Consonant Sound / j / as in "yes" - American English Pronunciation
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- čas přidán 4. 07. 2024
- Have a look at these words: "you," "yes," "excuse," "few," and "use." Can you guess what they have in common? Two things, actually. First, these are the most common English words. Second, they all have the /j/ sound. This sound can be tricky in both pronunciation and spelling. Well, most American sounds are tricky, and all of them are important for your American accent.
Watch this video to find out when and how to pronounce the /j/ consonant and avoid typical mistakes. You'll practice it with two pronunciation exercises. As always, they are recorded by a professional speech therapist.
Check out our website: soundsamerican.net/
Quick Links:
• Consonant sound /j/, as in "yes:" 00:00
• Pronunciation experiment: 0:45
• Definition of glide sounds: 02:15
• How to pronounce the /j/ sound: 02:39
• Typical mistakes: 03:50
• Pronunciation exercise 1: 05:30
• Pronunciation exercise 2: 07:36
• Spelling for the /j/ sound: 09:35
Related Videos:
#AmericanPronunciation #ConsonantSounds #GlideSounds
► Consonant Sound /w/ as in "way"
• Consonant Sound / w / ...
► Consonant Sound /j/ as in "yes" - this video
[THIS VIDEO HAS ENGLISH, VIETNAMESE, AND PORTUGUESE SUBTITLES]
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TRANSCRIPT
Hello there! This is the "Sounds American" channel.
In this video, we're going to talk about the American consonant sound /j/, as in the word "yes."
You can also hear this sound in words like "year," "your," "hue" or "fury."
We'll be using a special phonetic symbol - /j/ - for this sound.
Excuse us for stating the obvious, but remember, this is not the letter 'j' ;)
Let's conduct a little pronunciation experiment!
Your task is to pronounce these four words without the /j/ sound.
As a result, you should get four new words.
Let's do it.
OK, let's see what we've got.
• ear /ɪr/
• or /ɔr/
• who /hu/
• furry /ˈfɝ·i/
Awesome!
As you can see, these new words are pronounced almost the same as the previous ones. The only difference is that they don't have the /j/ sound.
Obviously, the /j/ is kind of a big deal.
It always occurs before vowel sounds and that's why many people think that it's part of a vowel.
That's not quite correct.
The /j/ is pronounced without blocking the airstream which makes it a vowel.
However, the /j/ doesn't form a syllable and that makes it a consonant. For the sake of compromise, you can call the /j/ a semi-vowel.
There's something else you should know about this sound.
The /j/ belongs to the category of consonants that are called the "glides".
Here's how they are defined:
"A glide is a sound that is made with the air flowing over the tongue when it leaves the mouth."
OK. This looks like the perfect moment to find out how to make this sound.
Slightly open your mouth and leave your lips in a neutral position.
Now, let's put your tongue in the correct position for this sound.
Arch your tongue and raise it to the roof of your mouth. The tip of your tongue should be lowered behind your bottom front teeth.
Remember, even though the /j/ is a consonant, it's pronounced like a vowel. So, you should feel the air gliding over your tongue: /j/
The /j/ is a voiced sound, so don't forget to add your voice.
Now, let's try saying it: /j/, /j/, /j/.
Here are a few typical mistakes that people make when pronouncing this sound.
1. Many non-native English speakers confuse the /j/ and the /dʒ/ sounds. This happens because in some languages the letter 'y' is pronounced as the /dʒ/ sound.
As a result, this often leads to misunderstandings.
Remember, in English, the letter 'y' is pronounced as the /j/ sound when it occurs before vowels. You should never pronounce it as the /dʒ/ consonant.
2. Another typical mistake is that some non-native speakers drop the /j/ sound, especially when it occurs at the beginning of words. This happens mostly because they don't have this consonant in their native languages and therefore it's hard for them to recognize it in English.
As a result, this completely changes the meanings of the words.
In English, the /j/ consonant is found at the beginning of many common words. Do your best to practice words with this sound as often as possible to learn to recognize and pronounce it correctly.
[Pronunciation exercise 1]
We'll start with the /j/ sound represented by the letter 'y'.
• yolk
• your
• yard
• yarn
• yesterday
• canyon
• yell
• young
• yogurt
• yourself
• lawyer
• yet
• backyard
• yes
• youth
• yellow
• year
• you
• beyond
• CZcams
[Pronunciation exercise 2]
Next, we'll practice words with the /j/ sound represented by the letters 'u' and 'i'.
