The S-Sound
Today, we’re going to discuss the voiceless alveolar fricative - S-sound /s/.
THE SOUND
The S-sound /s/ is produced when air is forced through a narrow turbulent passage made between the tongue and the ridge behind your upper teeth - the alveolar ridge. As you push air out of your mouth, squeeze the air between the tip of your tongue and the top of your mouth. You should feel some resistance.
For the S-sound /s/, the sound is voiceless (the vocal cords do not vibrate while producing it), and the the voiced counterpart sound is the Z-sound /z/.
Verbal cues
Exaggerate your /s/ sound at first. Because it is a fricative sound, the /s/ is a continuous consonant and can be held for several seconds. Try holding the S-sound for 5 seconds.
Remember that the tongue tip contact should be light against the alveolar ridge. Harsh pressure is not needed and not helpful.
Visual Cues
Remember to keep the tongue tip position behind the teeth. If you look at a mirror, the tongue should be kept hidden behind the teeth and should not be visible in your reflection.
Tactile Cues
If you need help finding the alveolar ridge for your tongue to contact during this sound, run your tongue along your upper teeth. Then, slowly retract your tongue backward into your mouth you find the border of your tooth teeth and the hard roof of you mouth. That is the alveolar ridge.
THE SOUND IN DIFFERENT POSITIONS.
Here's the sound in different positions of a word.
BEGINNING OF THE WORD - see, same, psychic, science
MIDDLE OF THE WORD - pieces , last, lesson
END OF THE WORD - grass, bakes, bus, fox, face
*NOTE - Notice how the S-sound can be represented by a SS-letter combination, a PS-letter combination, a SC-letter combination a single C-letter or single X-letter.
SITUATIONS THAT SEEM LIKE THE SOUND BUT AREN'T
passion - In this situation, the S-sound is not pronounced. Instead, an SH-sound /ʃ/ is produced instead. I’ll try to cover specific circumstances when /ʃ/ is pronounced when we get to the SH-sound.
dogs, bees, keys - With the plural S, it depends on the preceding letter whether a S-sound or Z-sound is produced even though the S-letter is present. If the preceding letter is a voiceless sound, then a S-sound is produced.
✅ Examples - jeeps, pets, ducks, ifs
❌ Examples - cabs, dads, dogs, leaves
aisle, island, debris, isle, viscount
In these words, the S-letter is silent. So although you see a S-letter, it is not actually pronounced.
WHY IT MAY BE HARD
As you could see above, sometimes the S-letter does not actually mean the S-sound is produced. So sometimes, when you are learning English and you see an S-letter, you automatically want to produce it. Native English speakers don’t. And many times, we cannot explain why you don’t because we simply internalized this rule rather than learning it.
I’m surprised to find icicles on the island.
Even though there are 4 S-letters, only 1 is a true S-sound. Meanwhile there are 3 S-sounds in total because of the C-letters.
In addition, it can be hard for some Spanish speakers depending on the varying Spanish accents because of the slight differences in S-pronunciation. Some pronunciations of the S-sound start to sound more like a SH-sound instead.
As a result, when those Spanish speakers speak English, their tendency to produce the S-sound might appear in their English speaking too. This can be challenging when both S- and SH- options for a word are possible. (e.g. shine vs. sign)
WHAT TO DO
So let's say you do have trouble with your S-sound. What can you do about it.
Well here are the features of the S-sound.
Place of articulation - Between your tongue tip and the alveolar ridge (the ridge behind your top teeth). Your tongue should lightly contact the alveolar ridge.
Manner of articulation - Frication. Airflow is turbulent but continuous - like a whistle. It is turbulent because airflow is passing through a narrow passageway. The sound keeps coming out as long as you have air from the lungs to continue the airflow.
Voiced or unvoiced - voiceless (this means the vocal cords do not vibrate while producing the S-sound).
TIPS & EXTRA CONSIDERATIONS
The important consideration for the S-sound is knowing when to produce the S-sound. Many times, clients are able to make the S-sound in isolation but knowing when to produce it and to keep track of that understanding is the next step.
Depending on the letter combination, the resultant sound combination may differ
SC
science, scene - the SC-letter combination equals a S-sound
school, schizophrenia - the SCH- letter combination equals S+K
conscious - the SC-letter combination equals a CH-sound
conscience - the SC-letter combination equals a SH-sound
Plural S
sleeps, books, hats, cliffs, graphs, myths - the S-letter equals a S-sound
crabs words, bags, deals, dreams, fans, sings, wears, gloves, plays - the S-letter equals a Z-sound
races, buses, boxes, prizes, kisses, watches, dishes, changes - the ES-letter combination equals an IZ-sound combination
X
fox, fax - the X-letter equals a KS-sound combination
Tongue Tip
It is important to remember tongue tip is used for S-sound production - not the entire tongue blade or body.
Remember, we are looking for precise tongue placement rather than brute force. If tongue body or blade (which means more than just the tip is used), then it can start to distort the resultant sound. It may sound close but slightly imprecise, slushy, or lisp-like.
I’m breaking down every single sound down for you so that you can learn how to produce each sound in English accurately. Sometimes, we’ll have easier sounds and sometimes we’ll have harder sounds.
If you’ve grasped this sound, then great! But if you’ve got a tip that might work for others, or you took a while to produce this sound correct but something clicked for you, let me know down below in the comments. My goal is to have a community know what to do when they’re stuck!
