The SH-Sound
Today, we’re going to discuss the voiceless palato-alveolar fricative - SH-sound /ʃ /.
As you can see, the shape is a little funny. It’s like a stretched out, less curvy S shape.
THE SOUND
The SH-sound /ʃ / is produced when air is forced through a narrow turbulent passage made between the tongue and the hard palate. Instead of the alveolar ridge just behind your upper teeth, your tongue is further back in the mouth about 1-1.5 cm. 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 SH-sound /ʃ /, the sound is voiceless (the vocal cords do not vibrate while producing it), and the the voiced counterpart sound is the ZH-sound /ʒ/.
Verbal cues
Exaggerate your /ʃ/ sound at first. Because it is a fricative sound, the /ʃ/ is a continuous consonant and can be held for several seconds. Try holding the SH-sound for 5 seconds.
Remember that the tongue tip contact should be light further back behind 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.
The second thing about the SH-sound is your lips are slight rounded and protruded. Imagine a librarians shushing you to be quiet.
Tactile Cues
If you need help finding the tongue position, start from the alveolar ridge. Run your tongue along the back of the top teeth. Next, run it along the soft gum line behind your teeth. Now finally, run it further back into the mouth where the gum line begins to feel harder. That border of soft to hard gum line is where your tongue should be.
As for your lips, they need to round and protrude. Round your lips like you are a fish or trying to kiss someone. If you put a finger in front of your lips like you are shushing someone. Try to touch your finger with your lips without moving your head forward. You will start to protrude your lips.
THE SOUND IN DIFFERENT POSITIONS.
Here's the sound in different positions of a word.
BEGINNING OF THE WORD - show, shell, shin, chic, chauvinism
MIDDLE OF THE WORD - nation, wishing, machine, issue, appreciate, suspicious, machete, sexual, passion
END OF THE WORD - fresh, moustache, wish
*NOTE - Notice how the SH-sound can be represented by a CH-letter combination, a TI-letter combination, a CI-letter combination a SS-letter combination or XU-letter.
SITUATIONS THAT SEEM LIKE THE SOUND BUT AREN'T
There are many instances where letter combinations will NOT result in a SH-sound.
TI - When in non-TION situations, TI does not make an SH-sound.
native, until, Celtic, plating
SH - When SH-letter combinations do not share the same syllable.
gashouse, dishonor, crosshair
CH - There are many instances where CH-letter combinations do not make the SH-sound
choose, cheap, champion, chess, match, mach
SS - There are many instances where SS-letter combinations do not make the SH-sound
associate, possibility, essential, classroom, assault, classify
CI - There are many instances where CI-letter combinations do not make the SH-sound
uncivil, precisely, principle, hallucinate, decipher, recite
XU - There are many instances where XI-letter combinations do not make the SH-sound
luxury, plexus, exude
My point in highlighting all the possible ways that you cannot rely on the letter combination to determine the pronunciation is so that you can realize that you MUST pay attention to the sound and learn from the sound. You cannot rely on the spelling to determine the pronunciation because there are always exceptions to the rules for spelling-sound associations.
WHY IT MAY BE HARD
As you could see above, sometimes the SH-sound can be represented in multiple possible letter combinations. This is because depending on the roots of the word, the reflected spelling and pronunciation are not consistent. In English every letter has multiple potential sounds it can make because of all the borrowing of words that English does.
WHAT TO DO
So let's say you do have trouble with your SH-sound. What can you do about it.
Well here are the features of the SH-sound.
Place of articulation - Between your tongue tip and the space behind the alveolar ridge (the ridge behind your top teeth). It’s often referred to as palato-alveolar or postalveolar.
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 SH-sound).
TIPS & EXTRA CONSIDERATIONS
The important consideration for the SH-sound is knowing when to produce the SH-sound. Listening is key in this sound because it is a distinct turbulent sound that can be represented by many different letters. Here’s a few more examples.
SH
shell, shed, shrimp, sheep, shark, shoot, wash, marsh, brush, English, vanish, crush,
CH
chef, champagne, chalet, machine, brochure, parachute, chute
TION
nation, action, mention, section, information, direction.
Notice how -TION leads to consistent SH-sound production
CI
musician, racial, delicious
Notice how the SH-letter combination and CH-letter combination can reflect the SH- sound at the beginning of words. The TI-letter combination and CI-letter combination cannot.
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!
