Rules for Predicting S or Z sound (besides 3rd person/plural endings)

Many sources have published the rules for pronouncing s or z at the end of a 3rd person singular or plural word.  Fewer sources have published other rules governing S and Z.  This is what I've come up with:

1)      The following letter combinations often make the “S” sound: ce, ci, cy, x, psy, consonant +se, cc +e, i or y, sc, ss and s

a.      Ce: Ice, rice, price, entrance, since, face, trace, peace, place, niece, procedure, necessary, police, office, license, cent, certain, receive, cell

b.      Ci: Accident, decision, circulate, acid, aerobicize, anglicize, annunciate, carcinogen, cigar, anticipate, homicide, society, athleticism, calcium, cinch, circus, civil, crucify, decimal, docile

                                                               i.      Exceptions: (sh instead) ancient, commercial, artificial, social, appreciate, atrocious, suspicious

c.      Cy: Lucy, lacy, fancy, juicy, cylinder, cycle, vacancy, conspiracy, cymbal, cyanide, cyber, cypress, cyst

d.      X + consonant, unstressed vowel or final X: excavate, exceed, exhale, axle, expire, expert, expect, extreme, extra, next, elixir, toxic, axon, fix

                                                               i.      Exception: (sh instead) sexual, luxury, complexion

e.      Ps (beginning of word): Psychology, pseudo, psalm, psyllium

f.        Consonant +se: Course, worse, disperse, hoarse, corpse, eclipse, tense, expense, censor, rinse, immense, defense, Farsi, absent, false, curtsey

                                                               i.      Exception: observe, birdseye, cleanse

g.      Cc + e, i or y: accent, accept, accident, success, eccentric, accessory, vaccine

                                                               i.      Exception: bocci, soccer, cappuccino

h.      Sc: ascent, crescent, descend, disciple, fascinate, fluorescent, isosceles, luminescent, miscellaneous, muscle, obscene, resuscitate, scenario, scene, scent, science, scissors

i.        Ss: lesson, gloss, chess, bassoon, assign, assist, assassinate, address

j.        s: soft, escape, small, statistics, mistake, chemistry, minister, register, miniscule, slow, snow, spout, spray, display, squeak, sweet

2)      The following letter combinations often make the “Z” sound:

a.      X + stressed vowel: examine, example, exact, exist, executive, exotic, exude, exuberant, exult

                                                               i.      Exception: ation words: taxation. relaxation

b.      S is between two vowel sounds: music, reason, season, cousin, disease, easy, posie, resign, isn’t, present, physician, position, positive, president, preside, visit, physique

                                                               i.      Exception:  second vowel sound begins plural or 3^rd person ending or other suffix:  leases, places, nooses, houses (noun), defenses, busing, curiosity

                                                             ii.      Exception: (zh instead) ambrosia, corrosion

                                                            iii.      Exception: atherosclerosis

c.      Vowel + se: use (verb), these, lose, cause, because, choose, phase, tease, raise, cruise 

                                                               i.      exceptions: promise, house (noun), use (noun), close (adj.), mouse, lease, loose, moose, noose, caboose, chartreuse, dose

d.      ZZ:  dizzy, puzzle, fuzz

                                                               i.      Exception: (Italian words) pizza, pizzicato

e.      Z: Zipper, crazy, doze, razor

f.        Other: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, lens

3)      S can be silent:  aisle, island, isle, debris, Arkansas, Illinois, rendezvous, corps

4)   Z can be silent: rendezvous, laissez-faire

Invisible Y Before Some Long U Sounds

(After P, B, K, G, F, V, H and M, there always seems to be a Y sound before the long U unless the long U is spelled "oo" or "ou" as in papoose, cougar, acoustic, gooey or food. (exception = buoy, jacuzzi, guru, hula, and other foreign words. also "move") 
There also seems to be a Y sound after L and N if the L or N occurs at the end of a stressed syllable. example: value, cellular, salutation- but not salute or illuminate 
continue, venue - but not manure, nuclear ) 

How do you know which syllable to stress?   Try this online course on word stress

Beginning of Word:  (Insert a y before eu, ew, u vowel) Unicorn.  Utensil.  Ewe.  Unison. Eulogy.

