Today, we’re going to discuss the voiced palatal approximant - Y-sound which is represented by the /j/ symbol in the international phonetic alphabet. The name for the /j/ symbol is ‘yod’.

THE SOUND

The Y-sound is made through the mouth and is voiced, which means you vibrate your vocal cords to make the sound. It is defined by the position of your tongue and it is an approximant, which is a sound made by creating a narrow space in your mouth through which air flows. No turbulent airflow. The air flows through the middle of your mouth, not the sides of your mouth.

To produce the Y-sound, focus on narrowing the distance between the roof of your mouth and back of tongue. Then when you start to turn on your voice, drop your tongue away from the roof of your mouth by opening your mouth. The airflow should come from the centre of your mouth, so you shouldn’t feel it escaping near the corners of your mouth, or only on one side.

Depending on the following vowel, the size of your mouth opening to drop the tongue away from teh roof of your mouth changes. For example, ‘yeah’ is going to cause your mouth to open wider after the Y-sound versus for ‘yield’.

Verbal cues

Exaggerate your /j/ sound at first. Without worrying about the mouth opening component of the sound, start with holding a continuous Y-sound with vocal cord vibration (a.k.a. voicing) and the approximation of the tongue to the roof of the mouth. Try holding the Y-sound for 5 seconds.

Remember we are looking for approximation. Not frication. So no turbulent airflow.

Visual Cues

When looking in the mirror, there are few visual cues that can provide you information about tongue placement. That aspect, you’ll have to go by feel and understanding based on your experience with other sounds in similar placement.

But what you can look for is mouth opening and jaw opening. When you transition from the Y-sound to the subsequent vowel, there will be at least slight jaw opening.

Tactile Cues

If you need help finding the palate or specific place on the roof of your mouth, remember it is

further in the back of your mouth. It is further back in the mouth past the post-alveolar location (where the TCH, DZH, SH, and ZH sounds are located) but not as far back as the velar location (where the K, G, NG and W sounds are located)

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.

Because of the approximant nature of the sound though, there are no clear contact points in the mouth.

THE SOUND IN DIFFERENT POSITIONS.

Here's the sound in different positions of a word.

BEGINNING OF THE WORD - you, yell, yellow, yield, union, Europe

MIDDLE OF THE WORD - loyal , kayak, reunion, coyote,

END OF THE WORD -

*NOTE - Notice how the Y-sound can be represented by a the Y-letter, the U-letter or a EU-letter combination.

SITUATIONS THAT ARE THE SOUND BUT DON’T SEEM LIKE IT

billion - For this word, it may not be obvious where the Y-sound appears. When we speak at normal speed though, the word can sound like ‘BILL-yin’, with the primary stress on the first syllable.
unusual, community, few - For these words, you may notice that there is a hidden Y-sound. Written another way ‘un-YOU-zhu-well’, ‘comm-YOU-ni-tee’, and ‘fYOU’, the Y-sound is more clearly seen.

SITUATIONS THAT SEEM LIKE THE SOUND BUT AREN'T

lastly, dry, shy, baby, comfy, - In this situation, where the Y-letter appears at the end of the word, it is acting as a vowel, not a consonant. As a result, it isn’t making the Y-sound but instead is making an ‘EE’ sound like in ‘see’, ‘we’, or ‘me’. So although the Y-letter is present, the Y-sound is not.

WHY IT MAY BE HARD

Now, one reason why this sound is confusing for some people is because of the choice of symbol. If you think back to the voiced affricate sound d͡ʒ, the DZH sound is sometimes represented in English as a J-letter like in the words ‘jack’ or ‘jump’.

In some languages like Spanish, the J-letter may be associated with a Y-sound or vice versa.

It will take time to unlearn the habit so especially when you see a J-letter or Y-letter, that may be an area of focus for you to practice to ensure you produce the J-sound or Y-sound accurately.

Another reason it can be challenging is that sometimes, the Y-sound is not obvious in a word. In words like few and community. In these cases, they Y-sound is part of a type of vowel sound called a diphthong. In these cases, it is part of the /juː/ diphthong**.** Sometimes, you may hear it referred to as the ‘long U’ sound.

WHAT TO DO

So let's say you do have trouble with your Y-sound. What can you do about it.

Well here are the features of the Y-sound.

Place of articulation - Between your middle/back of your tongue and the palate There is no contact with the roof of your mouth.
Manner of articulation - Approximation. Airflow is narrowed and continuous. Airflow is not turbulent. The sound keeps coming out as long as you have air from the lungs to continue the airflow.
Voiced or unvoiced - voiced (this means the vocal cords vibrate while producing the Y-sound).

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!

The Y-Sound