Understanding the SH+DJ Consonants

The sh and dj consonant sounds. These sounds are paired together because they take the same mouth position. SH is unvoiced, meaning, you let only air pass through your mouth. DJ is voiced, meaning, you make a sound with your vocal cords. Sh, dj. The position. The corners of the lips come in, sh, which brings the lips somewhat away from the face. The tongue raises in the mid-center. It doesn't touch the roof of the mouth, but the sides of the tongue touch the top teeth, on the inside and under. The tip of the tongue comes back down and it's behind the bottom teeth, but it's not touching. It's a little further back.

Here we see the sh/dj sound on the right compared with the mouth at rest on the left. The corners of the lips do come in, but rather than rounding, the lips come away from the face, so more of the teeth are exposed. Here, parts of the mouth are drawn in. The soft palate is raised for these sounds. The tongue reaches up towards the roof of the mouth without touching. The tip of the tongue comes back down behind the teeth, which are closed, but it's a little too far back to be touching. Sample words: ship/measure, dish/decision, wash/mirage. Sample sentence: She decided to get a beige bed spread with chic striped sheets. Now you will see this sentence both straight on and from an angle so you can really study how the mouth makes these sounds.

She, lips take the SH position, corners somewhat in but lips away from the face. Teeth closed. Made, lips together for the M. Tongue through the teeth for the TH, the decision. Tongue up and teeth closed for the D sound. Decision, here's the dj mouth position. To get, T pronounced as a D here. Tongue up to make that D. A beige, lips together for the B, and it ends in the voiced dj sound. Teeth together, and note the lip position. Lips together for the B, bedspread. Tongue for the D, teeth together for the S, lips together for the P. Spread. Tongue up again for the D. With, lips form the W sound, tongue through the teeth for the TH. Chic, SH sound. Teeth together and the SH lip position. Striped, teeth together for the S, lips take the R position. Lips together for the P. And sheets, with the SH sound, teeth together, lips away from the face.

And now from an angle. She, teeth together and lips out away from the face. Made, lips together for the M. The, tongue through the teeth for the TH and to the roof of the mouth for the D sound. Teeth together for the S, decision. Here is the voiced dj mouth position. To get a, all unstressed and quick words. Beige, lips together for the B, and here again the voiced dj mouth position. Lips together for the B in bedspread, 'eh' as in 'bed' vowel, tongue up for the D. Teeth together for the S and lips together for the P. Spread, tongue up for the D. With, lips form the tight W. Chic, the sh, SH mouth position. Striped, teeth together and tongue forward to make the S. There's the R position in the lips. Lips together for the P. Sheets, the SH mouth position, 'ee' as in 'she' vowel, corners of the lips pull back, and the teeth together for the TS sound.