounced /z/ after a voiced sound and is pronounced /ɪz / or /əz/ after a sibilant sound:

  • Voiceless: helps /ps/ -- sits /ts/ -- looks /ks/
  • Voiced: crabs /bz/ -- words /dz/ -- gloves /vz/
  • Sibilant: buses /sɪz / or /səz /, bridges /dʒɪz / or /dʒəz /, wishes /shɪz / or /shəz /
VOICELESS SOUND VOICED SOUND  SIBILANT SOUND

If the last consonant of the word is voiceless, then the S is pronounced as /s/. Be careful not to create an extra syllable.

NOTE: The consonants c, s, sh, ch and x are voiceless though they use the sibilants ending seen above.

 If the last letter of the words ends in a voiced consonant (or sound), then the S is pronounced like a Z /z/(without creating another syllable). This Z sound is similar to the sound a bee makes zzzz.

If the last consonant sound of the word is a sibilant sound (a hissing or buzzing sound), the final S is pronounced as /ɪz/. This /ɪz/ sound is pronounced like an extra syllable. (e.g. the word buses has two syllables)

If the sound has a J sound (/dʒ/ like the letter J at the beginning of the word jacket or /ʒ/ like the S in pleasure), then the final S is also pronounced as /ɪz/.

Remember: after verbs ending in -sh, -ch, -ss and -x, we add the -es to the end of the verb (in third person) and the pronunciation is /iz/ as an extra syllable.

Examples of words ending in the /s/ sound:

  • P: cups stops, sleeps
  • T: hats, students, hits, writes
  • K: cooks, books, drinks, walks
  • F: cliffs, sniffs, beliefs, laughs, graphs (the -gh and -ph here are pronounced like a F)
  • TH: myths, tablecloths, months (voiceless th)

Examples of words ending in the /z/ sound:

  • B: crabs, rubs
  • D: cards, words, rides, ends
  • G: rugs, bags, begs
  • L: deals calls, falls, hills
  • M: plums, dreams
  • N: fans, drains, runs, pens
  • NG: kings, belongs, sings
  • R: wears, cures
  • V: gloves, wives, shelves, drives
  • Y: plays, boys, says,
  • THE: clothes, bathes, breathes
  • VOWEL SOUNDS: sees, fleas

Examples of words ending in the /ɪz/ sound:

  • C: races (sounds like "race-iz")
  • S: pauses, nurses, buses, rises
  • X: fixes, boxes, hoaxes
  • Z: amazes, freezes, prizes, quizzes
  • SS: kisses, misses, passes, bosses
  • CH: churches, sandwiches, witches, teaches
  • SH: dishes, wishes, pushes, crashes
  • GE: garages, changes, ages, judges

 

Sonidos sonoros que se produce con la vibración de las cuerdas vocales

Sonidos sonoros.

Sonidos sordos.

Translation

Click here to read the Spanish version.

Now It´s your turn

-(e)s pronounced as [S]

The pronunciation of S at the end of plural nouns, verbs in third person and as a part of the possessive case sometimes causes problems for non-native speakers because it can be pronounced in some different ways like / s / or / z /.

Example, in English, we mostly form the plural of a noun by adding ‘s’. In some cases we add ‘es’:

  • 1 dog, 2 dogs
  • 1 class, 2 classes

Read these words aloud. You should to make an effort to pronounce the final -(e)s sound:

Attacks →Attempts→Attracts→Beeps


Blinks→Boasts→Breaks →Circulates


Cites→Coasts→Conflicts→Confronts


Consists→Corrupts→Coughs→Defeats


Demonstrates→Detects→Develops→Hits


Irritates→Jumps→Knocks→Laughs


Leaps→Rates→Reacts→Reflects


Resents→Retreats→Risks→Shapes


Sits→Sleeps→Snaps→Stacks


Sticks→Stops→Swaps→Tapes


Thanks →Thinks→Types→Winks


Hits→Quotes→Puffs→Props

 

Genitivo sajón. Also called the possessive case, the genitive case is when we add apostrophe S (’s) to show possession, that something belongs to another or a type of relationship between things.e.g. Woodward’s house, Your brother’s friend,...