Todinhkhoi  +  460578 Sat, 05 Jan 08 04:03 AM Dear all I am having some pronunciation problems. 1. When saying some words like "Image Shack", do we make any linking between the /dz/ (last diphthong of "Image") and /sh/ (first diphthong of "Shack"), or do we just pronounce the two words "Image" and "Shack" separately? Likewise, do we make any linking between /sh/ of "fish" and /s/ of "sauce" in "fish-sauce"? And if we need to make such a linking, how to make it correctly? 2. Do you know of any website that has more materials on such issues? Thank you in advance. Todinhkhoi Joined on Sat, Jan 5 2008 Vietnam New Member 02 Consonants, Pronunciation, Diphthongs

	Todinhkhoi  +  460943 Sun, 06 Jan 08 05:53 AM Could anyone give me an answer? Todinhkhoi Consonants, Diphthongs

	Verade  +  460963 Sun, 06 Jan 08 06:58 AM Dear Tod, welcome to the forum! Yes, these are linked. But I'm not familiar with resources. Perhaps you will have better luck getting a reply if you do not post additional "could anyone give me an answer" messages. That way your original post wil stay in the "unanswered" list; now I happened to find it in the "active" list, which I rarely read since I think the person has received an answer already. Good luck! Verade Joined on Mon, Dec 31 2007 Virginia USA Full Member 180 Vera-- "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." --Helen Keller Consonants, Diphthongs

	Buddhaheart  +  461205 Sun, 06 Jan 08 08:18 PM The soft sound of the English consonant <g> is pronounced as /dz/ (The IPA symbol would have the 'z' as a yogh) as in your example ‘image’. This is not considered a diphthong. A diphthong is a sequence of 2 perceptibly different VOWEL sounds or a vowel and a glide in a syllable. There’re traditionally 8 diphthongs & 5 triphthongs in the English language.  For example, the long sound of <a> (/eI/ where the capaital 'I' should be a small capital 'I')) and of long <i> (/aI/ where the capaital 'I' should be a small capital 'I') are diphthongs. Again ‘sh’ is not a diphthong but a consonant blend represented by the sound called esh in IPA) as in your example ‘shack’.   The phenomenon of linking in speech is well-known. I can’t comment on the examples you cited. I pronounce all of the consonants <g>, <sh> and <s> in careful speech in your examples. I’m sure some don’t in rapid speech. I haven’t done any research on the website to answer your Q.2. I’m interested and I’ll when I have time. Buddhaheart Joined on Sat, Jan 20 2007 Vancouver Canada Full Member 134 Vowels, Consonants, Diphthongs

	CalifJim  +  617604 Mon, 22 Dec 08 03:22 AM I don't know exactly what you mean by linking.  You pronounce the two words separately, but without stopping between them, if that's what you mean.  I would call it more of a transition than a link, but perhaps the two are the same. The "...ge sh..." of  "image shack" has d + zh + sh.  The sh is just a devoiced zh, so it should be fairly easy to make the transition.  It's the same principle that you use in a transition from z to s or from v to f.  (He has six; you have four.) Your lip position and tongue position remain the same through those transitions.  Spend less time on the first of the two so that it sounds like the sh sound starts quite soon after the zh.  If you do it right, you will almost get a d + sh without the zh, but the zh will be there very briefly. "fish sauce" is different.  Both sh and s are unvoiced, so you have to move your lips and tongue a little to make that transition.  But here again, you "slight" the first sound a little bit and "rush" to the second. Note that if both sounds are the same, don't stop.  Make the two into one sound without any break. Swiss steak = swissteak -- never swissuhsteak or swiss    steak. Sorry, I don't have a website to recommend. CJ CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,447 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche Online, Websites, Apologies