• value
• million
• huge
• computer
•union
• junior
• opinion
• human
• community
• cute
• humor
• onion
• curious
• menu
• uniform
• music
• unit
• view
• usual
• figure
Let's continue.
You're done! Congratulations!
🎉Great news!🎉 Our brand new Sounds American website is up and running!🚀🎊 There's lots of content on pronunciation.🤓You can start with the article about the /j/ sound: soundsamerican.net/article/consonant_sound_yod_as_in_yes
Native English speaker here: I had no idea that the letter 'U' was the common source of the /j/ sound. Thanks for the informative video.
Yes, These lessons will make us experts, Thanks very much
I think this sound is hard. But I love it. I’ll study over again and again till I’m used to it. I love your channel. Thank you so much for doing this. It helps me the most because I’ve been learning an American accent for almost 2 years. I can’t master it just yet but I will for sure because your channel is very very good and very detailed than the others . I love your channel. Even I live in the USA for years and I have a great job in the medical field. I learn to teach my Thai fellows who need to speak English well like me.
Loveee this a lot.
+ English with ดิอร สอนน้องท่องโลก Thanks a lot for your feedback. We're very glad to hear that our videos are so helpful!
Finally, you updated the new video. Thank you so much.
+panny zhang You're welcome.
I love this lesson, you can't believe It helps me too much
Great explanation! It helped me a lot to understand. Thank you so much!
these lessons are the best
Thank you so much! I've been waiting so long for this video.
+Andres F CV You're welcome! Thanks for waiting :).
oh, it becomes easier with the way that channel made. Wonderful!
This is new to me. I've always taught that y has a sound when used as a consonant and a different sound when used as a vowel. Not that it is a semivowel. Good explanation, although rather lengthy.
Outstanding job that you always do in every single video. God bless you. You are a very helpful person
Thank you! Glad you like our videos!
A million of Thanks... You are the best in this area... May the Lord bless you for this great passion to teacher... You have been my helpful....
+Fernelly Jor You're welcome!
Thanks alot!
most technical video I've seen on this channel. 🏅🏅🏅
😀👋
Thanks a lot
great as always thanks a lot!!
+Norma Quesada Glad you liked it!😊👋
I love the phonetic now because of you tks!
Thanks for the lessons
Any time! :)
Thank you for these kind of videos I've learned a lot
Exelente, gracias.
Glad you liked it!
Thank You, it help me very much
You're welcome!
Thank you so much. This is what I'm waiting for.
+Mạnh Thế Nguyễn You're welcome!
Thanks! I am ready for my Spelling Exam!!!!
Great video
I should be sleeping but I'm watching videos about how to pronounce my own language.
Lol
😂😂
😂😂😂
It’s 4:36am in the Pacific Northwest, & I’m wondering, did the King James Bible, use the word ‘j’, but pronounced it with a y, and nobody told the modern church?
Bro, I'm learning the language, and I don't understand a lot of words because they speak so fast
I've heard that sometimes Russian language sounds like a back to front speech for English ear. Now I've come up with idea that it can be because of in Russian /j/ sound often comes at the ends of the words)) I've never heard such thing in English)) Thanks for your job!
+Денис Василевский 😊 You're welcome!
Thank you it is a marvelous class!
Glad you liked it!
thank
you very much!
You're welcome!
thank you very much this video it´s very helpfull.
This channel is the best!
Thank you!
The best channel of pronunciation ever!!!!!!
You're a legend.
Amazing material, awesome work! Thank you. I really appreciate it.
Glad you liked it!
@@SoundsAmerican Your contribution to the community is valuable. I am do grateful for this resource.
Te amo! Great job ❤
Thank you so much
You're welcome!😊👋
Very good
Thank you sir!💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐💐!
+sunder verma You're welcome!
I love it
is the best video , thanks bro
+ Daniel Riaño🤗👋
I just completed the whole series
Thanks you so so much
Much love from kurdstan 💚☀️❤️
Hope you enjoyed it!
Buen video, gracias
Very good 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thank you! 😃
This is much much much better really appreciate thanks 🙏 a lot !!!!!!!!!’
No problem 😊
Best video ever ....
