Lesson Two: Combinations Of Sounds That Are Not In Your Native Language
You most likely know how to say these sounds: 'm' 'p', 's' and 'd'. However do you know how to say them when they are together? For example have you ever had to say a word like 'glimpsed'There are FOUR consonants in a row at the end of this word, 'mpsd'. The 'e' is not a vowel. Even though 'glimpsed' has seven sounds in it, it is only ONE syllable!
Here are some common consonant clusters and examples:
| Cluster | Examples | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| br | bridge | abrupt | bright | ||||
| bd | absorbed | bribed | disturbed | ||||
| fs | cliffs | beliefs | |||||
| ft | craft | shaft | left | ||||
| mp | bump | lump | camp | ||||
| pt | egypt | except | suspect | ||||
| ths | baths | maths | paths | ||||
| nth | month | tenth | seventh | ||||
| nd | friend | land | hand | ||||
| sp | sponge | clasp | lisp | ||||
| st | start | last | sting | ||||
| lmd | filmed | ||||||
| lk | milk | silk | |||||
| str | strength | destroy | strip | ||||
| vs | behaves | waves | valves |
You need to know that when you are saying words with consonant clusters in them it is very important that you say all the consonants as one syllable. A mistake often made by Asian speakers among others is to put them into extra syllables. For example:
'glimpsed' could become 'glimp sid'
or 'bribed' could become 'brib id'
This does not sound correct.
Finally here is an exercise to let you know when you have really mastered this. Try saying the following:
'The sixth twisty crisp' 
