How is S pronounced in word ends?

Question

Sometimes, s sound z. for example, cheese. (We take z for this)
HOw are pluralized nouns pronounced? For example, boys. How is the s pronounced here.

What are the rules for all of these?
Thanks...

Answer 1

If the final "s" (or -se) is part of the word's ROOT there is no rule -- you simply have to know the word itself. Thus "cheese" and "lose" use the voice (the /z/ sound), but "geese"/"goose", "house", etc. all use the /s/ sound (without the voice).

BUT when the -s is NOT part of the root, but added to it (that is, for plural and possessive endings, or for singular verb forms), there IS a decent rule. Here it is:

1) If the sound immediately preceding the -s uses the voice, then you voice the "s", that is, you use the /z/ sound. This is so for many consonants and ALL vowels** Thus for every noun or verb that adds an "-es" the voice is used (so you have /z/).

Examples: boos, dresses, hears, tells, leads

** that is, assuming the consonant or vowel is pronounced; for times when they are silent, see note (c) below

2) If the preceding sound does NOT use the voice, then neither does the 's'. So you pronounce it with the simple /s/ sound.

Examples: hits, hips, lacks, myths

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That's the basic rule. Here's some explanation, especially for things that look like exceptions.

Ordinarily this all means, if the preceding LETTER is a vowel or one of the following consonants, you will usually pronounce the 's' as a /z/:
b, d, g, l, m, n, r, v

If the preceding letter is one of THESE consonants you will not use the voice, that is, you'll say /s/.
c/ck, f, p, t, (th), gh (when pronounced as /f/, as in 'cough', 'laugh')


Notes:

a) Of course, when you are adding these endings, the preceding letters cannot itself be an s, or one of its close relatives (z, sh, ch). By rule you have to add an e [making the ending '-es'] and the 's' is voiced along with the added vowel.

b) For the combination "th" it all depends on the word -- in some words "th" is pronounced with the voice ("there", "smooth"), in others without the voice ("thimble", "myth"). But in fact "th" at the end of a root is mostly pronounced without the voice; if the voice is to be used the word will most often end with "-the".

c) The key is really the last SOUND of the root. So if the final letter of the root is not pronounced at all, look at the letter before that. Examples: "hope" > "hopes" (/s/ after the /p/ sound), "curve" > "curves" (/z/ after the /v/ sound); "bough" [of a tree, pronounced to rhyme with 'cow'] > "boughs" (/z/ after the vowel sound /ow/).

H at the end of a root is silent (so the last sound of "shah" is the /a/; the added -s will be voiced). W or Y at the end of words are VOWELS, so of course the s is voiced after them. (A final W in English always follows another vowel, forming a compound vowel sound called a 'diphthong': -aw, -ew, -ow. Y may be a vowel by itself [my, sky] or part of a diphthong [toy, bay].)

Answer 2

Usually the S at the end of a word, in English, is pronounced like a Z, unless it's a foreign word that naturally ends with an S, which is very rare. (The only example I can think of right now is the name 'Carlos' where it is still pronounced as an S at the end because it is a foreign word; but if you were tacking on an English possessive -- Carlos's -- you would say it as 'Carlosiz.')

Usually there's a double-S at the end of the word when it still is to be pronounced like an S (as in 'albatross' or 'grass'.) The rest of the time it is usually said like a Z.

Answer 3

There is not, as such, a grammatic rule but it is to do with tongue positioning. For example with d and y the tongue is pushed back and away from the palate so a z sound is easier for the tounge. With harder consonants like t the toungue more naturally rises upwards to get an s sound. It's difficult to explain over the net but explains other parts of the language like why we use adjective phrases to replace the adverb form of "friendly" which is "friendlily."

Answer 4

I have to say there aren't specific rules for this but pronounciation of "S" in this reguard does end like a Z. Take this quiz as I believe it will greatly increase your knowledge of this subject. The quiz can be found at http://club.telepolis.com/phonetics/phoneticzsiz.html . It will tell you if you are right or wrong as well.

English can be a very hard language if you let it get to you. Just don't read too much into it. Let it flow. Good Luck!

Answer 5

I tried searching but couldn't find anything. You could type the names into Google Translate and see how they come out. You should decide the pronunciation if you create the words, though. By the way I'd like to read it once you're finished--it sounds interesting--if you could send it to me?

Answer 6

like a z