Linking two consonants/diphthongs ???

Question

Dear allI am having some pronunciation problems.1. When saying some words like "Image Shack", do we make any linking between the /dz/ (last diphthong of "Image") and /sh/ (first diphthong of "Shack"), or do we just pronounce the two words "Image" and "Shack" separately? Likewise, do we make any linking between /sh/ of "fish" and /s/ of "sauce" in "fish-sauce"? And if we need to make such a linking, how to make it correctly?2. Do you know of any website that has more materials on such issues?Thank you in advance.

Verade · Accepted Answer

Dear Tod, welcome to the forum!
Yes, these are linked. But I'm not familiar with resources.

Perhaps you will have better luck getting a reply if you do not post additional "could anyone give me an answer" messages. That way your original post wil stay in the "unanswered" list; now I happened to find it in the "active" list, which I rarely read since I think the person has received an answer already. Good luck!

Buddhaheart · Answer

The soft sound of the English consonant <g> is pronounced as /dz/ (The IPA symbol would have the 'z' as a yogh) as in your example ‘image’. This is not considered a diphthong. A diphthong is a sequence of 2 perceptibly different VOWEL sounds or a vowel and a glide in a syllable. There’re traditionally 8 diphthongs & 5 triphthongs in the English language. For example, the long sound of <a> (/eI/ where the capaital 'I' should be a small capital 'I')) and of long <i> (/aI/ where the capaital 'I' should be a small capital 'I') are diphthongs. Again ‘sh’ is not a diphthong but a consonant blend represented by the sound called esh in IPA) as in your example ‘shack’.

The phenomenon of linking in speech is well-known. I can’t comment on the examples you cited. I pronounce all of the consonants <g>, <sh> and <s> in careful speech in your examples. I’m sure some don’t in rapid speech. I haven’t done any research on the website to answer your Q.2. I’m interested and I’ll when I have time.

Anonymous · Answer

Are you learning English?

Both ways are correct in their own regards. It is phonetically correct to pronounce each diphthong separately, but native speakers don't. Therefore, if you aim to blend in, practice collaborating the diphthongs.

CalifJim · Answer

I don't know exactly what you mean by linking. You pronounce the two words separately, but without stopping between them, if that's what you mean. I would call it more of a transition than a link, but perhaps the two are the same.

The "...ge sh..." of "image shack" has d + zh + sh. The sh is just a devoiced zh, so it should be fairly easy to make the transition. It's the same principle that you use in a transition from z to s or from v to f. (He has six; you have four.) Your lip position and tongue position remain the same through those transitions. Spend less time on the first of the two so that it sounds like the sh sound starts quite soon after the zh. If you do it right, you will almost get a d + sh without the zh, but the zh will be there very briefly.

"fish sauce" is different. Both sh and s are unvoiced, so you have to move your lips and tongue a little to make that transition. But here again, you "slight" the first sound a little bit and "rush" to the second.

Note that if both sounds are the same, don't stop. Make the two into one sound without any break.

Swiss steak = swissteak -- never swissuhsteak or swiss steak.

Sorry, I don't have a website to recommend.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

sh is not a blend it is a digraph!

Linking two consonants/diphthongs ???

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