Search results for 'tag:Plurals tag:Consonants' matching tags 'Plurals' and 'Consonants'

Re: the "s" sound in "pals" and in other plural forms of other nouns

Kooyeen — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 18:03:05 GMT

Anonymous
Hi, I also have the same problem. I am not sure which sounds -s and -z on words:

opens
rides
believes
goes

thanks,
Gj

Opens - Z
rides - Z
believes - Z
goes - Z

All Z sounds, because they all end with a voiced consonant, and "goes" ends with a vowel sound.

Re: id/t/d

Philip — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:27:10 GMT

CB's explanation is 100% right on. It is a linguistic question dealing with phonology.

By the way, the same principle is in play with the plural noun ending 's/es': 's' after a non-voiced consonant (lamps, desks); 'z' after a voiced consonant or a vowel (dogs, monkeys); and 'iz' after the sound of 's' or 'z' (classes, noises).

The same with the third person singular of the present tense of verbs: 's' (hits); 'z' (plays); and 'iz' (misses).

(Printing note: in my examples, and in CB's, the vowel indicated as 'i' should be the schwa (Ó) sound.

Re: How do you pronounce words like 'resources' and 'prices'?

Kooyeen — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 17:23:18 GMT

I agree with Mandy.
The distinction is between voiced consonants and vowels (b, v, m, etc.and vowles) and unvoiced consonants (p, f, k, etc.). So, kick -> kicksss, dog -> dogzzz, guy -> guyzzz. When you have a word that ends in S, the plural is formed by adding "is" at the end, and that's pronounced like the verb "is", in "That is my car"... "iz", z-sound.

I would also like to add an interesting thing, while we are at it.
That rule (z after voiced consonants, s after unvoiced consonants) is a very good rule to keep in mind, but if you listen closely you will notice some (or many) native speakers don't seem to follow it in their speech. You will notice it's common to hear they use the s-sound (or a very similar sound) after a voiced consonant to form the plural, where a z-sound would be expected. If you notice that, then you are noticing a final devoicing. I notice that all the time. In other words, the z-sound is "devoiced" to some degree, or even completely, so it becomes very similar to an s-sound or even a pure s-sound.

Hey guyz! <-- expected z-sound after vowel.
Hey guys! <-- devoiced, it sounds like an s-sound.

I should also point out that devoicing doesn't change the preceding vowel length, but that's another story.
I don't mean to say learners should do it, I just mentioned final devoicing because it's a feature they'll definitely come across if they listen to a lot of English. I suggest sticking with the traditional rule, since there are much more chances you'll sound natural that way.

Oh, and by the way, welcome to Englishforums, Mandy. I saw you are new... Hope you'll like it here.

Re: "s" and "z"

Pter — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:41:41 GMT

Thank you very much CJ, Zerox, and Carson. You all have given me very valuable advices. After reading through all you said carefully, and then watching a couple of English TV programmes, I believe I can now tell the difference! The ending /z/ in most cases are much shorter, voiced but less audible than the hissing sound of the ending /s/. Now, I found out what's the problem. Those sound files I was listening to are from a pronouncing dictionary. And perhaps in trying to make them as clearly audible as possible, both the ending /s/ and ending /z/ are spoken very "clearly" and become unnatural.

For people like me that learn English as a second language, we are often influenced heavily by our mother tongue. This is like looking at something through a piece of tainted glass. In those aspects where our mother tongue has big differences with English, unless we are told the rules explicitly, we often never realize how people really say them in English just by listening. My mother tongue does not have any voiced consonants and consonant clusters, therefore, it is quite a challenge for me to learn how to pronounce a cluster of voiced consonants, such as /-ndz/, /-gz/, /zd/.

Again, thank you very much to you all. You really helped me a lot!

=======================
EDIT:

Let me summarize what I have learnt here plus a little that I have discovered myself.

1. Final voiced consonant (b, d, g, l, m, n, ng, r, v, voiced th) + s ---> /z/
2. Final voiceless consonant (f, k, p, t, voiceless th) + s ---> /s/
3. Final vowel + s ---> no rules, except when any of the following rules apply
4. Some words that can be used both as verb and noun/adjective ---> verb: /z/, noun or adjective: /s/
5. Words ending in -as, -is, -os, -us:
when the s is part of the word in its basic form (not plural or third party singular verb) ---> /s/
when the s is added to make it a plural or third party singluar verb ---> /z/
6. Words ending in -ces, -des, -oes, -shes, -ses, -zes ---> /z/
7. Words ending in -sis, -nce, -nse, -ss (including -less, ness), -sce ---> /s/
8. /z/ is more common than /s/ overall

Re: How's and House - are they pronounced differently?

Pter — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 13:39:31 GMT

Anonymous wrote:

Sadly I made a mistake in my previous posting: the correct phoneme symbol for the s's in 'houses' is indeed /z/, although of course English /z/ can be rather /s/-like.

Hi,

I am now confused even more than before. House is pronounced [haÊs], and because it ends with "s", a voiceless consonant, [aÊ] is shortened. However, when it is changed to plural, the pronunciation is now [haÊziz] and [aÊ] is now followed by a voiced "z". Is [aÊ] still shortened in this case (that would be a violation of the pre-fortis clipping rule)? Or do native speakers really pronounce the [aÊ] in [haÊziz] longer than that in [haÊs]?

Re: Spelling of Plural noun /vs/ the Third-person-singular verb inflection.

