030 F as in Faff and V as in Van
4: The Consonant Sounds: How to Say Them, Drills & Avoiding Faults
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5m 10s
Another unvoiced and voiced pair of sounds are “FFF” usually denoted by the letter F and “VVV” denoted by the letter V. Sometimes the letter F can require a voiced “VVV” sound as in the word “of”. The double F in “off” has the unvoiced “FFF” sound. As ever, you can always refer to a dictionary’s pronunciation guide to help clear up any confusions.
The unvoiced “FFF” sound is made by pushing a continuous flow of air between your lower lip and your top front teeth. It is a labiodental fricative sound. Let’s practice it with all the vowels.
Up Next in 4: The Consonant Sounds: How to Say Them, Drills & Avoiding Faults
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031 H as in Hot
The “H” sound denoted by the letter aitch is called a glottal fricative sound and is made by breathing out through a slightly narrowed opening at the very back of your mouth and the top of your throat. This is achieved by slightly closing up your airway so that the air hisses slightly: “HHH”. If ...
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032 SH as in Ship and ZH as in Measure
Now let’s look at the unvoiced and voiced pair “SH” and “ZH”. Phonetically, the symbol for “SH” is a sort of elongated “S” and the symbol for “ZH” is a cross between a “Z” and the number 3. These sounds are postalveolar, meaning the tip of your tongue should be just beyond the alveolar ridge, and...
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033 CH as in Church and DZH as in Judge
Another pair of voiced and unvoiced sounds is CH and DZH. Phonetically, CH is written as T followed by the symbol for SH. T plus SH gives us CH as in
Church
Match
NatureNotice that this sound isn’t only indicated by a C and H spelling.
DZH is written phonetically as D followed by the sy...
