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".
Contents
Common words
- as "sh": bush - cash - crash - dish - fashion - flash - push - she - shine - shoe - shop - should - wash
- as "ss": assure - discussion - expression - issue - mission - pressure - professional - Russia - tissue
- as "ti":
- as "tio": action - condition - definition - education - function - generation - information - location - mention - nation - option - question - rational - station - tradition - variation
- as "tia": essential - initial - initiative - partial - potential - substantial
- as "tie": patience - patient
- as "s": Asia /ˈeɪʃə/ or /ˈeɪʒə/ - sugar - sure
- "x" as /kʃ/: anxious - flexion
- as "ch": machine
Less common words
- "ss": aggression - depression - obsession - pressure
- "x" as /kʃ/: crucifixion
In words of French origin /ʃ/ can be spelled "ch".
- brochure - cache - champagne - chauffeur - chef - Chicago - 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.
See also
- Pronunciation
- Pronunciation exercises: /ʃ/ vs /tʃ/
- IPA phoneme /s/
- IPA phoneme /ʒ/
- Pronunciation exercises: "sion"
