Editing Pronunciation and decoding exercises: /s/ vs /z/

{{IPA symbol|z|IPA phoneme /z/|his /hɪz/}}
{{IPA symbol|s|IPA phoneme /s/|this /ðɪs/}}
The only difference betwen '''[[IPA phoneme /s/|/s/]]''' and '''[[IPA phoneme /z/|/z/]]''' is that /s/ is unvoiced and /z/ is voiced. See [[Voiced and unvoiced sounds]].

The letter “s" is used to spell most words with /z/ and many words with /s/. Many students who are able to pronounce correctly both sounds may struggle with [[decoding writen words]]. For example, they may not be aware that ''goose'' doesn’t rhyme with ''choose''.

More detail can be seen in [[Advanced pronunciation exercises: /s/ vs /z/]].

==/s/== 

*with initial /s/: 
:*with “c": ceiling - cent - cinema - city
:*with “s": {{Initial “s" as /s/}}
:*with “sc": scene - scent - science
;
*with final /s/: 
:*with “ce": advice - choice - dance - nice - once - twice
:*with “s": bus - gas - this - yes
::as [[-s|morphemes “-s”]] for words ending in  /f/, /k/, /p/, /t/, and /θ/: 

::*plurals: chiefs - ducks - cups - students - months
::*third person singular: laughs - thinks - helps - gets
::*possessives: staff’s - Mike’s - troop’s - Egypt’s - Edith’s
:*with “se": dense - goose - house - loose - mouse - promise - release - tense
:*with “ss": boss - class - kiss - mass - miss 
;
*in mid-position:
:*with “c": cancel - concern - decide - receive - recent - society
:*with “s": analysis - awesome - basic - fantasy - nuisance
:*with “ss": assign - assume - lesson - missing - necessary - possible

*homophones: C - sea - see; cell - sell; cent - scent - sent; cite - site - sight; scene - seen;

==/z/==
*with initial /z/: zapping - zebra - zoo; 
*with final /z/: 
:*with “s": as - does - has - his - is - was
::[[-s|morphemes “-s”]]
::*plurals: bugs - churches - dens - keys - phones - shoes - toys
::*third person singular: comes - drives - gives - knows - tells
::*possessives: Alice’s - Bob’s - Carol’s - Dave’s - Ethiopia’s - Finland’s - Germany’s
:*with “se": advise - browse - cheese - choose - lose - please - these - use - wise
:*with "zz": buzz - jazz
:*with "ze": breeze - freeze - sneeze
*in mid-position: 
:*with “s": busy - cousin - desert - easy - houses - music - poison - present - president - prison - reason - visit
:*with “ss": dessert - scissors
:*with "z": crazy - lazy - razor
:*with "zz": dizzy
;
*homophones: browse - brows; nose - knows; size - sighs

==Minimal pairs==
===At the beginning of the word===
*sue - zoo; 
===In mid position===
*lacy - lazy; precedent - president; racer - razor;
===At the end of the word===
*advice - advise; bus - buzz; face - phase; hiss - his; grace - graze; loose - lose; price - prize; race - raise; rice - rise; 

*second word is plural: ace - A’s; arse - R’s; base - bays; case - K’s; cease - seas, C’s; decrease - decrees; dense - dens; dose - doughs; else - L’s; force - fours; ice - eyes, I’s; Joyce - joys; juice - Jews; lice - lies; niece - knees; once - ones; peace, piece - peas, P’s; race - rays; since - sins; spice - spies; tense - tens; trace - trays; versus - verses;

*second word is third person singular: dice - dies; false - falls; gross - grows; lice - lies; pace - pays; place - plays; sacrifice - sacrifies; scarce - scares;

*Only in [[Received Pronunciation|BrE]]: brass - bras

*Only in [[General American|AmE]]: loss - laws

===[[Heteronyms]]===
*Noun is pronounced with /s/, verb is pronouced with /z/: abuse - excuse - house - use

*close ''(adj.)'' - close ''(v.)''

See also next section.
===Devoicing===
When two words are often pronounced together one of their consonants may influence the other. For example voiced /z/ and unvoiced /t/ become {{nw|/s t/}} where /z/ is devoiced.

*The verb ''suppose'' normally is /səˈpəʊz/ and its past tense normally is /səˈpəʊzd/. However ''suppose to'' and ''supposed to'' often are devoiced as /səˈpəʊs tə/ and /səˈpəʊst tə/.<ref>John C. Wells. [http://phonetic-blog.blogspot.com/2012/08/close.html close], 27 August 2012. See also comments by Beatrice Portinary on 27 August 2012 at 10:55, and Lazar Taxon at 19:31 and 22:01.</ref>

*''Has to'' can be pronounced /hæs tə/.<ref>John C. Wells. [http://phonetic-blog.blogspot.com/2012/08/close.html close], 27 August 2012. Comment by John Wells on 27 August 2012 at 20:2.</ref>

*Care should be taken to distinguish between “[[used to]]” and the past tense of the verb "to use": I used to /juːst tə/ use /juːz/ a laptop'' - ''He used /juːzd/ his laptop.'' - ''He didn’t use /juːz/ his new shoes'' - ''He used to /juːst tə/ miss the last bus.'' - ''I used to /juːst tə/ go there to dance.

*The word ''newspaper'' would normally be pronounced like ''news'' and ''paper'' /ˈnjuːzpeɪpər/ or /ˈnuːzpeɪpər/. Due to devoicing it can also be pronounced /ˈnjuːspeɪpər/ or /ˈnuːspeɪpər/.

==Some curious contrasts==
The first word is pronounced with /s/ and the second with /z/.
*abusive - abuser; a'''ss'''ess - po'''ss'''ess; abyss - abysmal; crisi'''s''' /ˈkraɪsɪs/ - crise'''s''' /ˈkraɪsiːz/; divisive - divisor; exhibition /{{e}}ksɪˈbɪʃən/ - exhibit /ɪɡˈzɪbɪt/;  it’s - he’s, she’s; louse - lousy;
;These words don’t rhyme
*goose - choose; geese - cheese; promise /ˈprɒmɪs/ - compromise /ˈkɒmprəmaɪz/; Arkan'''s'''as /ɑrːkənsɔː/ - Kan'''s'''as /ˈkænzəs/; lease - please; purpose - pose;

==Variant pronunciations==
/s/ or /z/
*opposite - transaction

/s/{{ame}} or /z/{{bre}}
*blouse - erase

==Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1==
===Spanish===
Most Spanish speakers cannot pronounce the /z/ sound. They won’t even hear the difference between /s/ and /z/. See [[IPA phoneme /z/#Spanish L1]].

===Other Romance languages===
In most Romance languages “s" between vowels is pronounced [z]. For example Portuguese ''básico'' is pronounced [ˈbaziku], French ''basique'' is [bazik] and Italian ''basico'' is [ˈbaziko].

== References ==
<references/>{{index}}

== See also ==
*[[Advanced decoding exercises: /s/ vs /z/]]

*[[Decoding the letter S]]
*[[Decoding exercises: “ss"]]
*[[Decoding exercises: "trans"]]
*[[Homophones]]
*[[Silent e]]




[[category:decoding written words|S~Pronunciation exercises: s vs z]]
[[category:pronunciation exercises|s~ - z~]]