I'm wondering how to pronounce these kind of words:
- words
- birds
I've tried to pronounce both /d/ and /z/ sound but it's really hard for me.
I noticed some of samples in dictionaries and it seems like they almost omit the /d/ sound.
I'm wondering how to pronounce these kind of words:
- words
- birds
I've tried to pronounce both /d/ and /z/ sound but it's really hard for me.
I noticed some of samples in dictionaries and it seems like they almost omit the /d/ sound.
The plural suffix -(e)s is typically pronounced in one of three ways:
The /d/ sound is a voiced sound, and it's not a sibilant. So, following /d/ the plural suffix is pronounced /z/. Birds and words are pronounced /bɜrdz/ and /wɜrdz/ respectively.
Some words change form before the plural suffix. For example, leaf /liːf/ becomes leaves /liːvz/ rather than *leafs /liːfs/. In these cases, the pronunciation of the plural suffix is based on the changed form, not the basic form.
In English, if a voiced consonant occurs at the end of a syllable,
Any other consonant in the same cluster is voiced (hence, /ridz/)
The preceding vowel gets lengthened. To many listeners, the length distinction is more important than the voicing distinction. So my practical advice, if you find /dz/ hard, is to exaggerate the vowel length when you communicate: /riiids/ will usually be heard as /ridz/.