Lesson 4 Initial Consonants : z, c, s, zh, ch, sh, r
In this lesson, we’ll learn another 7 initial consonants. The vowel “i” added to these initial consonants is not the same as “i”. The sound “i” is a special Chinese vowel that only goes with z, c, s, zh, ch, sh, r. The sound is made when the tip of the tongue and the upper gum or the hard palate form an air channel and let the air out through the channel with vibrating vocal cords.
z (+i)
Unvoiced affricate. The articulators involved in this sound are the tip of the tongue and the back of the upper teeth. It is produced by initially pressing the tip of the tongue against the back of the upper teeth; then quickly moving the tongue tip backward to leave a channel and let the air squeeze out. This sound is similar to the first sound in zero. The only difference is that “z” in zero is a voiced affricate, while Chinese “z” is an unvoiced one.
c (+i)
Unvoiced affricate. The manner of articulation is very similar to the Chinese initial consonant “z”. The only difference is that “z” is an unaspirated unvoiced sound while “c” is an aspirated unvoiced one. Thus, you produce the “c” sound with much more breath. This sound is very similar to the last sound of students.
s (+i)
Unvoiced fricative. The articulators involved are the tip of the tongue and the back of the lower teeth. When producing this sound, let the tip of the tongue touch the back of the lower teeth, at the same time, let the air squeeze out between the surface of the tongue and the upper teeth. This is an unvoiced sound and is the same as the first sound of students.
zh (+i)
Unvoiced affricate. The articulators involved in producing this sound are the back end of the tongue tip and the hard palate. It is produced by initially rolling up the tip of the tongue close to the hard palate, then forcing the air out through the narrow channel between the tongue and the hard palate. No equivalent in English.
ch (+i)
Unvoiced affricate. The method of producing this sound is very similar to the Chinese “zh” except it is an aspirated sound; thus, you must produce this sound with more breath. No English equivalent.
sh (+i)
Unvoiced fricative. The articulators involved in producing this sound are the back end of the tongue tip and the hard palate. The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of the tongue very close to the hard palate without totally blocking the area and letting the air squeeze out through the channel. No equivalent in English.
The major difference in the pronunciation of the two groups of zh, ch, sh and z, c, s is that zh, ch, sh are retroflex sound (which requires the rolling up of the tongue when producing them) while z, c, s are not.
r (+i)
Voiced fricative. The articulators involved in producing this sound are the tip of the tongue and the front end of the hard palate. The sound is produced by rolling up the tip of tongue toward the front end of the hard palate. Then let the tongue tip touch the hard palate lightly. Finally, let the air squeeze out between the tongue tip and the hard palate while vibrating the vocal cords.
Tongue Twister
Four and Ten 四(sì)和(hé)十(shí)
Four is four, 四(sì)是(shì)四(sì)，
And ten is ten, 十(shí)是(shì)十(shí)，
Four plus ten equals fourteen, 四(sì)加(jiā)十(shí)是(shì)十(shí)四(sì)，
And four times ten is forty, 四(sì)乘(chéng)十(shí)是(shì)四(sì)十(shí)，
Forty plus four is forty-four. 四(sì)十(shí)加(jiā)四(sì)是(shì)四(sì)十(shí)四(sì)。