P:  Computer.  Pewter.  Puke.  Reputation.  Puny.  Population.  Copulate.  Impunity.  Putrid.  Amputate.  Pure.  Opulence.    Pupil.  Puberty.  Scapula.  Stipulate.  Spew.  Deputy, Puget Sound   (But no Y in: Papoose, spoon)

B:  Rebuke.  Beauty.  Busey.  Tribunal.  Tribute.  Abuse.  Distribute.  Nebula.  Ambulance.  Attribute.  Bugle.  Butane.  Fabulous.  Debutant.  Nebulizer.  Bureaucrat.  Tabulate.  Tribulations.  Tubular  (But no Y in: Buoy, boost, boomerang)

K:  Cue.  Queue. Cute. Curious.  Incubate.  Cube.  Accuse.  Cupid.  Curator.  Accumulate.  Matriculate.  Articulate.  Speculate.  Innoculation.  Molecule.  Accurate.  Barbecue.  Calculus.  Obscure.  Procure.  Rescue.  Ridicule.  Secular.  Skewer. Vacuum,  Vascular.  Innocuous.  Mercury.  Excuse.  Occupy.  Mucus.  Binocular. Acuity, acupuncture (But no Y in:  coo, cool, coon, acoustic, cougar)

G:  Argue.  Singular.  Angular.  Regulate.  (But no Y in: guru, gooey, goofy, goose)

F:  Few.  Confusion.  Fuse.  Feud.  Fuel.  Fume.  Fuse.  Infusion.  Funeral.  Futile.  Refuge.  Refuse.  Diffuser.  Refute.  Coiffure.  Sulfuric, phew  (But no Y in food, fool)

V:  View.  Ovulation.  Interview.  (But no Y in voodoo)

H:  Huge.  Hugh.  Hue.  Humor.  Houston.  Human.  Humid.  (But no Y in hula)

L:  Value.  Cellular.  Volume.  Soluble.  Salutation.  Telluride.  Failure  (But no Y in salute, conclude, absolute, aluminum, lewd, illuminate) Notice that each word has a stressed syllable that ends in l.

M: Music.  Amuse.  Museum.  Mutant.  Mural.  Mutual.  Mule.  Mute.  Mucous. 

(But no Y in move, moo, moody)

N:  Continue.  Insinuate.  Venue.  Granular.  Manual.  Monument.  Minuet.  Sinuous.  Tenuous.  Tenure.  Annual.  Annuity (optional)  (But no Y is manure, nuclear, nude)  Notice that each word has a stressed syllable that ends in an N.

Practice:   (Play this audio to hear these sentences repeated several times.  Use the space between each repetition to imitate the sentence yourself.  Try to imitate exactly what you hear.  Each time you repeat a sentence, you will catch something you didn't hear the previous time.)

1. He’s curious about how to do the computation.
2. The deputy has a fabulous reputation at the tribunal.
3. Everyone in the ambulance was confused.  Would he need his leg amputated?
4. The levels of mercury are regulated in Houston.
5. He refused to stipulate the requirements of his tenure in the interview.

When to use Voiced or Voiceless TH/th

When to use voiced or voiceless TH / th

1) In the initial position, the "TH" is voiced in "function words". This includes pronouns, articles, demonstrative adjectives, etc. The list is finite and not very long. They, them, their, theirs, the, this, that, these, those, then, than, though, although, thus, there, (therefore, thereby, etc.)
(Exception =  through)

2) In medial position, the "th" is voiced when followed by "er" or a final silent "e":  feather, mother, brother and breathe, teethe, seethe, writhe, etc. Note: "er" means the spelling, "er", not "or".
"author" is not voiced.   (Also, notice how well the rule works with:
south/ southern, north/northern.)

Exception = Katherine, ether, panther, anther,

3) Words with final thm are voiced: rhythm, algorithm, logarithm.   The following words have a voiceless th, silent th or alternate sound because the thm is not final or the spelling is “them” or “thom.”  voiceless th: arithmetic, anthem, xanthoma, birthmark, bathmat.  Silent th: Isthmian, Isthmus.  Z: asthma.   Exception = fathom (voiced TH)

4) "th" is final position is voiceless with one exception: "smooth".
5) Note:  I've come up with these rules through research and the input of other teachers.  If you find any more exceptions or know of other rules, please share.

