#07. Improve Your Pronunciation - Study Session 7

Voiceless and Voiced Consonants

Consonant Sounds /θ/ and /ð/

[ Click on the image to see it on a large scale! ]

Click HERE to check .where the tip of the tongue is placed for the consonant pair /t/ ... /d/ and compare with that of the above pair /θ/ ... /ð/. .It is very important to know the difference in the position.of the tip.of the tongue between these two pairs of consonants if you really want your /θ/ and /ð/ sound right!

-{ Click ' HERE ' for the transcript of my voice }-

Step 1: Watch the videos - VERY IMPORTANT

(I've given the transcript for an easy grasp of the speech.)

First, while you are watching a video, make the consonant sound and pronounce

the words as instructed by Alex.

Second, play the video again but this time look at the transcript while listening to Alex.

Again, don't forget to make the consonant sound and pronounce the words.

Voiceless Consonant /θ/

(Video 1 - Watch in 'Full Screen')

This is a voiceless consonant. It's pronounced /θ/

Now, did you notice that I made the sound by sticking my tongue out just a little bit /θ/ and

blowing air between my tongue and my top teeth? /θ/

Now, you try. Watch and listen. /θ/ ...again /θ/

You can hear the sound /θ/ at .the beginning .of .the words ‘thin’ /θɪn/, 'throw' /θrəʊ/ and 'thumb' /θʌm/;

In the middle of the words ‘author’ /ˈɔːθə/ and 'healthy' /ˈhelθi/;

And, at the end of the words ‘birth’ /bɜːθ/ and 'path' /pɑːθ/.

Now, you try. Listen and repeat after me.

thin /θɪn/

throw /θrəʊ/

thumb /θʌm/

author /ˈɔːθə/

healthy ./ˈhelθi/

birth ../bɜːθ/

path ../pɑːθ/

..........................................................................................................

Voiced Consonant /ð/

(Video 2 - Watch in 'Full Screen')

This is a voiced consonant. It's pronounced /ð/.

Now, did you notice how my tongue sticks out just a little bit as I say, watch /ð/? The sound comes

from between my tongue and my top teeth. /ð/

Now, you try. Watch, listen and repeat. /ð/ ...again /ð/.

You can hear the sound /ð/ at the beginning of the words ‘then’ /ðen/, 'this' /ðɪs/, 'there' /ðeə/ and 'that' /ðæt/;

In the middle of the word ‘other’ /ˈʌðə/;

And, at the end of the word ‘smooth’ /smuːð/.

Now, you try. Listen and repeat after me.

then ./ðen/

this .../ðɪs/

there ./ðeə/

that /ðæt/

other /ˈʌðə/

smooth ../smuːð/

..........................................................................................................

SUPPLEMENTARY VIDEO

(Video 3 - Watch in 'Full Screen')

Practise the voiceless consonant /θ/ and voiced consononat /ð/ in isolation, words, sentences

and paragraph with Dave Sconda.

Voiceless /θ/ at the beginning of the words: thank you ... think ... thought

in the middle of the words: something ... nothing ... healthy

at the end of the words: math ... mouth ... both

used in sentences: I will eat anything healthy with my teeth.

. Thank you for driving back and forth this month.

. .I think Beth is travelling north on the path.

Voiced / ð/ at the beginning of the words: there ... that ... the

in the middle of the words: brother ... either ... other

at the end of the words: smooth ... breathe

used in sentences: That mother can't breathe.

I rather like this weather.

Voiceless /θ/ and voiced /ð/ used in a paragraph:

Pronunciation is rather fun! If you try another technique, think about the person you are talking with. Although you are pretending this method will make your speaking more smooth. That's all for now!

..........................................................................................................

Step 2: Do this activity - VERY IMPORTANT

(a) . Click on the image below for the animation of the speech organs. Watch the tip of the

tongue when the voiceless consonant /θ/ and voiced consonant /ð/ are articulated.

Follow these steps if you are not sure where to start from: (refer to the numbers)

1. Click the tab 'fricative' to make the nine phonetic symbols appear first.

2. Click the phonetic symbol of the voiceless consonant /θ/ and you'll see the rest.

3. Click the 'play' button to watch the animation of the voiceless consonant /θ/

4. Click the 'radio button' and 'play' button again to watch the articulation in steps.

5. Click the right 'play' button for the front view of the mouth when /θ/ is articulated.

6. Click the 'speaker icon' to listen to the voiceless consonant used in words.

7. Follow steps 1 - 6 to listen to the voiced consonant /ð/

..........................................................................................................

Step 3: Your Audio Assignment - COMPULSORY

Record .the following as per the instructions given and embed your recorded audio in the

comment box below.

1. .Say the phonemes the number of times they appear.

