English How to Pronounce CH and JJ Sounds American Accent
The CH and JJ consonant sounds. These two
sounds are paired together because they take
the same mouth position. CH is unvoiced, meaning
only air passes through the mouth, and JJ
is voiced, meaning, uh, uh, jj, you’re making
a sound with the vocal cords. These consonants
have a stop consonant component, but unlike
stop consonants, they’re always released.
The stop consonant is when the front part
of the tongue raises and touches the roof
of the mouth in the front in the T/D tongue
position. The mouth takes the position of
the SH and DJ sounds, where the teeth are
together, the corners of the lips are in,
and the rest of the lips are flared. Ch, jj.
So the tongue will move up and press the roof
of the mouth, air builds up, and when the
tongue releases, the air comes through, ch,
jj, making the sound. Here is the sound on
the right, compared with the mouth at rest
on the left. Notice how the lips in this sound
come away from the face. Here parts of the
mouth are drawn in. The soft palate is raised
in this consonant sound. Notice how high the
tongue reaches. It presses against the roof
of the mouth before pulling away to release
the air. The ch/jj sounds. Sample words: char,
jar, chump, jump. Sample sentence: I was on
the edge of my seat watching each match of
the major tournament. Now you will see this
sentence up close and in slow motion, both
straight on and from an angle, so you can
really study how the mouth moves when making
this sound. I, with the ‘ai’ as in ‘buy’ diphthong,
lips circle into the W, was. On the edge,
now here we have the jj consonant sound. Watch
the lips as the teeth come together. Of my
seat. Lips pull wide for the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’.
Watching, lips make the W. Ch, here is the
ch sound. Watch the lips. Each, lips pull
wide for the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ and again, the
ch. Match, again it ends in the ch consonant
sound. Of the major, with the jj consonant
sound, jj. Tournament. Lips together for the
M, tongue up for the N position, and the T.
And now from an angle. I, with the ‘ai’ as
in ‘buy’ diphthong. Was on the edge, watch
the jj sound. Jj. Of my seat, corners of the
mouth pulled wide for the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’.
Watching, lips make the W. Watch-, here’s
the ch sound. Watching. Each, corners pull
wide for the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’, and now form
the ch. Match, again ends in ch. Of the major,
watch for the jj - there we are - major, tournament.
Lips together for the M, tongue up to make
the N, and the teeth together for the T. That’s
it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s
English.