👋😀
Great
Thanks a lot for another excellent video lesson in pronouncing American sound....
+Elwin Harahap You're welcome!
I really love your English...
😊🖖
i like this ^^ thank you
👋😄
Thanks for nice video
+Ubaid rehman Glad you liked it! You're welcome!😀👋
Great work 👏
Thank you! Cheers!
Hey! Man.
Pls make A channel name with Sound British. I Desperately need the channel. This method of acquiring of pronunciation is awesome which leads a great contribution in accent training. That's why.🤔
Pls sleep on it and come up with in my favour. please😓
I'm waiting the App!!!!
thnx
It's awesome. 😄 😄👋
+Dominic Montejo Glad you liked it! Stay tuned for our new videos!
Very good 👍😊😊😊😊😊
You got a new sub, sir!
Welcome aboard!
Great thanks for this video i am from Brazil and i study with your videos!
That's great!
kênh rất hay ạ
In Portuguese language there is the glide consonant sound /j/ but we call it a semivowel sound and it's used to form diphthongs and triphthongs.
For example, in the portuguese word Pai which means father the IPA transcription is /paj /.
The english word pie sounds pretty much the same as the portuguese word pai. The IPA transcription for the portuguese word pai is /paj/ and the IPA transcription for the english word pie is /paɪ/. In both words, there are diphthongs. The portuguese diphthong /aj / and the english diphthong /aɪ/ sound quite the same even though the second symbol of the diphthongs are different.
Awesome stuff!
In English, there's a difference in how the /j/ and the /ɪ/ are pronounced. There's probably the difference between the English and the Portuguese sounds too.
in Russian /j/ sound is a soft consonant (our teachers make us remember that at school xD) , and i was really surprised when by Brazilian friends told me that in Portuguese it's a semivowel sound, i was like wtf, how
but i find it kinda interesting and odd at the same time that same sounds could be considered by such different ways in other languages
If all this stuff doesn't make you an expert, we don't know what will?
I have many problems to understand the difference between the/ j / and the /:i /. Someone would be so kind to explain the difference?
Amazing! Now I'm looking forward to the next one. I can't wait. u.u
+Jesus Hagelsieb Glad you liked it. What video are you waiting for? This was the last sound we were to cover.
@@SoundsAmerican What about the "dark" / ɫ /? :D
If you've already finished with the sounds of an American accent, what kind of videos we´re going to watch in the future? :'(
+Jesus Hagelsieb Cat videos?😊 Don't worry, we've planned a lot. Stay tuned!
Dear Ladies and Gents,
Please find below an additional list of word that sound “j” in American English for yourself practice:
1. Yam
2. Yucky
3. Yummy
4. Yoga
5. Yard
6. Yield
7. Yawn
8. Lawyer
9. You'll
10. You'd
11. Europe
12. Unique
13. United
14. U.S.A
15. Utah
16. Using
17. Use
18. Unanimous
19. New York
20. Tortilla
Hope this is helpful for you to improve your American sounds practice…
Elwin
thanks elwin
Congratulations . It's like Spanish 'll'' surprising pronunciation which, btw, is called 'Yeism'
Yep!
great video, as always. My little suggestion... I have found more useful to repeat words of the exercise four times , instead of one. Listening and repeating more times in a row ,it helps me to understand and correct in real time my mistakes
+Diego Saggiorato Of course, it can be more helpful to repeat four or even more times. This is a video, so you can just pause the video at any moment.
@@SoundsAmerican of course I can pause, but I should rewind the video too in order to listen again. I suggest to repeat in the video/app the sequence listen-repeat more times. I use this tip in other platform and I find more useful
+Diego Saggiorato We understand but it'll make our videos four times longer which is not convenient for many people. Especially for those who have limited internet connection. Our general recommendation is to practice sound in a large variety of words.
I've seen many teacher misunderstand the combine consanant between "j" + "u" is the new vovels.
Share this video with your friends, pets and relatives. 😂😂😂
Yes please!
