![]() ![]() You may know this word because it’s a common ingredient in processed foods. Xanthan. Z sound. Xenophile. Someone who loves foreign cultures, people, or customs. Z sound. Xenophile. This is X at the beginning of a word.Īt the end of a word, it can also be a Z sound. What are the other two pronunciations of the letter X? The word ‘except’. The S sound starts the stressed syllable. Except. Okay, so those are the two most common pronunciations. You know what I find interesting about these two pronunciations is that there’s a syllable break between the two sounds that this one letter X makes. Exam. Exam. So the Z sound starts the stressed syllable. Exam. G and Z. Those are the voice versions of K and S so everything about the position is the same, but rather than releasing air, ksss, ksss, you release a voiced sound, gzz, gzzz, gzzz. Exam. Exam. ![]() What sounds are you hearing now? Exam. I’ll pronounce it slowly. Eeggggg– zzz– eggzzaam. The letter X still represents two sounds here. Kksss. Kksss. Kksss. Kksss. Kksss. Kksss. Let’s put it into the word ‘extra’ slowly. Extra. Extra. That’s the unvoiced pronunciation.īut there’s also a voiced pronunciation like in the word ‘exam’. Let air build up and release it by bringing the back of the tongue down. Front of the mouth is in position for the S, and bring the back of the tongue up to the soft palate. So when you pull your tongue down in the back, the front of your tongue, the front of your mouth is already in position for the S sound. Ekkkksss- So when you release the air, release the tongue, everything’s ready to go for the S and the S sound is made.įor the S, the teeth are together and the tip of the tongue is either pressing the back of the bottom front teeth, or it can point up a little bit. Sssss. Sssss. Now, rather than pulling down the tongue by itself, ekk– kk– kk– Rather than making that full K sound, you instead go right into the S. Ekk– sss- ksss. You lift the back of the tongue to the soft palate. Ekk– And that cuts off of the air, it cuts off the sound. Did you hear how my voice abruptly stopped? Ek– It wasn’t ehh– That’s because of the K. Now we don’t pronounce them with the separation. K and S. That’s the unvoiced version of this pronunciation. Extra. ![]() In each of these words, the letter X makes two different sounds. The word extra. Before I tell you what sounds are there, I want you to listen and see if you can guess. Extra. Extra. Now, I’m going to slow it down and exaggerate. Extra. Extra. Extra. Extra. Kkk. Ssss. First, we’ll go over those pronunciations, then we’ll go over the most common words with the letter X and which pronunciation those words have.įirst, let’s go over the two most common pronunciations. There are four different ways this letter can be pronounced. We have the letter X but let’s take a look at what sounds that letter actually represents. You’ve seen the letter X, but did you know there’s no X sound in American English? Confusing, right? In this video, you’re going to learn the different sounds we use to pronounce the letter X. So you’ll feel totally comfortable pronouncing words with this letter.Įvery once in a while, I get a question from someone about the X sound. And I have to say, there is no X sound in American English. I’ll show you lots of examples of each, using vocabulary words (and their IPA) to break down this complicated lesson into easy-to-learn steps. ![]() The American English “X” requires that speakers know and use four specific sounds. YouTube blocked? Click here to see the video. ![]()
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