Module 04

Final Consonants and Consonant Clusters

1. word: d has to sound. If not, listener can undestand "were" instead.

Examples

1. hot
2. book
3. attend
4. market
5. academic
6. eat
7. need
8. dress

Link final consonant with next vowel

• We need-a new book.
• I bought a dress-and a blouse.
• Did they reach-a conclusion?
• We'll develop-a plan
• That's not a realistic-idea

Consonant Clusters

Two or more consonants sounds together

1. string
2. best
3. stop
4. brown
5. drawing
6. splash
7. stops
8. attempts
9. cluster
10. treats
11. strengths
12. transcripts

Pronunciation of -s and -ed Endings

-ed

Paste tense or past particle of regular verbs

• If last sound of base word is /t/ or /d/ -> /əd//

Examples: wanted, chatted, repeated, needed, attended, receded

• If last sound is any voiceless sound besides /t/ -> /t/

Examples: missed, walked, laughed, reached, brushed, developed

• If last sound is any voiced sound besides /d/ -> /d/

More Examples

-s

Third person singular, presente tense of verbs

• If last sound is /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /ʧ/ or /ʤ/ , then /əz/

Examples: masses, breezes, brushes, branches, judges, boxes

• If last sound is voiceless besides the ones listed, then /s/

Examples: cats, lamps, laughs, books, envelopes, baskets

• If last sound is a voiced sound besides the ones listed, then /z/

Examples: plans, travels, plays, repairs, videos, reads

More Examples

Variations of some Consonant Sounds

t-sound

1. butter, water, meeting
2. button, curtain, sentence

For butter, water, meeting, we use flapped /t/:

• When /t/ is between two vowels
• When the syllable before /t/ is stressed

For button, curtain, sentence, we use glottal stop

• When /t/ is between a vowel and /ən/
• When the syllable before /t/ is stressed