Use the rules to determine how to pronounce the “th” in each of these words:

Th and TH list:

Together           Nothing           Thirst               Mother             Thursday

Those               fathom             Everything        These               Thing

There               Authority          Thin                 Then                 Thesaurus

Wrath               Bath                Katherine         ethereal             panther 

anther               algorithm         rhythm              bathmat             With                

Pathetic            Catheter          Faithful             Gothic               Lethal

Mathematics    Seethe             Teethe               Teeth                The     

Bother              Father             Mother             Leather             Feather

North               Northern          South               Southern          Atheist            

Author             Smooth             Myth                Either               Ether               

Isthmus             logarithm

Rules and Examples for How to Pronounce -ng-

Rules and Examples for How to Pronounce -ng-

"ng" in a word can be pronounced -ng-, -ng-+-g-, -n-+-j-, or -ng-+-k-.  How do you know which one?

Ng: swing, swinger, swinging, ring, ringer, ringer, ringed, rang, rung, spring, sprang, sprung, springer, springy, springing, sting, stinging, stinger, string, stringing, stringy, hang, hanging, hanger, hangable, long, longness, long ago, fang, gang, gangster, king, pang, song, sing, sang, sung, singer, singing, tang, tango, tongs, tongue, tonguing, tongued, meringue, harangue, wing, wrong, wronger, wronging  (If a word ends in "ng" it is pronounced -ng-.  If a word ending in ng has a suffix, such as er, ing, ed, y, able) the pronunciation usually stays ng, and not ng+g)  exception:  longer, longest are pronounced ng+g.  Tongue, meringue, and harangue also end with the -ng- sound even though they contain "ngue"

Ng+g:  anger, anguish, finger, linger, angle, bangle, dangle, hunger, jungle, jingle, longer, longest, mangle, mingle, mongoose, kangaroo, flamingo, single, shingle, tangle, tingle, wrangle, bungalo, fungus, fungal, tango, strangle, bingo, Bengal, bungle, merengue, distingue (the syllable after the ng is not a suffix (but is part of the root) so you pronounce it ng+g)  exception:  longer, longest are pronounced ng+g

Either ng or ng+g: hangar, English, Singapore

N+j: angel, ginger, stingy, swinge, tinge, fringe, engine, lunge, singe, singer (that singes), tangent, tangible, manger, danger, ranger, stranger (nge#, nger#,ngen, ngible, and ngel are pronounced n+j)  # means the end of the word.

Either Ng+g or n+j: fungicide

Ng+k: stinker, funk, funky, junk, monk, monkey, tank, ankle, link, bank, extinct, function, uncle, sprinkle

Either Ng or Ng+k: function, extinct, angst, amongst

new series of iPhone Apps for teaching American English Pronunciation

     Smooth English is releasing a series of iPhone and iPad Apps for teaching American English pronunciation and aural discrimination skills.  Check our App Store for new releases.  Each App will be targeted toward a specific language background because learners from different language backgrounds make different errors when speaking English.  Not only do they struggle with producing different sounds, but they make different types of errors for the same target sounds.  For instance, while a Vietnamese speaker may say -t- instead of the voiceless -th-, a French speaker would say -s- instead of the voiceless -th-,  That's why we are releasing so many versions of our App.  This way, learners do not have to waste time learning sounds they already know.

     Our first App was released May 8, 2013:  American English Pronunciation for Vietnamese.  You can watch my demo video.  I started with Vietnamese because from my teaching experiences, it seems that Vietnamese speakers have one of the highest levels of sound swapping stemming from their lack of exposure to the sounds of English.  Those growing up with the Vietnamese language never heard many of the sounds that exist in English.  If you didn't hear those sounds before puberty, it makes it much harder to recognize them and distinguish them from other sounds when you're older.  That's why Vietnamese adults who want to learn English need extra practice listening to the sounds of English. 

     But just listening to the radio or TV can be frustrating, and it doesn't give you feedback on whether you heard correctly.  With our App, you can listen to minimal pairs.  These are two words that are exactly the same except for the target sound you are working on.  For example, in one of my games:  you will hear "lap lab lab."  The user must determine which word was different.  It can be hard for Vietnamese speakers to hear the final voiced consonants.  If they choose the wrong answer, they can press replay over and over again until they hear it.  Plus, they will see the correct answer on the screen.  This is very focus listening practice with instant feedback that you can do anywhere, any time.  Even if you just have a minute, that's a minute of practice you can squeeze into your day while sitting on the train or between meetings.  Sound discrimination practice is best done for short ssession several times a day.

