hello there this is the sounds American
Channel
in this video we're going to talk about
the American consonant sound as in the
word son you can also hear this sound in
words like sleep place dress or horse
we'll be using a special phonetic symbol
for this sound as usual let's begin with
some phonology don't panic it's not
complicated
the belongs to a category of consonant
sounds called the fricatives this is the
largest group of consonants in American
English it consists of 9 different
sounds take a look as in few as in view
as in hiss this is as in his as in
fashion as in vision as in think as in
this and as in happy
so why are they called the fricative
consonants all these sounds are made by
partially blocking the air moving
through your mouth which creates an
audible friction speaking about the
consonant this sound is made by
partially blocking the air flowing
between the tip of your tongue and your
alveolar Ridge
thus is one of the most common sounds in
the world most of you are familiar with
it and probably have this consonant in
your native language
as always we did our best to make this
video worthy of your time however you
don't have to watch it if you're
confident in your American sound we'll
understand for those of you who are
still with us let's find out how to make
this sound slightly open your mouth now
focus on the position of the tip of your
tongue
raise the tip of your tongue to your
alveolar Ridge but don't touch it
make sure there's a small gap between
them
now release a stream of air over your
tongue when the air flows between the
tip of your tongue and the alveolar
Ridge towards your upper teeth it'll
create lots of noise
something like this remember all the
fricatives are continuous sounds and the
is no exception so let's try and stretch
it out ready
good let's do it again
here are a few typical mistakes that
people make when pronouncing this sound
number one the most common problem is
that many non-native English speakers
replace the with the Shh constant when
it occurs before vowels or at the end of
words the gets distorted when you raise
the blade of your tongue toward the roof
of your mouth
compare she see mash mass see how it may
lead to misunderstandings
number two combinations of two
consonants starting with the sound are
very common in English for example the
word Spanish
however in Spanish there always has to
be a vowel before the for example
espanol sorry for our accent so many
Spanish speakers involuntarily add a
vowel before the initial when they speak
English strictly speaking they don't
mispronounce the sound itself but it's
still a common problem we'll practice
words with the initial sound in a minute
number three another typical problem is
that the is distorted or dropped at the
end of words this happens because in
some languages words never end with
fricative sounds in English however it
happens all the time take a look at what
happens if you drop the final or replace
it with another sound how
house great race
get
guess
number four last but not least don't
forget about the vowel length rule thus
is a voiceless consonant so vowel sounds
before thus are typically shorter than
they are before its voice counterpart
the this is consonant compared phase
face
his hiss we talked about the vowel
length rule in detail in one of our
previous videos don't forget to check
the link in the description below okay
after lots of theory it's time to
practice
we know you're looking forward to it
this is how it works
you'll see a word on the screen and here
it's pronunciation like this same you'll
have a few seconds to pronounce the word
try to practice as many words as
possible this is the most important part
of the whole lesson let's start with us
at the beginning of words same
you
Sat
saw
say
scene
scrap
scratch
scream
scrip
seed
seek
Sande
Singh
sky
sleeeeep
let's pause for a second and review how
you're making the sound make sure you
don't touch the alveolar Ridge with the
tip of your tongue now we'll practice
making this sound in the middle of words
ask
a sign
assist
best
disappear
dislike
distant
domestic
dust
Eastern
Hospital
Icicle
install
massage
person
awesome
now let's practice pronouncing words
with the sound at the end don't forget
that this is a continuous sound and you
have to make the vowel before it short
let's do it
advice
audience
balance
bounce
chance
circus
course
dress
entrance
Fox
juice
nice
purpose
twice
us
you're done congratulations
hey did you know that in English the
letter S can represent both the
voiceless and the voiced sounds yes
that's right
compare loose lose Mouse Mews house
who's why does this happen
honestly we've no idea let us know if
you do
did we ever say that we like your
comments here's a good one one of our
viewers said that the final stop sounds
are difficult to pronounce and asked if
they were totally silent this is an
excellent question
the final stops are always pronounced
however they're made without a puff of
air and that's why they may seem like
they're silent this is called the final
stop rule and we covered it in our
special stop sounds overview video as
usual the link is in the description box
below
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you