How to Say the SION ending American English Pronunciation
In this American English pronunciation video,
we’re going to go over the pronunciation of
the -SION ending.
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This suffix is always unstressed. It begins
with either the SH or the ZH sound followed
by the schwa-N sound. The N is a syllabic
consonant here. That means it absorbs the
schwa. So, you don’t need to try to make a
separate schwa sound. We just have sh-nn,
shnn, or zh-nn, zhnn. It really should be
very fast as an unstressed syllable. Shn,
zhn. SH and ZH have the same mouth position.
The first sound, sh, is unvoiced. That means
there is just air, no sound from the vibration
of the vocal cords. Sh. In the ZH sound, there
is a sound from the vocal cords, zh, zh.
Let’s talk about the mouth position. You can
see the lips are flaring out while the teeth
remain together, sh, zh. The middle part of the
tongue lifts to the top of the mouth, but doesn’t
touch. The tip of the tongue is pulled back,
so it doesn’t touch anything. Sh, zh. To move
into the N sound, simply lift the tip of the
tongue up to the roof of the mouth so the
top, flat part of the tongue is touching.
You can also relax the lips. Shn, zhn.
How do you know when it’s pronounced with
the unvoiced sound, shn, and when with the
voiced sound, zhn?
For example, decision, zhn, zhn. Occasion,
zhn, zhn. Television, zhn, zhn.
Version, zhn, zhn. Excursion, zhn, zhn.
Immersion, zhn, zhn.
Otherwise, it’s a SH sound.
Discussion,shn, shn. Apprehension, shn,
shn. Compulsion, shn, shn.
There are just a few exceptions I was able
to find of words that are quite technical
and uncommon. Stick with these rules and you
should be ok. As you work with this suffix,
try to make it really short compared to the
stressed syllable. And remember, don’t try
to make a vowel sound in this syllable. Zhn,
version, shn, discussion.
That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s
English.