Your sound map

Sound group 1

Stops and affricates

Control complete airflow closures and clean releases, then combine stops with fricative releases.

8 sounds

1. /p/ The /p/ sound Close your lips and release a small puff of air, as in pen.
2. /b/ The /b/ sound Coordinate lip closure and voicing for a strong /b/ release.
3. /t/ The /t/ sound Place the tongue accurately for a controlled voiceless release.
4. /d/ The /d/ sound Add steady voicing to the alveolar stop position.
5. /k/ The /k/ sound Release a voiceless stop from the back of the mouth.
6. /ɡ/ The /ɡ/ sound Combine a back-of-mouth closure with clear voicing.
7. /tʃ/ The /tʃ/ sound Join a stop and a short hiss into one voiceless sound.
8. /dʒ/ The /dʒ/ sound Add voicing to a smooth stop-plus-friction release.

Sound group 2

Fricatives

Shape narrow airflow channels and control voicing without stopping the breath completely.

9 sounds

1. /f/ The /f/ sound Send quiet friction between the lower lip and upper teeth.
2. /v/ The /v/ sound Keep labiodental friction voiced from beginning to end.
3. /θ/ The /θ/ sound Guide unvoiced air past the tongue tip for the sound in think.
4. /ð/ The /ð/ sound Add voicing to the dental airflow used in this and mother.
5. /s/ The /s/ sound Create a narrow central stream of voiceless air.
6. /z/ The /z/ sound Keep a focused alveolar hiss while voicing steadily.
7. /ʃ/ The /ʃ/ sound Round the lips and move the hiss farther back for the sound in she.
8. /ʒ/ The /ʒ/ sound Add voicing to the soft postalveolar friction in vision.
9. /h/ The /h/ sound Release an open, voiceless breath before the vowel.

Sound group 3

Nasals and approximants

Direct sound through the nose or shape smooth, vowel-like consonant movement.

7 sounds

1. /m/ The /m/ sound Keep the lips closed while voiced air resonates through the nose.
2. /n/ The /n/ sound Hold the tongue at the alveolar ridge and send voiced air through the nose.
3. /ŋ/ The /ŋ/ sound Create nasal resonance with a back-of-mouth closure.
4. /l/ The /l/ sound Let voiced air move around the sides of the tongue.
5. /ɹ/ The /ɹ/ sound Shape a smooth American /ɹ/ without touching the roof of the mouth.
6. /j/ The /j/ sound Glide quickly from a high front tongue position into the vowel.
7. /w/ The /w/ sound Round the lips and glide from a high back position into the vowel.

Sound group 4

Front and central vowels

Control tongue height, tongue advancement, jaw opening, and vowel reduction in stressed and unstressed syllables.

8 sounds

1. /i/ The /i/ sound Hold a high front vowel with gentle lip spreading.
2. /ɪ/ The /ɪ/ sound Use a relaxed high-front vowel for sit and ship.
3. /ɛ/ The /ɛ/ sound Open the jaw slightly for the mid-front vowel in bed.
4. /æ/ The /æ/ sound Open the mouth widely for the front vowel in cat.
5. /ʌ/ The /ʌ/ sound Use a relaxed central vowel in stressed words such as cup.
6. /ə/ The /ə/ sound Reduce unstressed syllables to English’s most common neutral vowel.
7. /ɝ/ The /ɝ/ sound Build the stressed American r-colored vowel in bird and work.
8. /ɚ/ The /ɚ/ sound Use a quick reduced r-colored vowel in unstressed endings.

Sound group 5

Back vowels

Coordinate jaw opening, tongue retraction, and lip rounding for the core back-vowel contrasts.

4 sounds

1. /ɑ/ The /ɑ/ sound Open the jaw and lower the back of the tongue for hot and father.
2. /ɔ/ The /ɔ/ sound Round the lips for the vowel in thought, while respecting accent variation.
3. /ʊ/ The /ʊ/ sound Use relaxed rounding for the short vowel in book and good.
4. /u/ The /u/ sound Hold a high back vowel with firm but comfortable rounding.

Sound group 6

Diphthongs

Move smoothly between two vowel positions inside one syllable without breaking the sound.

5 sounds

1. /eɪ/ The /eɪ/ sound Glide upward and forward through the vowel in day and name.
2. /aɪ/ The /aɪ/ sound Move from an open center toward a high-front finish in my and time.
3. /ɔɪ/ The /ɔɪ/ sound Move from a rounded back vowel toward a high-front finish.
4. /aʊ/ The /aʊ/ sound Close and round the mouth through the vowel in now and house.
5. /oʊ/ The /oʊ/ sound Glide upward through a rounded back vowel in go and home.