J in finnish is always the j sound. In finnish we have very simple pronunciation system. Each letter has its' own sound, and it cant be anything other. Like:
j = /j/
a = always /ɑ/
e = always /e/
y = always /y/ never /i/ or /j/ same sound as german ü
R in finnish is almost same as french r, but not so hard, like soft /ʀ/
And words are pronouncicated:
Tiikeri
/tiː.ke.ʀi/
Yö
/yø/
Ylivoimainen
/y.li.voi.mɑi.nen/
Äärimmäinen
/æː.ʀim.mæi.nen/
Safiiri
/sɑ.fiː.ʀi/
Myyrä
/myː.ʀæ/
Eksoottinen
/ek.soːt.ti.nen/
Juna
/ju.nɑ/
Kangasmetsä
/kɑŋ.ɡɑs.met.sæ/
Kenkä
/keŋ.kæ/
Helsinki
/hel.siŋ.ki/
Kuumailmapallolentolahjakorttimyyntimiesköhänkään
/kuː.mɑ.il.mɑ.pɑl.lo.len.to.lɑh.jɑ.koʀt.ti.myːn.ti.mies.kø.hæŋ.kæːn/
Can I write down these information for my students and tell them about your channel and application too??
We'd love to if you do! By the way, we always add full transcripts of the video in the video description - check the text right under the title of the video. If you have any questions, please, let us know!
@@SoundsAmerican Thanks alot .. this means so much to me .. I have been trying to write down the information in these wonderful videos of yours to give to my students, but I needed your permission first .. thanks so much .. l'll make sure that every single one of my students subscribe to your channel and download your app because, honestly, your are the best.
Excellent! We haven't released our app yet, but we plan to do it soon. We'll announce the release on this channel.
By the way, we publish weekly posts on our CZcams Community page (link: czcams.com/channels/-MSYk9R94F3TMuKAnQ7dDg.htmlcommunity). Check it out, there's a lot of useful information on phonics that may be interesting for your students too. Tomorrow (on Wednesday) we're going to post a new quiz.
@@SoundsAmerican thanks .. May Allah bless you.
Yeast and east sound very similar,how can I hear the difference?Thank you ,sir!Same question for the hungry and hungary,they are sound similar too.
Love your videos. I wonder if you could create a video comparing the sounds in "yet" &. "jet" / "Yale" & "jail" . Thanks
Thank you for your suggestion!
They just compared it here in this video.
March 15, 2020
Thanks for the explanation. How can I use that sound check with words you use in '6.00'
In this video there's a phrase "There's something you should know about this sound" (between the 2:10 and 2:13) the "you should" part of the phase sounds like "shoshould" or what?
It's actually an assimilation, he said: ...something else you should...., and when the sound [s] meets the sound [j] they both change into a new sound which is: [ʃ]. So instead of saying: ....ɛɫs ju ʃʊd....(else you should), he said: ....ɛɫʃu ʃʊd....
I hope this helped you!
another enlightening video. thank you so much. i need to repeat this series. some sounds are challening. is it normal that your jaw, tongue and throat hurt after doing this practice work for an hour? i feel i need some massage
One hour is a long practice! -) Just don't hurt yourself. :)
Best
*Why didn't you tell anything about the dropation of the "j" sound in American English? I heard how some American English speakers drop this sounds even where it's supposed to be, as in the words "duty", "tutor", "during", "new". Why do some American do this while some don't; and how to know in which words you need to drop the "j" sound and in which you don't?*
+❱ Shadow ❰
Hello there! Thank you for your question! It's a good one.
Well, for us the /j/ is not supposed to be pronounced in those words you mentioned 😊. And the words "do" and "dew" are homophones 😊. It's true for almost all Americans.
The elision of the /j/ in English words is called "yod-dropping." Some American accents still preserve the distinction between the "do" and "dew." If you're interested, you can read about the yod-dropping here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonological_history_of_English_consonant_clusters#Yod-dropping
There's a small map on this page showing the regions in which the distinction between the /ju/ and /u/ is still made.
Hope it helps!
wow! you're awsome american orrr who ever you are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
+ Shubhankar Prasad We're not even from this planet. Greetings, people of Earth! 👽
Why is the /j/ in middle of words like few, new, million sounds the same as /i/ ?
Thank you very much. I am a Spanish learner of English and I need to improve my pronunciation for it not to be so blatantly foreign.
Great! Let us know if you have any questions!
Is there an ETA for the launching of your app? It's been a long time since your fans have asked you about the progress thereof. Thanks!
Sorry,i mean to write so interesting good job
Hi, your video really helps. here, I still not understand the difference in j and ɪ (short e)? would you like to have a mouth video about this?
