English How to Pronounce S and Z consonants American Accent
The S and Z consonant sounds. These two sounds
are paired together because they take the
same mouth position. Ss is unvoiced, meaning
only air passes through the mouth, and zz
is voiced, meaning you make a sound with the
vocal cords. To make the sound, the lips part
and the corners pull back while the teeth themselves
lightly touch, ss, zz. The tip of the tongue
is down, lightly touching behind the bottom
front teeth, ss, ss, while further back, the
top of the tongue raises and actually touches
the roof of the mouth, ss, zz, about here.
The tongue touches on either side of the roof
of the mouth, but down the middle there’s
a passage where it’s not touching. This is
where the air comes, ss, zz. Here is the S
and Z consonant sound shape on the right compared
with the mouth at rest. And with parts of
the mouth drawn in. The soft palate is raised
for these sounds. But more importantly, note
the tongue position. It stretches forward
and up. The important point of contact is
where the tongue touches the bottom teeth.
The sides of the tongue are raised, pressing
against the sides of the roof of the mouth.
The teeth are closed but the lips are parted.
Sample words: sip/zip, see/zebra, bus/buzz.
Sample sentence: Because it’s sunny and he’s
fair-skinned, he has to wear sunscreen. 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. Lips press lightly
together for the B sound. Because, with the
‘uh’ as in ‘butter’ sound. Teeth come together
to make the Z, and you can see the tongue
there right behind them. It’s, the S sound,
teeth together with the tongue right
behind. Sunny, ‘uh’ as in ‘butter’, tongue
goes up to make the N. And, jaw drops for
the ‘aa’ as in ‘bat’, tongue up for the N
and D. He’s fair-skinned, bottom lip up for
the F, fair-skinned, teeth together for the
S with the tongue just behind. Jaw drops a
bit for the ‘ih’ as in ‘sit’. Tongue up to
the roof of the mouth for the ND sound. He
has. Now here, has would normally be pronounced
with a Z, but because it’s followed by an
unvoiced consonant, the T, it is pronounced
as an S. He has to wear. Lips form the W shape.
Sunscreen. Teeth together for the S, sunscreen.
And again for the S in -screen. Lips form
the R position, ‘ee’ as in ‘she’, and tongue
tip up to make the N. Lips press together
for the B in because, teeth come together
to make the Z sound with the tongue just behind.
It’s. TS sound. Sunny, the S sound, teeth
closed. ‘Uh’ as in ‘butter’, tongue up for
the N. And, jaw drops for the ‘aa’ as in ‘bat’,
tongue up for the ND. He’s, teeth together
to make the Z sound. This Z sound also could
come across as an S because it’s followed
by an unvoiced consonant. Bottom lip up for
the F, fair-skinned. Teeth together for the
S, ‘ih’ as in ‘sit’ sound, tongue up for the
N. He, he has to, jaw drops for the ‘aa’ as
in ‘bat’, normally pronounced as a Z, here
it is pronounced as an S because it is connected
to the T, hast, has to wear. Teeth together
for the S, sun-, and again for the S, -screen.
Lips form the R consonant shape. The ‘ee’
as in ‘she’ and the tongue tip up for the
N. That’s it, and thanks so much for using
Rachel’s English.