Voiced alveolar fricative.
This a lenis or weak consonant. The soft palate is in its raised position and the vocal folds vibrate. The tip and blade of the tongue are quite close to the alveolar bridge and the rims of the tongue are placed against the upper side teeth forming a passage through which the pulmonic air stream passes producing friction.
| <s> | boys /ˈbɔɪz/ |
| <'s> | a boy's brain /ə ˌbɔɪz breɪn/ |
| <s'> | boy's brains /ˈbɔɪz breɪnz/ |
| <es> | goes /ɡəʊz/ |
| <se> | please /pli:z/ |
| <z> | zoo /zu:/ |
| <zz> | jazz /dʒæz/ |
| <ze> | breeze /bri:z/ |
| <x> | xylophone /ˈzaɪləfəʊn/ |
| peas /pi:z/ |
| dizzy /ˈdɪzi/ |
| freeze /fri:z/ |
| zebra /ˈzebrə/ |
| crazy /ˈkreɪzi/ |
| eyes /aɪz/ |
| fleas /fli:z/ |
|
Zebras are like horses but striped.
/ˈzebrəz ə ˈlaɪk ˈhɔ:sɪz bət 'straɪpt/ |
|
Zoos are crazy places!
/'zu:z ə ˈkreɪzi ˈpleɪsɪz|/ |
|
Rosa plays the xylophone outside.
/ˈrozə 'pleɪz ðə ˈzaɪləfəʊn ˌaʊtˈsaɪd/ |
|
A noisy noise annoys an oyster.
/ə ˈnɔɪzi nɔɪz əˈnɔɪz ən ˈɔɪstə/̩ |
|
Denise sees the fleece, Denise sees
the fleas.
/dəˈni:z ˈsi:z ðə 'fli:s | dəˈni:z ˈsi:z ðə 'fli:z/̩ |
|
At least Denise could sneeze and feed and freeze the fleas.
/ət li:st dəˈni:z kəd 'sni:z ənd 'fi:d ənd 'fri:z ðə 'fli:z/̩ |
The soft palate is in its raised position and the vocal folds vibrate. The tip and blade of the tongue are quite close to the alveolar bridge and the rims of the tongue are placed against the upper side teeth forming a passage through which the pulmonic air stream passes producing friction.