Alveolar fricatives /s/ and /z/

 

Alveolar fricatives /s/ and /z/

/s/ and /z/ are called alveolar fricatives since they are produced near the alveolar ridge. /s/ is unvoiced and is the counterpart to the voiced /z/. To pronounce /s/ and /z/, the tip of the tongue approaches the alveolar ridge but doesn't quite touch it. The opening is wide enough for airflow to continue, but narrow enough for the escaping air to become turbulent, hence the hissing sound.

/s/, /z/ minimal pairs

fleece fleas 

peace P's 

ace A's 

force fours 

Pence pens 

advice advise 

fussy fuzzy 

pierce peers 

apiece appease 

gross grows 

place plays 

arse R's 

Guinness guineas 

precedent president 

ass as 

hearse hers 

purse purrs 

basis basses 

hence hens 

race raise 

Bruce brews 

hiss his 

rice rise 

bus buzz 

case K's 

ice eyes 

sap zap 

cease seize 

Joyce joys 

sauce saws 

lace lays 

countess counties

lice lies 

sink zinc 

decease disease 

loose lose 

sip zip 

device devise 

Miss Ms 

sown zone 

dice dies 

spice spies 

tense tens 

else L's

muscle muzzle 

trace trays 

once ones 

treatise treaties 

face phase 

pace pays 

false falls 

These are minimal pair sentences with /s/ and /z/.

We saw the place. /s/

We saw the plays. /z/

They made peace. /s/

They made peas. /z/

The price was $100. /s/

The prize was $100. /z/

Did you see the racer? /s/

Did you see the razor? /z/

He lost the race. /s/

He lost the raise. /z/

/s/ and /z/ as grammar particle sounds 

/s/ and /z/ can function as grammar particle sounds. That is, we need to add the extra /s/ or /z/ sound at the end of words for the plural, like ‘books’ or ‘beds’, and for the third person simple present verb tense like ‘she eats’ and ‘he reads.’ In the section on voicing, we learned how to pronounce the grammar particle sounds.