Difference between revisions of "IPA phoneme /ʃ/"

In Received Pronunciation and in General American, the IPA phonetic symbol /ʃ/ corresponds to the initial consonant sound in words like "shoe", and "she" and the final one in "push" and "fish".

/ʃ/ is an unvoiced consonant; its voiced counterpart is IPA phoneme /ʒ/.

/ʃ/ is a fricative; its affricate counterpart is IPA phoneme /tʃ/.

Common words

• with "sh": cash - crash - dish - establish - fashion - finish - fish - flash - fresh - push - relationship - shake - shall - shape - share - she - shift - shine - ship - shock - shoe - shoot - shop - short - should - shoulder - show - wash - wish
• with "ss":

with "ssi": commission - depression - discussion - expression - impression - mission - professional - Russia - session

with "ssu": assure - issue - pressure - tissue

• with "ti":

with "tio": action - assumption - condition - definition - education - function - generation - information - location - mention - nation - option - rational - station - tradition - variation

with "tia": essential - initial - initiative - partial - potential - substantial

with "tie": patience - patient

• with "ci": efficient - musician - racial - special
• with "ce": ocean
• with "s": Asia /ˈeɪʃə/ or /ˈeɪʒə/ - sugar - sure
• "x" as /kʃ/: anxious
• with "ch": machine

/ʃ/ or /s/

• associate

Less common words

• with "sh": bush, shampoo
• with "si": controversial
• with "ssi": aggression, obsession
• with "sc": conscience, conscious, fascism
• with "ci": delicious, electrician, malicious, politician
• with "ce": cetacean, crustacean
• "x" as /kʃ/: crucifixion, flexion

In words of French origin /ʃ/ can be spelled "ch".

• brochure, cache, champagne, chauffeur, chef, Chicago, moustache,^BrE mustache,^AmE parachute

Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1

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.

Spanish

While Spanish does have /tʃ/, it doesn't have /ʃ/, so there'll be a tendency to pronounce "shoes" as "choose", "shop" as "chop" and "sheet" as "cheat" (this latter example having another, notorious pronunciation difficulty...). Likewise, practice is needed with /ʒ/ vs /ʃ/, as in pleasure, leisure, etc.

It is very difficult for Spanish speakers to pronounce the combination /ʃr/ as in "shrimp". In Spain the movie Shrek is pronounced [eʃ.ɾek] or even [etʃ.ɾek], and in Latin America it is pronounced [ʃ.ɾek] or [ʃe.ɾek], but most likely [tʃ.ɾek].

See also

• Decoding exercises: "sh"
• Decoding exercises: "sion"
• Decoding exercises: "ss"
• Pronunciation
• Pronunciation exercises: /ʃ/ vs /tʃ/
• Pronunciation exercises: /ʒ/ vs /ʃ/
• IPA phoneme /s/
• IPA phoneme /ʒ/

External links

• British Library: Learning - Sounds Familiar?