Pronunciation of suffix -s

1. 11. 2016

FO1BE WS 16/17 (NSK): Pronunciation of suffix ­s

https://elearning.fp.tul.cz/mod/page/view.php?id=24039&inpopup=1

1/2

Home ► Anglický jazyk ► English for education ► Linguistics ►

You are logged in as Tereza Kašparová (Log out)

FO1BE: Phonetics and Phonology WS
2016/2017 (NSK)

HOW IS THE SUFFIX ­S PRONOUNCED?

There are 26 letters in the English alphabet but 44 phonemes. There is often an agreement
between the final sound of a word and the letter which represents that sound.

Look at the way in which these final letters are pronounced:

pup / pʌp/, pub /pʌb/, bet /bet/ bed /bed/,

back /bæk/ bag /bæg/ life /laɪf/ live /laɪv/ adj. or /lIv/ vb

The final letter B is never voiceless /p/ ­ as it is in Czech eg dub, sob. It is always /b/.

The same is true of the letters D, G and V. These are /d/, /g/ and /v/ respectively.

Speak English not Czenglish! Do not make pub sound like pup, or bed like bet. If you
change the final sound, you change the meaning too.

The final letter S, however, can be pronounced in three different ways.

The letter S can sound like:

/s/ or /z/ or /Iz/

Tle pronunciation al  depends on the sound before the “s“.

The rules

Al  final ­s letters

are usual y /z/

Except:

After /p//t//k/ /f/ /θ/ /s/

After /s/ /z/, /ʃ/ /ʒ/ /ʧ/ /ʤ/

/Iz/

So these are the three groups of final sounds when a word ends in S:

1. /ps//ts//ks/ /fs/ /θs/

Examples: cups, shops, bats, hats, cooks, cakes, laughs, photographs, baths, births.

2. /sIz / /zIz /, /ʃIz / /ʒIz / /ʧIz / /ʤIz /

Examples: misses, kisses, confuses, loses, wishes, rushes beiges ­ /ʒIz/ is very rare
watches, switches ages, bridges

3. Everything else is /z/

1. 11. 2016

FO1BE WS 16/17 (NSK): Pronunciation of suffix ­s

https://elearning.fp.tul.cz/mod/page/view.php?id=24039&inpopup=1

2/2

FP TUL: fakultní aktuality

| FP TUL: studijní aktuality | t­uni online

­ The letter ­s which fol ows al  monophthongs, diphthongs and triphthongs

cars, wars, firs, shoes, seas,

days, flies, toys, bears, beers, cures, cows

layers, tyres, royals, lowers, flowers

­ The letter ­s which fol ows al  other voiced consonant sounds (except those in group 2.)

pubs, beds, bags, loves, breathes.

Last modified: Friday, 18 October 2013, 8:26 PM