Unit 4.2 The 8 voiced and unvoiced consonant pairs

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Presentation

Audio [05:40]

Quiz

Discussion

1. What did you know about the eight voiced and unvoiced consonant pairs in English before beginning this course?
2. If the answer is ‘little’ or ‘nothing’, why do you think this feature of English speech – so crucial for changing sounds in connected speech – is not more widely known?
3. How familiar are you with the 48 sounds of English?

Practice

1. Get familiar with the 48 sounds of English.
2. Practice saying the 8 voiced and unvoiced consonant pairs on slide 8 out loud. What do you notice? Can you feel that they are connected – in fact the same sound – just with two different versions?
3. Practice saying the phrases on slide 9 out loud. In CC connections, try to reduce the unvoiced consonant sounds as much as possible, to draw the attention away from them, and keep it on the preceding stressed vowel sound.
4. Write five more phrases with CC connections, e.g., ‘bad news’, and practice moving forward the first consonant sound, changing it to unvoiced, if necessary: ‘ba tnews’. Make sure the t sound is very light – almost inaudible.
5. Find five examples of consonant sounds moving forward and changing to unvoiced in a real text, e.g., ‘…raised problems’ >> ‘…raise tproblems’. Practice saying the phrases out loud.

Further Study

• The 48 Sounds of English
• The 8 Voiced and Unvoiced Consonant Pairs