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Voiced palato-alveolar affricate

From Teflpedia
(Redirected from IPA phoneme /dʒ/)

Voiced postalveolar affricate Voiced postalveolar affricate Voiced postalveolar affricate In Received Pronunciation and in General American, the IPA phonetic symbol /dʒ/ corresponds to the initial consonant sound in words like "job", and "jet" and the final one in "page" and “change.”

/dʒ/ is a voiced consonant; its unvoiced counterpart is IPA phoneme /tʃ/.

/dʒ/ is an affricate; its fricative counterpart is IPA phoneme /ʒ/.

Common words[edit | edit source]

Initial pronunciation of /dʒ/
  • as j: January - jam - Jamaica - James - Jane - Japan - jeans - job - John - join - joke - journey - July - jump - judge - June - just
  • as ge/gi/gy: gentleman - gender - gene - general - generate - generation - genetic - Germany - George - Georgia - gesture - giant - gym
See Decoding the letter G for exceptions.
Mid-position pronunciation of /dʒ/
  • as j: enjoy - injure - major - majority - object - project - reject - subject
  • as dj: adjust
  • as ge/gi/gy: agency - Algeria - Angela - apologiseBrE - apologize - Argentina - Belgium - biology - danger - Egypt - energy - engineer - imagine - Los Angeles - Niger - Nigeria - refrigerator - original - region - Roger - strategy - technology - urgent - Virginia
  • as dge: budget
  • Oddity: as ga: margarine /mɑːrdʒəˈriːn,BrE ˈmɑːrdʒərən/AmE
Final pronunciation of /dʒ/
  • as ge: advantage - age - average - change - charge - college - huge - image - language - large - manage - orange - page - range - stage
  • as dge: badge - edge - fridge - judge - knowledge

Homophones:

  • genes - jeans; Jim - gym;

Less common words[edit | edit source]

  • genus - germ - gin - ginger - gist - gypsum - gypsy

/dʒ/ spelled with “d"[edit | edit source]

  • education /edʒʊˈkeɪʃən/
  • gradual /ˈɡrædʒʊəl/
  • graduate (noun) /ˈɡrædʒʊət/
  • graduate (verb) /ˈɡrædʒʊeɪt/
  • individual /ɪndɪˈvɪdʒʊəl/
  • procedure /prəˈsiːdʒər/
  • soldier /ˈsəʊldʒər/
  • dream /dʒrim/[1]

/d/ or /dʒ/[edit | edit source]

  • cordial (friendly) /ˈkɔːrdʒəl/AmE /ˈkɔːrdiːəl/BrE
  • fraudulent /ˈfrɔːdʒələnt/ AmE /ˈfrɔːdjələnt/BrE

/dʒ/ spelled with “ch"[edit | edit source]

This is a common voiced mutation.

  • sandwich: /ˈsænwɪtʃ, ˈsænwɪdʒ/
  • spinach: /ˈspɪnɪtʃ, ˈspɪnɪdʒ/
  • Greenwich /ˈgrɪnɪdʒ, ˈgrɪnɪtʃ, ˈgrenɪtʃ, ˈgrenɪdʒ/
  • Norwich /ˈnɒrɪdʒ, ˈnɒrɪtʃ/

/dʒ/ spelled with "t"[edit | edit source]

  • congratulations: /kəngrætʃəˈleɪʃənz/BrE AmE /kəngrædʒəˈleɪʃənz/AmE [2] The pronunciation with /dʒ/, even if it is recognized by Random House is regarded by some as informal or sloppy.[3]

Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1[edit | edit source]

Preconceived ideas and other interferences from L1 obviously interfere in many cases with how students perceive - and pronounce - sounds/words in English. The following sections aims to point out some of the most typical difficulties teachers and students may encounter regarding pronunciation.=

German[edit | edit source]

German speakers often devoice this sound so it sounds like an unvoiced palato-alveolar affricate, so that “I am German" sounds like “I am Cherman.”

Spanish[edit | edit source]

As /dʒ/ doesn't exist in Spanish, many Spanish speakers pronounce the initial "j" in words like "job" and "jet" like /j/, i.e. they do not distinguish very well between "yet" and "jet" or "yob" and "job.” Other sounds that they may confuse this sound with are /tʃ/, a sound which does exist in Spanish, and two other sounds which don't: /ʃ/ or /ʒ/, especially as final sounds.

Some Spanish speakers even pronounce “g" as /h/ (actually [x]), just like in Spanish. It is not as uncommon as it should be to hear *[ɪnˈtelɪxənt] (from inteligente).

Argentinian Spanish[edit | edit source]

Most Argentinians pronounce "ll" and "y" as /ʃ/, while some pronounce them like /dʒ/ or /ʒ/. In any case, they confuse these three sounds in any position, not just final.[4] Moreover, since standard pronunciation of Spanish "y" is similar to /j/ some students may also confuse /j/ and /ʃ/.[5] For Argentinians English /j/ is like Spanish "hi" as in "hielo" [ˈjelo].

References[edit | edit source]

  1. Not really a dʒ, but it just sounds like it due to assimilation, with the first consonant becoming more similar to the second.
  2. Dictionary.com, congratulation
  3. Charles Harrington Elster, The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations: The Complete Opinionated Guide for the Careful Speaker, 1999, page 104. Available in Google Books.
  4. Search for “Shack el Destripador" (Jack the Ripper) or “Shenifer Lopez.”
  5. Search for “Nueva Shork" or "shu tub" (YouTube).