Loojka — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 01:42:06 GMT

Digger36 wrote:

But what about the SPECIAL cases of the inflection on the 3-rd person singular;
      it seems less obvious, as in these cases ..
    he destroys / ~~destroies~~         sand dunes
    he ~~trys~~ / tries                  jumping high
    he ~~carrys~~ / carries            the load
    he ~~emptys~~ / empties        the glass of milk
    he ~~finishs~~ / finishes         the task
    he ~~flys~~ / flies                  the airplane
    he loafs / loaves                on the couch
would appreciate reasoned choices in the above and some rule(s).

Thanks,,

Change y into ie only when it ("y") is preceded by a consonant.
Add es when a word ends in s, sh, ch, x or o.

Re: Apostrophe

Alienvoord — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 23:05:16 GMT

---
There was formerly a respectable tradition (17-19c) of using the apostrophe for noun plurals, especially in loanwords ending in a vowel (as in We do confess Errata's, Leonard Lichfield, 1641, and Comma's are used, Philip Luckcombe, 1771) and in the consonants s, z, ch, sh, (as in waltz's and cotillions, Washington Irving, 1804). Although this practice is rare in 20c standard usage, the apostrophe of plurality continues in at least five areas: (1) with abbreviations such as V.I.P.'s or VIP's, although such forms as VIPs are now widespread. (2) With letters of the alphabet, as in His i's are just like his a's and Dot your i's and cross your t's. In the phrase do's and don'ts, the apostrophe of plurality occurs in the first word but not the second, which has the apostrophe of omission: by and large, the use of two apostrophes close together (as in don't's) is avoided. (3) In decade dates, such as the 1980's, although such apostrophe-free forms as the 1980s are widespread, as are such truncations as the '80s, the form the '80's being unlikely. (4) In family names, especially if they end in -s, as in keeping up with the Jones's, as opposed to the Joneses, a form that is also common. (5) in the non-standard ('illiterate') use often called in BrE the greengrocer's apostrophe, as in apple's 55p per lb and We sell the original shepherds pie's (notice in a shop window, Canterbury, England).
---
- The Oxford Companion to the English Language page 75

What's so wrong with some variation anyway?

Re: The sound of "S" at the beginning and in the middle of words

CalifJim — Fri, 19 May 2006 02:56:51 GMT

There are three possible pronunciations of the plural ending. (The third person present tense verb forms and the possessive forms follow the same pattern.)

[Note for the purposes of the discussion that follows that the six sibilants are /s/, /z/, /S/, /Z/, /tS/ ("ch"), and /dZ/ ("j"). An "x" is pronounced /ks/, so it, too, ends in a sibilant sound.]

1. /iz/ after a sibilant. This ending creates an extra syllable. The endings for Groups 2 and 3 (below) do not create an extra syllable.
    a) where the sibilant is /s/: misses, places, buses, bonuses, boxes
    b) where it is /z/: phases, roses, fuses, fizzes, lenses
    c) where it is /S/: wishes, dashes, marshes
    d) where it is /Z/: beiges (rare)
    e) where it is /tS/: latches, itches, arches, benches
    f) where it is /dZ/: ledges, ages, barges, ranges

2. /s/ after an unvoiced consonant other than a sibilant.
     (Only five possibilities exist in this category. /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, and /th/)
    a) caps, capes, hops, hopes
    b) kits, kites, nights, waits, tastes, facts
    c) bakes, looks, aches, oaks
    d) staffs, safes, laughs (few)
    e) Beth's (rare)

Final /f/ is often changed to /v/ before adding the plural ending; final /th/ is often changed to /TH/ in the plural form. ("f" changes to "v"; "th" remains "th" -- only the pronunciation changes.) Examples: self, selves; moth, moths.

3. /z/ after any other sound not classifiable within the previous two headings.
cabs, Abe's, raids, lads, dogs, wives, waves, moths, truths, games, Ken's, cars, falls, bays, trees, tries

Note: Within the first category you may want to think of the "e" in the "es" ending as a pronounced "e": It is pronounced /i/. Within the second and third categories, you many want to think of the "e" in an "es" ending as a silent "e".

CJ

Re: Plural pronunciation of nouns

Englishuser — Tue, 09 May 2006 19:46:31 GMT

The appropriate pronunciation of the plural ending depends on how the word ends, phonemically. The rules are as follows:

* For words ending with a vowel sound or a voiced consonant sound, the correct pronunciation of the plural ending is /z/

* Words ending with a voiceless consonant sound the appropriate pronunciation is /s/

However, some phonemes require the /IZ/ pronunciation. Unfortunately I cannot type the phonetics here, though. Words ending with phonemes /s/ and /z/ are included in this group.

NB! Irregular plurals are sometimes pronunced differently from what is described below.

Re: 'a' or 'an' for acronyms and abbrevation

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 16:55:48 GMT

A and an signal that the noun modified is indefinite, referring to any member of a group. These indefinite articles are used with singular nouns when the noun is general; the corresponding indefinite quantity word some is used for plural general nouns. The rule is:

a + singular noun beginning with a consonant: a boy
an + singular noun beginning with a vowel: an elephant
a + singular noun beginning with a consonant sound: a user (sounds like 'yoo-zer,' i.e. begins with a consonant 'y' sound, so 'a' is used)
some + plural noun: some girls

If the noun is modified by an adjective, the choice between a and an depends on the initial sound of the adjective that immedately follows the article:

a broken egg
an unusual problem
a European country (sounds like 'yer-o-pi-an,' i.e. begins with consonant 'y' sound)

Note also that in English, the indefinite articles are used to indicate membership in a profession, nation, or religion.

I am a teacher.
Brian is an Irishman.
Seiko is a practicing Buddhist.