(Make sure that the tip of your tongue sticks out of your mouth a little for both the consonant

sounds, /θ/ and /ð/)

Voiceless consonant /θ/ /θ/ /θ/ /θ/ /θ/ ............ say slowly

* Now, speed up as you move from one /θ/ to the other and end with the word ‘thick’

Voiced consonant /ð/ /ð/ /ð/ /ð/ /ð/ ............ say slowly

* Now, speed up as you move from one /ð/ to the other and end with the word ‘that’

* You can skip these from recording if you feel shy to do. But, if you ask me, it’s worth trying!

D2. Read the list of words in pairs.

.a) Minimal pairs: voiceless /t/ and voiceless /θ/

tree ./triː/ ..three /θriː/

taught /tɔːt/ .thought ../θɔːt/

teary ./ˈtɪəri/ ..theory ../ˈθɪəri/

fateful ../ˈfeɪtfl/ ..faithful ./ˈfeɪθfl/

nutting ../ˈnʌtɪŋ/ ..nothing ../ˈnʌθɪŋ/

rootless ./ˈruːtləs/ ..ruthless ./ˈruːθləs/

part ../pɑːt/ .path .../pɑːθ/

dirt ./dɜːt/ dearth /dɜːθ/

sheet /ʃiːt/ sheath ../ʃiːθ/

b) Minimal pairs: voiced /d/ and voiced /ð/

day /deɪ/ ..they ../ðeɪ/

doze /dəʊz/ ..those .../ðəʊz/

dense ../dens/ ..thence ../ðens/

udder ./ˈʌdə/ other ./ˈʌðə/

sudden /ˈsʌdn/ ..southern /ˈsʌðən/

breeding /ˈbriːdɪŋ/ ..breathing /ˈbriːðɪŋ/

load ../ləʊd/ ..loathe /ləʊð/

bade /beɪd/ bathe /beɪð/

side ./saɪd/ scythe ./saɪð/

D3. Read the sentence twice! (Focus on the consonants /θ/ and /ð/

.There those thousand thinkers were thinking how did the other three thieves go through.

D4. (A) Read the short paragraph once! (Focus on the consonants /θ/ and /ð/

.Something in a thirty-acre thermal thicket of thorns and thistles .thumped and thundered

.threatening the three-D thoughts of Matthew the thug - although, .theatrically, it was only

.the thirteen-thousand thistles and thorns through the .underneath of his thigh that the

.thirty year old thug thought of that morning.

D5. (A) Read the tongue-twister fast three times in a row! (Focus on the consonants /θ/ and /ð/)

They think that their teeth get thinner at times they want to taste thick meat.

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SAMPLE AUDIO ASSIGNMENT

................................................................

TTS ... Text-To-Speech Widget

This tool could turn your Text into Speech! Don’t you believe me? Ok!

Simply type or Paste these lines into the box and click 'Play'.

(Maximum about 130 characters)
Female voice: Lucy ... British Pronunciation

You could check my blog for other TTS Widgets with many options!

This Study Session is moderated by G & G: Gabriel | Galina

" An education isn't how much you have committed to memory,

or even how much you know.

It's being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don't. "

~ Anatole France ~

~* GS *~
September, 6th. 2012

Study Session 6 Study Session 8

Don't forget to click the 'Like' button if you find the posting useful!

Tags: English, Gabriel Sowrian, Pronunciation

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Comment by JayVee on January 28, 2013 at 14:51: Dear teachers, even it's late... I really want to complete what I have done so far, hehe... I try hard to do it in a quiet place but it's not that easy, so - your great understanding on the back sound of my neighborhood here is very appreciated. It's funny but it's so true.

Online recording software >> I am really looking forward to your assessment
Thank you and best regards :)

SpamBuster Comment by Rajesh on September 27, 2012 at 16:31: Hello bro,

Here is my late recording for this session, Sorry. I know, my thanks are not enough for you. As you know, I mentioned in earlier session that /θ/ & /ð/ are two sounds which I have problem to distinguish. But, now after going through this study session, I think I could find the difference between the sounds /θ/ & /ð/, isn't it ?

Comment by Jannaningov on September 23, 2012 at 14:13: Hello, I'm a new here, and I have to say:It's amazing program, I'm very glad
you about your lessons. Thanks for you.

Comment by Asm@ on September 18, 2012 at 19:31: Hello my teacher,

I'm really sad teacher Gabriel :( I spent 3 days preparing for this study session.Unfortunately,you couldn't listen to me ,but after embedding I could listen to my recording again WEIRED,,,,,,, WEIRDER,,,

Well,I registered to use Audioboo,hopefully It works with me........!!!!

Teacher Gabriel,how can I be upset? Be sure that all your comments are welcomed and I accept them from the depths of my heart.Yes,you are right I recognized my mistakes about the sounds /θ/ and /z/,/ð/ and /s/.

I'll try to post my audio assignment here again,just to show you that I nver give up hope :)

I wish you all the best.

Comment by Gabriel Sowrian on September 18, 2012 at 16:57: Hi, Asma!

You deserve respect and applause from me and your fellow learners for being persistent in achieving your objective, i.e. proper pronunciation. You work very hard, something really satisfying on my part. Well done!

