The Sounds

The Sounds Chart document presents the sounds in the order of their appearance. The document contains the following information for each sound:

• A brief description of the sound – symbol and pronunciation

• Whether it is a continuous or non-continuous sound

• Whether it is a whispered or voiced sound

The simplest way for you to figure out a sound, is to pronounce a word that ends with that sound, and say it loudly and slowly. For instance, to figure out how to say the sound “nnn” in isolation, say the word “man” very slowly, holding each sound for at least one second. The way you say the “nnn” sound in the word “man” is the way you should be saying the sound in isolation too.

Please note that you do NOT say “mmmmaaaannnnih” or “mmmmaaaannnnuh”. Therefore, you should NOT say “nnnnih” or “nnnnuh” while pronouncing the sound in isolation. You should say a pure “nnnn” with no additional sound attached to the end of it.

As another example, to figure out how to say the “t” sound, say the word “mat” slowly and loudly. Note here that you CANNOT hold the “t” sound – it occurs quickly and ends abruptly, unlike the “ssss” sound, the “ffff” sound or the “mmmm” sounds, which can be held for a long time. Again, please also note that you do NOT add an additional sound at the end of the “t”. As in the example above, you do not say “mmmmaaaattttih” or “mmmmaaaattttuh”, so you also do not say “tuh” or “tih” when you pronounce the sound in isolation.