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In English, as in other languages, there are different sounds, divided into vowels and consonants, and they are the object of study of phonetics, a branch of linguistics. Consonants, for example, can be divided into “voiced”, that is, they produce a vibration in the vocal cords, and “deaf”, when they do not cause said vibration.
sounds of english
English pronunciation is one of the biggest challenges for Spanish speakers who want to learn this language. Especially, because unlike Spanish, in English many words are not written as they sound. And even the same letters can have different sounds, while different letters can have the same sound. This is the case of words like: week or weak / “week” or “weak”; ate or eight / “ate” or “eight”; knight or night / «caballero» or «noche»; think or they / «to think» or «them».
The sounds of English can be classified as voiced, which includes vowels and almost all consonants; and the deaf sounds, which include the rest of the consonants.
What are the sonorous consonants or voiced consonants
The vocal cords are mucous membranes that are located in the larynx, the back of the throat. When we speak, the vocal cords contract and relax, modulating the flow of air from the lungs. This is how the different sounds that we emit when speaking in any language are produced.
The voiced consonants, called voiced consonants in English, are the consonant letters that produce vibrations in the vocal cords when they are pronounced.
In addition, consonants can appear together with other letters and make other sounds, such as ng and th , which make voiced noises, and sh , which makes a dull sound.
Examples of voiced consonants
The voiced consonants of English are:
- b : boy / «child»; bench / «bank»; beauty / «beauty».
- c : can / “can”; cat / “cat”; carry / “carry”.
- d : dream / «dream»; dog / “dog”; sad / “sad”.
- g, ge or dge : huge / “enormous”; hug / “hug”; judge / “judge”; good / “good”; gift / “gift”.
- j : jewel / «jewel»; jam / “jam”; joke / «joke».
- l or ll : listen / «listen»; balloon / “balloon”; live / «to live».
- m : mother / «madre»; man / “man”; moon / «moon».
- n or ng : new / “new”; now / “now”; clown / “clown”; string / “rope”; song / «song».
- r : far / “far”; rise / “increase”; ride / “ride”.
- th: then / “then”; the / “the”, “the”; think / «to think».
- v : love / “love”; view / “view”; vest / “vest”.
- w : what / “what”; world / “world”; waist / “waist”.
- y : yolk / “yolk”; yet / “yet”; yes / “yes”.
- z : organized / «organized»; hazelnut / “hazelnut”; zoo / “zoo”.
What are the deaf consonants or unvoiced consonants
The deaf consonants or unvoiced consonants in English do not produce vibrations in the vocal cords because to pronounce them, the air passes freely through them, and it is modulated with the help of the tongue, the teeth and the lips to produce the sound .
Examples of voiceless consonants
The deaf consonants in English are:
- c : rice / «arroz»; certain / “certain”; grain / “grain”.
- ch : child / “child”; rich / “rich”; chair / “chair”; cheese / «cheese».
- f : fig / “fig”; friend / “friend”; face / «face»; fair / «fair».
- k: book / “book”; kind / “kind”; king / “king”.
- h : horse / “horse”; hair / “hair”; house / «house».
- p : map / “map”; potato / “potato”; paper / «paper».
- so sh : seat / “seat”; sit / “sit”, show / “show”; blush / “to blush”.
- t : tooth / «teeth»; tiger / “tiger”; train / «train».
- th : path / “path”; thunder / “thunder”; think / “thin”.
How to recognize if a consonant is voiced or deaf
The easiest way to determine if a consonant is voiced or not is to place a finger on the throat while pronouncing a letter. If the vocal cords vibrate, it is a voiced consonant. If this does not occur, then the consonant is voiceless.
Other consonant sounds in English
Suffix –ed
Consonants are also grouped with other consonants or with more than one vowel, and can change their sounds, going from being voiced to voiceless or vice versa. The most common example is the ending -ed in verbs conjugated according to the simple past tense:
- When before -ed there is a voiceless consonant like “k”, the ending is pronounced as a voiceless “t”. For example: marked / “marked”; parked / “parked”; baked / «baked».
- If before -ed there is a voiced consonant like “b” or “v”, then it is pronounced as a voiced “d”. Example: burgled / “stolen”; betrayed / “betrayed”.
- When before -ed , there is another vowel, then the ending is pronounced as a voiced “d”: lied / “lie”; fried / “fried”.
- If before -ed there is a “t”, the “e” is also pronounced. Examples: accepted / “accepted”; wasted / “wasted”; excited / «enthusiasmado».
double consonants
In some words in which there are two consonants together, as in some plural nouns, the voiceless sound “s” becomes the voiced consonant “z”. For example: chairs / “sillas”; bags / “bags”; trainers / “sneakers”.
If the consonant before the “s” is also voiceless, then the “s” will still be a voiceless sound: parks / “parques”; flats / «apartments».
connection between words
Some consonants can change their sounds depending on the sounds of the words that accompany them. These modifications occur in the spoken language to facilitate the connection between the different words and achieve greater fluency in speech. For example, the voiced consonant “b” can be replaced by the voiceless consonant “p” if the word that follows it begins with a “t”. This is the case of the word club , in the sentence: I went to the club to have fun . / “I went to the disco to have fun.”
Bibliography
- Various authors. English pronunciation. (2020). Spain. Vaughan.
- Roca, R. Pronunciation of English: Practical guide for Spanish speakers. (2016). Spain. CreateSpace.
- Pastor Giménez, M. English Pronunciation . (2020, Kindle Edition). Spain. Monica Pastor Gimenez.
