Academic English Skills with Dr. Byrnes

/h/ is quite easy to recognize for most non-native speakers. An exception might be French speakers since the letter H is always silent in French. In Britain, using or not using the /h/ sound can signify class and status (posher speakers vs ‘H’ droppers). But in American English, unless ‘H’ is silent, H is always pronounced.  Silent H words The sound /h/ is spelt with an ‘H’ or ‘WH.’ With ‘WH,’ either /w/ or /h/ is pronounced, but not both. When ‘H’ is combined with other letters like TH, SH, CH, PH, GH, and RH, they make entirely different sounds: ‘TH’ makes /θ/ or /ð/; ‘SH’ makes /ʃ/; ‘CH’ makes /tʃ/; ‘PH’ makes /f/ (except for ‘SHEPHERD’ where ‘PH’ makes /p/). ‘GH’ can be either silent or make /f/, /g/ or /p/. H is silent in ‘RH.’  These words have silent ‘H’:  what, which, where, when, why, honor, hour, honest, heir, herb, vehicle, vehement, exhausting, exhilarating  /h/, no-/h/ minimal pairs This is the minimal pairs of /h/ and non-/h/ had add hair air hall all h...

  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. 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, fu...

/s/ and /z/ are called alveolar fricatives since they are produced near the alveolar ridge. /s/ is unvoiced and is the counterpart to the voiced /z/. To pronounce /s/ and /z/, the tip of the tongue approaches the alveolar ridge but doesn't quite touch it. The opening is wide enough for airflow to continue, but narrow enough for the escaping air to become turbulent, hence the hissing sound. /s/, /z/ minimal pairs fleece fleas  peace P's  ace A's  force fours  Pence pens  advice advise  fussy fuzzy  pierce peers  apiece appease  gross grows  place plays  arse R's  Guinness guineas  precedent president  ass as  hearse hers  purse purrs  basis basses  hence hens  race raise  Bruce brews  hiss his  rice rise  bus buzz  case K's  ice eyes  sap zap  cease seize  Joyce joys  sauce saws  lace lays  countess counties lice lies  sink zinc...