why does s sounds like /s/ in "cats "& like /z/ in "fans"?

Answer 1

Because the creator of the English language was a rebel. They loved to make rules so they could be broken. There really is not a good answer that will help you recognize when to use the /s/ and when to use the /z/, unfortunately. It just takes a lot of listening and speaking.

I repeated both words several times, and couldn't even really tell much difference in the way I pronounce them. I had to really think about it! I don't know that I would notice if they were interchanged, but tried myself and couldn't. Maybe it has to do with the way English speakers tongues have developed to work. Sort of like no one can roll on an "r" quite as well as a Frenchman (or Spaniard - different type of roll) without a ton of practice.

They have found that children's mouths develop ability according to their language. There are some sounds in the African languages that non-native speakers have a near impossible time duplicating because their mouths didn't develop making those sounds. It was an interesting show I saw on PBS.

Answer 2

Basically, all English speech sounds are considered either voiced or unvoiced. Voiced sounds are ones that cause your vocal cords to vibrate, and unvoiced ones do not. Also, most sounds have a "sister sound" that it made the same way, but with the difference being whether the sound is voiced or unvoiced. One example is "k" and "g." Everything about the two sounds is the same (where your tongue and lips go, for example), except if you put your finger on your throat when you make the sound "k" you can't feel vibrations and with "g" you do. Anyway, words that end with a voiced sound have an "s" that sounds like "z" at the end, and words that end with an unvoiced sound have an "s" that sounds like an "s" at the end. Vowels are all considered voiced sounds. Hope that wasn't too confusing, lol.

Answer 3

In general, [s] following an unvoiced consonant, like [p], [t], [k], will be sounded /s/; when following a voiced consonant, like [b], [d], [g], it will be sounded /z/.

Someone said that /s/ and /z/ are allophones of the same phoneme: this is not true for English because the two sounds have phonemic significance: the words 'bus' and buzz' or 'braced' and 'brazed', for example. What was said is true of Spanish, where the [s] is pronounced /z/ in proximity to certain consonants, e.g. 'mismo' is pronounced /mizmo/ rather than /mismo/ because of the voiced [m] following the [s].

Answer 4

/s/ and /z/ are allophones of phoneme /s/ in the plural-forming ending -s.
n in fans is a sonorant consonant and it's voiced and you can't say /s/ sound which is voiceless and constrictive.
t in cats is voiceless and plosive, so you should use /s/ after it, as /s/ is also voiceless.

the thing is in the combination of similar types of sounds. that's the phonetics of English language.

Answer 5

Natalie V is almost right. [s] and [z] are allophones of the plural marker /z/. It is pronounced as voiceless [s] after voiceless consonants, as in "cats", and it is pronounced as voiced [z] everywhere else: "fans," "fees," "hands".

So it's analyzed as /z/ because that's its realization in most environments. But it's always *written* as "s".

Answer 6

It's one of those things in English that just happen to be that way. I think it has something to do with the consonant before it, being either hard like a t or soft like an n.

Answer 7

I would imagine the answer is because of the letters that come before both words. "cats" soulds like /s/ because of the "T", and "fans" the s sound like /z/ because of the "N". consider:

-Bands
-Hands
-Lands
-Trans
etc.

I would have to say that it would really just depend of the consenant being "hard" or soft".

Answer 8

I think that must be psychological on your part, because I've only ever heard it as 's' in both words.

Answer 9

actually they should both sound like an S -> maybe you have just learnt it in an improper way !! ???

Answer 10

the n