How to Pronounce the SHR Consonant Cluster American English
Today I’m going to talk about
the SHR consonant blend. Let’s take for example
the word ‘shrimp’ and begin by looking at
the lip position. Shrimp, shrimp. You’ll note
that the lips are flared, sh, sh, in the SH
position, shrimp. The lips then come into
a tighter circle for the R. Shr-, shr-. This
R will have the shape of a beginning R sound.
If you’ve seen my video on “Understanding
the R Consonant”, then you know that an R
at the beginning of a syllable or word has
a tighter position than the more relaxed version
that happens for an R and the end of a word
or a syllable. So in this blend, it’s the
more tight, initial R position. Shr-, shr-,
shrimp. Here we have the SH and the R sounds
compared from the side. Again you can see
the flare in the SH position. In the R the
lips form a tighter circle. So the lips go
from being flared for the SH, sh … rr, to
being in a tighter circle for the R. The teeth
and jaw: they don’t really move. The other
main part of this consonant blend is the tongue
and how the tongue moves. Now the tongue will
be more forward for the SH sound, sh, sh,
sh, the tip being just behind the closed or
almost closed teeth. The R, however, has a
pull back, shr-, shr-. And if you don’t have
the tongue pulled back for that position,
it won’t make the proper R sound. So if you
have a problem with the R sound, watch the
understanding the R sound video. Work on that
sound individually before trying to do it
with the SH sound. And now a few words in
slow motion to help you study the SH mouth
position. The first word, mushroom. There’s
the SH and the R, the vowel and the M. The
next word, shrimp. Watch the lips flare out
for the SH, and then come in tighter for the
R before opening into the vowel. Now the word
shroud. Again, the SH flared, coming in for
a very tight circle on the R before opening
into the vowel sound. And finally, shriek.
Flared lips for the SH, tight circle for the
R, opening into the ‘ee’ as in ‘she’ vowel
sound. Now a list of words on which to practice.
I’ll say it, repeat after me. Shroud, shrine,
shrink, shredder, shriek, mushroom, dishrag,
shrew, washroom, shrivel, shrub. I hope you
now better understand how to pronounce this
blend. That’s it, and thanks so much for using
Rachel’s English.