Palatal fricatives /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ 

The 'sh’ sound /ʃ/ is unvoiced, and is the counterpart to the voiced /ʒ/. Both are fricatives. To create /ʃ/ and its voiced counterpart /ʒ/, the sides of the tongue touch the sides of upper teeth. The tip of the tongue does not touch anything. The blade of the tongue is concave. Air is forced between a wide groove in the center of the tongue and the palatal area. The lips are kept slightly tense, and may protrude somewhat during the production of the sounds. To say /ʒ/, additionally, voice the vocal cord.

tongue

Words with /ʃ/

Many letters can make the /ʃ/ sound: SH, SS, TI, CI, CEA, CH and X. These are words with the /ʃ/ sound. 

With "sh": 

she, show, wish, push, fashion, publisher, relationship

With "ss": 

assure, commission, discussion, expression, issue, tissue, mission, pressure, profession 

With "ci": 

efficient, musician, racial, special, facial

With "cea":

  ocean

With "ch":

machine

With "ti": 

action, education, function, partial, patience, rational, substantial

With "x": 

anxious, complexion (The letter ‘x’ in these words is pronounced with two sounds:/kʃ/.)

Words with /ʒ/ 

French origin words

/ʒ/ is a French sound and is rare in English. So words derived from French often have the /ʒ/ sound: 

beige, rouge, barrage, deluge, mirage, collage, genre, lingerie, garage 

Some of these French-ogin words can be pronounced with the rather mundane /ʤ/ instead of /ʒ/. For instance, many Americans say garage with /ʤ/. 

These are some more words with /ʒ/ sound:

luxury, Asian, Persian, equation, amnesia, seizure, sabotage

Word endings with -SION, -SUAL, -SURE 

measure, pleasure, leisure, exposure 

usual, visual, usually, unusual, luxury

Words that end with ‘sion’ also are pronounced with /ʒ/.

vision, television, version, conclusion, confusion, division, provision, lesion, allusion

Notice that, in the following, when the verb form changes to the noun form with the -SION ending, the ‘S’ sound changes from /z/ to /ʒ/. 

From /z/ to /ʒ/

confuse, confusion

transfuse, transfusion

revise, revision

supervise, supervision

/ʃ/ and /ʒ/ minimal pairs

There are not many minimal pairs of /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ 

Confucian confusion 

mesher measure 

Asher azure 

dilution delusion

/ʃ/ and /Ʒ/ sentences

These sentences have /ʃ/ sounds: 

I feel anxious about the abortion issue.

Sugar is shipped to Russia.

She used tissue for her fashion magazine. 

I wash dishes.

These sentences have /Ʒ/ sounds:

The luxurious massage was pleasurable.

To avoid confusion, an unusual financial disclosure was made.

Watching television cannot be a leisure time activity. 

My final decision is to dress casually. 

These sentences have both /ʃ/ and /Ʒ/ sounds.

I go fishing occasionally.

He ushered the star with pleasure.

You should measure the fish for the shelf.

Confucian is an ancient Asian ideology.

You should make a decision without confusion

Asher shared his treasures.

 

/s/, /ʃ/ minimal pairs

English pronunciation

/s/ and /ʃ/ are voiceless fricatives that occur proximal to each other. For /s/, the tip of the tongue is close to the alveolar ridge. For /ʃ/, the center of the tongue is close to the palatal region. /ʃ/ is produced with a much more rounded mouth than /s/.

sea she

seat sheet

see she

sock shock

boss bosh

bass bash

gust gushed

save shave

seal she’ll

so show

sore sure

sort short

fist fished

gas gash

plus plush

puss push

rust rushed

seed she’d

seek chic

seen sheen

sell shell

sew show

sign shine

single shingle

sit shit

son shun

sun shun

ass ash

crass crash

crust crushed

mass mash

mess mesh

moss mosh

sack shack

said shed

sake shake

sale shale

same shame

sank shank

scene sheen 

seep sheep

seize she’s

sigh shy

sin shin

sip ship

sop shop

sue shoe

sag shag

sail shale

sass sash

sear sheer

sift shift

sill shill

sine shine

sod shod

Pronunciation course syllabus

/z/, /ʒ/ minimal pairs

There are few pairs with the /z/ /ʒ/ distinction. 

Caesar seizure

composer composure

loses luges

ruses rouges 

bays beige

rues rouge

lose luge