Now, did you listen to your “Vocaroo” for this study session after the embedding? Because, forgive me to say, I could only hear a droning noise which overpowers your own voice. I noticed similar problem with your audio assignment for SS 7 but it wasn’t that bad! Regrettably, this time your voice is barely audible over the noise. Is it possible for you to use “Audiboo”? Why don’t you give it a try? If you are not familiar with Audioboo, you can read my blog “Make your voice heard” and learn how to use it.

Fortunately for me, I managed to pick your words vaguely (for the first 50 seconds or so) by turning up the volume to the maximum. I observed that…

1. You pronounced the voiceless consonant /θ/ like /s/. Therefore, you said ‘sick’ instead of ‘thick’.

2. Your voiced consonant /ð/ sounds more like /z/. Hence, the word ‘that’ /ðæt/ is turned into /zæt/.

Asma, don’t be upset or give up hope after reading my comment. This study programme is about teaching and helping EC learners to overcome the problem they face with certain phonemes of the English speech. So, please don’t blame yourself if you couldn’t make some sounds when they are introduced here. Perhaps you don’t have such sounds in your first language. I hope I made myself understood ;-)

Here are two things that I want you to do:

1. Watch the above “supplementary video”. See how Dave Sconda puts his tongue out when every time he uses the /θ/ and /ð/ consonant sounds, either in isolation or words.

2. Copy the minimal pairs in group in the comment box below and paste them onto the above TTS widget. Then, click the ‘play’ button and listen to the difference in pronunciation between the words in each pair.

If you still find it difficult to differentiate the /θ/ from /s/ and /ð/ from /z/, don’t worry about them for now! Because, in Study Session 8 I’m going to introduce the voiceless /s/ and voiced /z/, then you should be able to make a clear sound of these two pairs. However, you can record the assignment again if you managed to learn to pronounce the consonants /θ/ and /ð/ after watching the supplementary video. Good luck!

Regards,

~* GS *~

Comment by Gabriel Sowrian on September 18, 2012 at 16:33

@ Asma

sin.	-	thin.
sum.	-	thumb.
sank.	-	thank.
sink.	-	think.
sort.	-	thought.

mass.	-	math.
mouse.	-	mouth.
pass.	-	path.
force.	-	forth.

breeze.	-	breathe.
size.	-	scythe.
lies.	-	lithe.
tease.	-	teethe.

SpamBuster Comment by Charos on September 17, 2012 at 13:59: Thank you so much, Teacher Gabriel for your nice words, :)

Now let me tell you, that it's always a pleasure to read your comments, for they are no less than a balm to the soul!...... :-) Besides this, I love reading your comments addressed to other members too, having a feeling that I'm reading a very carefully written literary work, with vividly marked new words and phrases, which are hardly repeated in your next comments!.. That's really what is worth appreciation and admiration. :)

Warmest regards...

Charos

Comment by Asm@ on September 17, 2012 at 12:54: Hello my dear teachers:

Record music and voice >>

It's really challenging,I know my recording is full of mistakes :D

Comment by selma on September 15, 2012 at 16:32: Thank you Gabriel for your promptly respond,

it fell into place now,

" Devoiced", is this a good explanation why I had difficulty in saying "th" when it's placed at the end of the word. ? Gabriel

on the other hand ;

A good pronunciation will be obtained when the picture could have been completed which "linking and reducing" are the more important skills in order to make it enhanced. Isn't it Gabriel ? I mean, achievement is still far away :))) Oh my God.......

Comment by Gabriel Sowrian on September 15, 2012 at 13:08: Dear Selma,

I’m glad you asked the question. Let me rephrase it so that the other learners will know what we two are talking about!

“Is the ‘th’ at the end of a word is pronounced the same as when it appears at the beginning and in the middle of a word?”

We all know that the letter combination ‘th’ makes two different sounds, i.e. voiceless /θ/ and voiced /ð/. We also know that the vocal cords don’t vibrate for /θ/ but they do vibrate for /ð/. Well! Besides the terms ‘voiceless’ and ‘voiced’ used to describe these characteristics, there is one more term - ‘devoiced’. The term ‘devoiced’ is normally applicable to ‘voiced consonants’.

What it means is, in layman’s terms, that a voiced consonant loses it’s ‘strength’ and becomes ‘weak’ at the end of a word – it is pronounced without the vibration of the vocal chords making it partly (or wholly) voiceless. 'Devoiced' applies to all voiced consonants! It’s a common thing in normal speech.

I would like to remind here that I didn’t practise this in the above list of minimal pairs because I had to emphasize the /ð/ sound in order to make it clear so that you could distinguish this sound from the other sounds, especially /d/.

My advice is one must often listen to well spoken English to get a clear picture of the whole idea. This is where the AudioPal TTS Tool comes in handy. Selma, please don’t hesitate to ask me if you have further queries. Thank you! Happy learning!!

Regards,

~* GS *~