     Other activities on our App include listening to phrases that contain the target sounds.  Each sentence was recorded by native speakers of American English, using the proper rhythm and intonation of English.  App users can listen to the phrases repeatedly and pause to imitate the speaker.

     Party Room is a unique game where many words with the target sound are being said at the same time.  This simulates that feeling that the user is at a party with many distractions and multiple conversations.  Which words do you overhear?  Click on them to see if you're right!  This is a more advanced activity and requires very sharp listening skills.

     Our second release was American English pronunciation for Chinese.  It includes sounds not in the Vietnamese App, including -n- at the end of a word.  Did you near sleigh? or slain?  How about -ng- vs. -nk-?  Did you hear thing or think?

On June 3, 2013, American English Pronunciation for French was released.  It includes sounds such h, contrasted with no sound at all (hotter  vs. otter) and j contrasted with -zh- (a Cajun vs. occasion).

On June 13, 2013, we released American English Pronunciation for Japanese.  It includes -r- vs. -l-, -f- vs. --h-, -zh- vs. -sh- and -er-, among many other sounds.  Did you hear confusion or Confucian?  phone or hone?

     We've also released Consonant Clusters in English Pronunciation.  This particular App is designed for all English learners, regardless of language background.  It contains more difficult sounds that most English learners need to practice.  It includes the same activities as above for consonant clusters (such as -kch-, -ksh, kstr), consonant blends (such as -bl- and -thr-), past tense -ed- endings and plural or 3rd person singular endings -s-.   Listening to past tense vs. present tense is a very subtle listening experience.  Learners need all the practice they can get so they can understand and learn to produce the endings correctly.  The same goes for -s- vs. -z- endings.  Learners can thoroughly practice learning when to use -s- or -z- or -iz- at the end of a word.

     In designing these Apps, great care was taken in selecting the words to be recorded.  Words with target sounds at the beginning, middle and end of the word were all chosen.  Words with target sounds after and before a variety of other sounds were chosen.  This way learners can hear the sounds in as many environments as possible.  Sometimes, a learner can say -sh- after one vowel but not another.  This App will catch all possible situations and not leave the learner stranded.

     Let us know if you have any feedback on our Apps.  Please review us on the Apple Apps store, so others can find and use our Apps too.  Let us know how our App compares to others for honing your English sound discrimination skills.  Let us know if your confidence in hearing and producing all the sounds of English is improving.  We'd love to hear from you.  Look for Apps for Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, German and Russian coming soon.

Study Tips for Accent Reduction

Study Tips for Accent Reduction Students

1. At your lesson, pick 5-10 difficult words or phrases and write each on a sticky note.  Post the notes near your computer at work.  Then you'll look at them several times a day.  Look at them before you take a walk down the hall to the restroom.  Then practice saying them on your break.  After a week, check with your teacher or a native speaker how you're doing with each word/phrase on your sticky note.  Once you're doing it right, toss the sticky note.

2.  When you say a word or phrase that was misunderstood (you were asked to repeat yourself), write the word/phrase on a sticky note.  Then go ask a native speaker how to say the word/phrase.  Ask if you can record them using your smartphone.  Now you have the recording and your sticky note to remind you to practice!

3.  Check out some children's read aloud books from the library.  Practice reading them aloud.  Children's books are written in a way that sounds great when read aloud.  Some children's books come with audio recordings.  Read along, listen and imitate!

4.  Don't try to incorporate all the pronunciation rules you're learning into your everyday speech all at once.  Alot 5 minutes at a time to practice.  Agree with yourself that for this 5 minutes, while I'm talking to a colleage, I will just work on my linking.  Or for this 5 minutes, while I'm talking to a friend, I will just work on making all my -th- sounds clear.

5.  When you're listening to native speakers in person or on the radio or TV,  of course you need to pay attention to the content of what they're saying, but make a play to spend a couple minutes at a time listening for one fo the rules you're studying.  For example, for the next 2 minutes, I will listen for their disappearing H, or H elision.  Did he say, "She has her own house" or "She has er own house"?