Tuesday, 05 November, 2024

The consonant /s/ and its ability to become /z/ in another environment


NRTC English

The consonant /s/, vocalizedĀ siii,Ā is your third or fourth name, and that of every Nigerian. When someone calls you, not by your name, but rather by vocalizingĀ siii,Ā youā€™re going to turn back or at least assume the person is calling you.

Thatā€™s because it’s a name you subconsciously bear and carry all around, wherever you goā€”a name your parents didnā€™t give you but the society chose for you.

The consonant /s/ is produced with no vibration in the vocal chords. For men, touch your Adamā€™s apple, and vocalize siiii to see if there is going to be a vibration. No vibration, right? Yes, great! For women, you can touch your Eveā€™s Orange to feel the absence of vibration.

For consonant /s/ to become /z/ in another environment, it must be preceded by voiced sounds. However, when /s/ is preceded by a voiceless consonant, it remains /s/.

The presence of vibration in the vocal chords is what makes a phoneme voiced and the absence of vibration is what makes it voiceless.

NRTC English
NRTC English

For example:

  • bags /baÉ”z/ because /g/ is a voiced consonant.
  • reasons /ĖˆriĖz(ə)nz/ because /n/ is a voiced consonant.
  • roads /rəŹŠdz/ because /d/ is a voiced consonant.
  • brothers /ĖˆbrŹŒĆ°É™rz/ because /r/ is a voiced consonant.
  • games /É”eÉŖmz/ because /m/ is a voiced consonant.
  • kings /kÉŖŋz/ because /ŋ/ is a voiced consonant.
  • cars /kɑĖz/ because /ɑĖ/ is a voiced vowel.
  • pieces /pi:siz/ because /i/ is a voiced vowel.

Youā€™ll discover that itā€™s then important to know the sounds that are voiced and those that are voiceless to determine whether /s/ will become /z/ or not.

I have ensured I outline the sounds that are voiced below and others that are voiceless.


By default, all vowels are voiced. All nasals /m/, /n/, /ŋ/ are all voiced. /b/, /g/, /d/ are all voiced while /p/, /k/, and /t/ are voiceless. All approximants /l/, /w/, /j/ and /r/ are voiced. /Ć°/, /v/, and /dŹ’/ are voiced and /Īø/, /f/, and /tŹƒ/ are voiceless.

To know whether a sound is voiced or not, simply touch your Adamā€™s apple or Eveā€™s Orange to feel whether there is a vibration or not.

Thatā€™s also why words like tutors, doctors, sandals, buttons, etc, have the consonant /s/ became /z/ in that environment where the syllabic consonants /l/, /m/, and /r/ are found.

However, there are some exceptions, though: basic, assume, consume, loose, listen, increase, muscle, and absent.

For correctness, basic, and all the words above, are pronounced without the consonant /z/. Basic is pronounced /ĖˆbeÉŖsÉŖk/; assume as /əĖˆsjuĖm/; consume as /kənĖˆsjuĖm/; loose as /luĖs/ (but lose as /luĖz/); listen as /ĖˆlÉŖs(ə)n/; increase as /ÉŖnĖˆkriĖs/; muscle as /ĖˆmŹŒs(ə)l/; and absent as /abs(ə)nt/.


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