Consonant Fricative: s sound /s/

Listen to the s sound

How to pronounce the s sound

The s sound is unvoiced (the vocal cords do not vibrate during its production), and is the counterpart to the voiced z sound.

To create the s sound, the front of the tongue is placed close to the tooth ridge. The tip of the tongue should be close to the upper backside of the top front teeth. The tongue is kept tense as air is pushed between a small groove along the center of the tip of the tongue and the front of the tooth ridge. The front sides of the tongue touch the side teeth toward the front of the mouth. The lips are held slightly tense during the sound.

This sound is a continuous consonant, meaning that it should be capable of being produced for a few seconds with even and smooth pronunciation for the entire duration.

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Common s sound spellings

spelling	example		other pronunciations for spelling
s/ss[1]	so past kiss		z sound (visit)
c(+e)	center licence bounce		none
c(+i)	circle city medicine		none
sc[2]	science muscle descend		s sound+k sound (scare)
x[3]	box next oxygen		z sound (exit)

[1]: s/ss spelling
The letter s is more likely to be pronounced as a z sound than an s sound when it occurs between vowel sounds within a word. If the letter s is part of a prefix (such as the word disability), this is less likely to be true. At the end of a word the letters s or se are equally likely to be pronounced as an s sound or a z sound. It is important to note the correct pronunciation at the time of learning new vocabulary with these spellings.

[2]: sc spelling
The sc spelling is most likely to be pronounced as an s sound when the spelling occurs in the middle of a word. At the beginning of a word, it is more likely to be pronounced as the s sound followed by the k sound, as in the words scare and script.

[3]: x spelling
Students must realize that the letter x can be pronounced as k sound + s sound or as g sound + z sound. A combination of syllable stress and the surrounding sounds determine the correct letter x pronunciation.

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The s sound in suffixes

spelling	example		other pronunciations for spelling
-s/-es[4]	cats wants laughs		z sound (boys)
-ous/ious	cautious curious dangerous		none

[4]: -s/-es suffix
Whether the -s/-es suffix is pronounced with an s sound or with a z sound depends on the final sound before the suffix.

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Non-phonetic s sound words

none

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Pronuncian Lessons

  

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