Consonants can be voiced (vibration of vocal cords) or voiceless (no vibration) Examples voicedvoiceless billpill goatcoat
/p/ as in ‘pin’ /b/ as in ‘bin’ ’p’ is mute in words with pn- and ps- pneumonia, psalm, pseudo, psycho ’b’ is mute in words ending in -mb lamb / læm/, thumb, climb, comb
/s/ as in ‘ice’ /z/ as in ‘eyes’ Examples /s/bus, price, niece, place /z/buzz, prize, knees, plays Note: letter ‘z’ pronounced /zi:/ or /zed/
/s/ versus /z/ More examples /s//z/ peace/piecepeas looselose ricerise Suezoo
/z/ normally used in ’-s’ after vowel or voiced consonant (says, pays, dogs, scissors, Jim’s) some common verb forms (is, was, has, does) some common pronouns (his, hers, yours, whose)
/ ʒ / as in ‘measure’ Examples treasure/ ˈtreʒə / leisure/ ˈleʒə / television/ ˈtelevıʒən / usual/ ˈ ju: ʒʊəl/
/ θ / as in ‘thin’ Examples faith/ feıθ / Thursday/ ˈθɜː(r)zdeı / thing/ θıŋ / cathedral/ kəˈθiːdrəl /
/ ð / as in ‘then’ Examples then/ ðen / brother/ ˈbrʌðə(r)/ feather /ˈfeðə(r)/ breathe/ briːð / (but: breath / breθ / )
Pronunciations of ‘th’ /θ//θ/ in most words beginning with th- in most words ending in -th /ð//ð/ in some words beginning with th- (then, thus, the, that, though) in many words with -th- in the middle (mother, another, weather)
/ ʃ / versus / tʃ / sheep/ʃiːp/cheap/tʃiːp/ ship/ʃıp/chip/tʃıp/ share/ʃeə(r)/chair/tʃeə(r)/ shoe/ʃuː/chew/tʃuː/ shop/ʃɒp/chop/tʃɒp/
/d ʒ / versus /j/ /d ʒ //j/ jetyet Jewyou juiceuse jokeyolk jotyacht jailYale The letter ‘j’ is never pronounced /j/!
/ r / as in ‘rose’ In RP /r/ is only pronounced before a vowel break, rhyme, bury (but not in ‘car, star’) In GA /r/ occurs in all positions
/w/ as in ‘well’ Note the contrast /v/ – /w/ ! vet – wet vain – Wayne veil – whale veal – wheel Note! ‘of’ always pronounced /v/ (compare ‘off’ = /f/