Fricatives f and v are labiodental fricative consonants

Fricatives /f/ and /v/ are labio-dental fricative consonants The soft palate is raised, the nasal resonator is shut off. The lower lip makes a light contact with the upper teeth, forming a flat narrowing. The escaping air passes through this narrowing with friction. For /f/ the friction is voiceless, whereas there may be some vocal cord vibration accompaning /v/ according to its position: between voiced sounds, e. g. cover

Word final /v/ assimilates easily to /f/ before a fortis consonant initial in the following word e. g. have to, love to, move forward

Comparison The corresponding Estonian consonants are articulated in very much the same manner. The English /f/ and /v/ are more energetic, especially before /e/ and /ɪ/ Estonian English film efekt veri vein film effect very vain

Avoid replacing /v/ by /w/ vain wane verse worse vest west

Spelling • • • f f/ff - face, afford, leaf ph – phenomenon, photograph, trophy v v – village, heavy, sieve Siobhan /ʃɪ’vɔ: n/ Niamh /ni: v/ /nɪəv/

• Fur and velvet are only for very fine evenings • My favourite food is veal fried in the Viennese fashion • A few viewers found the French film violent • He made a very fast recovery from his awful fever

Approximants /w/ and /j/ have also been called semivowels Two articulators approach each other but the contact is not made. They are phonetically like vowels and phonologically like consonants. • The place of articulation is practically the same as that of /u: / and /i: /. • They are used as consonants: before vowel phonemes with articles a and the /ðə/ e. g. the way the year

• /w/ is a bilabial approximant consonant The soft palate is raised. The lips are rounded and slightly protruded, forming a small narrowing while the back of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate as for /u: /. The phoneme is very short and weak. The tongue and lips immediately move away to the position of the following vowel.

• In Estonian the sound /w/ occurs in the pronunciation of words where /u/ is followed by a vowel : kaua, õue, juua

• Avoid contact between the upper teeth and the lower lip. • Distinction between /v/ and /w/. • Distinction between /u: / and /w/: – lips move more quickly – the opening for air passage is smaller

Swan swam over the sea Swim, swan, swim; Swan swam back again Well swum swan

• /j/ is a palatal approximant consonant The soft palate is raised. The middle of the tongue is held against the hard palate at about the same height as in pronouncing the vowel /i: /, forming a narrowing for air stream. The air passes with no friction. /j/ is very short and weak.

• Estonian /j/ is prepalatal, English /j/ is palatal • English /j/ is slightly more retracted • Estonian jõulud jalg joon jänki • English yeoman yard yawn yankee

Spelling /w/ w at the beginning - word, win, wait o once, one q + u (kw) quite, equus, question BUT: queue g +u sanguine, penguine oi in French loans: sangfroid /sɒηˈfrwɑ: / Silent w before r – write, wryly, wrap, wrath, Wroxham /rɒksəm/ /j/ y at the beginning – yard, yiest, yacht consonant+ u(e) – continue, statue, deputy, duty

Assimilation of /d/ or /t/ +/j/ sounds into /ʤ/ or /ʧ/ d + j did you /dɪʤə/ module /mɒʤu: l/ t + j congratulate /kəηˈgræʧʊleɪt/ what you. . . /wɒʧə/ got you /gɒʧə/

Fricatives /h/, /θ/ and /ð/ • /h/ is a glottal fricative consonant • The place of articulation is glottis, the narrowing that produces the friction noise is between the vocal cords • /h/ always has the quality of the vowel that it precedes. • Phonetically /h/ is a voiceless vowel with the quality of the voiced vowel that follows it. • Phonologically it is a consonant: found before vowels

• Silent h • Hour, honour, heir, exhaust, exhilarate, exhibit, vehicle, vehement, Buckingham, Birmingham, Nottingham, Beckham

• /θ/ and /ð/ are dental fricative consonants • The tongue is placed inside the teeth with the tip touching the inside of the lower front teeth and the blade touching the inside of the upper teeth. The air escapes through the gaps between the tongue and the teeth. /θ/ is voiceless and fortis and /ð/is voiced and lenis.

Spelling • In both voiced and voiceless versions the most common spelling is th • BUT: Thames, Thomas, thyme

• Just think of the things we’ll do on Thursday if nothing else turns up • I’d rather not wear this leather jacket although the weather is cold

Compare the sounds /θ/ and /f/ three thirst thread thrill - free first Fred frill hearth Ruth death thaw - half roof deaf four

/θ/ and /t/ thin thank thick three theme - tin tank tick free team heath sheath fourth path north - heat sheet fort part nought

/ð/ and /d/ there then than though - dare - den - Dan - dough breathe - breed worthy - worthy lather - ladder