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Sound and Is Pronounced /ɪz / or /ƏZ/ After A Sibilant Sound

Voiced consonants use vocal cord vibration while voiceless consonants do not. Sibilants involve forcing air through the teeth. The pronunciation of a final 's' depends on the preceding sound: it is /s/ after voiceless sounds like 'p' and 't', /z/ after voiced sounds like 'b' and 'g', and /iz/ or /əz/ after sibilants like 's' and 'sh'. Examples are provided for each pronunciation rule. Memorizing these rules can help with correctly pronouncing the final 's' in English words.

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149 views3 pages

Sound and Is Pronounced /ɪz / or /ƏZ/ After A Sibilant Sound

Voiced consonants use vocal cord vibration while voiceless consonants do not. Sibilants involve forcing air through the teeth. The pronunciation of a final 's' depends on the preceding sound: it is /s/ after voiceless sounds like 'p' and 't', /z/ after voiced sounds like 'b' and 'g', and /iz/ or /əz/ after sibilants like 's' and 'sh'. Examples are provided for each pronunciation rule. Memorizing these rules can help with correctly pronouncing the final 's' in English words.

Uploaded by

tania
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Voiced Consonants vs.

Voiceless Consonants
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.
Try this with the other letters and you will "feel" the difference between a voiced and a
voiceless consonant (or sound).

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

 Z like the sound a bee makes... zzzzzz


 S like the sound a snake makes... sssssss
 SH like the sound a teacher makes when they want you to be quiet... shhhhh

Now we know the difference between voiced, voiceless and sibilant sounds we can look at
the following rules for the correct pronunciation of S at the end of words in English:

The pronunciation of the S at the end of words in English


The pronunciation of the final S in plural words and verbs in the third person depend on the
final consonant sound before that S.
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 /

1. The /ɪz/ sound (or /əz/ sound)


Sometimes this sound is written as /əz/ and uses the symbol "schwa" or "upside down e"
before the z. For ease we will write this sound as /ɪz/ or /iz/
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/.
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

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.

2. The /s/ 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.
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)

3. The /z/ sound


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.
We also use this ending when the word ends in a vowel sound (e.g. bees, flies etc.)
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

Pronunciation of S cheat sheet

This may help: /s/ comes after words ending in vioceless sounds (sounds in the production
of which the vocal cords are held wide apart; sounds in the production of which the vocal
cords do not vibrate). Examples are /t/, /k/, /f/. /z/ comes after words ending in voiced
sounds (sounds in the production of which the vocal cords are close together; sounds in the
production of which he vocal cords vibrate). Examples are /d/, /m/ and /g/. /iz/ comes after
words ending in sibilants.

Here is the rule to help you:


When the letter ‘s’ is after an unvoiced or quiet consonant, it is
pronounced as a /s/. e.g., hats, tops, works, laughs, what’s, moths.

When the letter ‘s’ is after a vowel, another ‘s’, or a voiced consonant,
it is pronounced as a /z/ sound.
e.g., logs, tubes, beds, moves, clothes, was, becomes, he’s, passes.

Pronounce the ‘es’ as /əz/after the consonants /s /z/ ‘ch’ ‘sh’ ‘j’ ‘zh’ ( as in
vision)- (in ‘es’ /əz/, the schwa sound /ə/ is said like a very short ‘u’ sound)
e.g., passes, beaches, washes, packages, noses.

The other thing to remember is to pay attention when listening to native English speakers
and the audio trainer in my program, and remember how they use it.

The third reason means you have to practice saying the 2 consonants together so you don’t
leave the /s/ and /z/ out because your mouth isn’t used to moving this way.

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