Thank you!
Thank you for your suggestion!
Even I didn't get the difference
In toungue position ?
Even I need a mouth video on this pls
Great video as usual, just I have a question that is confusing me a lot, in order for me to pronounce words like unit, do I have to move my tonge and start with the y position then move to the n the y again and finish with the t? Because is very daunting to get used to all those tonge movements when you are not a native speaker, any advice about this subject?also I'd like to know if you can make a video about consonant clusters? because I've seen that this is very important and It can help non-native speakers to improve their english quicly.
+natanael manzanillo Thank you for you suggestion, yes, we plan to make videos about consonant clusters.
Yes, to pronounce different sounds in words you have to make all the tongue and lips movements for each sound in sequence. We can recommend starting your practice by selecting just one sound and practice words focusing on this sound only. When you feel that you can pronounce the sound automatically, move to another sound and practice this new sound in words. Follow the same process with other sounds. Eventually, you'll train yourself to pronounce the majority of sounds automatically and notice that it's much easier for your and less daunting. The key is to practice regularly.
Hope it helps!
@@SoundsAmerican yes of course, thank you very much for the advice, I'll give it a try.
Unit (= you-nit or youn-it or you+nit)
The letter Yy sound is NOT the yuh /jə/ but it’s just itself without the schwa. I recommend holding the sound itself longer
Esta sessão é só para lusófonos?
For native spanish speakers this open your mind - ear - mouth!!! El sonido en español no es "LLE" es "IE"
+Andrea González 😀👍
I'm here not for english, but for russian. This sound have in russian
I am here for french xd
What is glide sound and how it produced?
Hi! What’s the difference between the vowel sound /ɪ/ as in the word "hit" and the semi-vowel sound /j/ as in the word "yes"?
Good question! Pronunciation-wise, these two sounds are very much alike. The /ɪ/ is a relaxed vowel sound that is pronounced with your tongue raised very high and pushed to the front of your mouth. The /j/ is pronounced with your tongue raised very high to the roof of your mouth, too, but you don't need to push it to the front.
Thank you very much for your work. If I got it correctly, this sound glides to the position of next vowel, as the consonant sound/h/ does, isn’t it? Are there many words like ‘nEW’ where there is no sound/j/? And what about French words like ‘avenue’ or ‘adieu’ - both pronunciation (with and without /j/) are possible?
This /j/ "glide" or "semivowel" is part of a falling or rising diphthong. And that is always voiced. /h/ is an unvoiced consonant; not a vowel or semivowel. Whether or not "new", "avenue" or "adieu" is diphthongized that is an issue of regional accent.
@@pssilva3973, Thanks for your reply. What is this, a falling/rising diphtong? I suppose /ei/ is rising one, what's the falling?
*Spanish speaker before watching this video*:
"Wait! Are you telling me that the Y is not spelled as a simple I???".
3:35
The Bengali letter 'য' is originally pronounced as 'j' or ya in Sanskrit. But we usually pronounced it as j as in the word joke.
Thanks, that's good to know!
Semi consonants/vowels are confusing. After watching all of your videos, here is my understanding. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
It seems like the final tip/tongue positions of the /i/ is the same as the initial tip/tongue positions of the /j/. Then we can pronounce the "year" as /i(almost no sound) ɪ ɝ/. Can I perceive this way? (I'm aware of the r-colored vowels; sorry about the sloppy notations) And the same for the /u/ and /w/?
Thank you and stay safe.
You're right about the tongue position for the /i/ and /j/ sounds, those two are very similar.
However, the /u/ and /w/ have more differences in pronunciation. For the /u/ sound, you have to round your lips, protrude them and make them tense. Y. For the /w/ sound, have to round and protrude your tense lips (this part is the same) and then stretch them with a quick and sharp movement.
Hope it helps!
@@SoundsAmerican Thanks. It really helped. The word "wound" just popped up.
My tongue experiments taught me that for the /j/ my tongue is positioned slightly back and higher than the /i/. Otherwise I can't say the "yield".
Things are becoming more and more clear.
la ur en palabras en ingles es dificil con que vocales en español se hace
many thanks for your great information, can I aks to know about the author or source of the information in this video? I really want to cite them in my thesis. Thank you!
Will the name of our channel suffice?
10:13 is the vowel i in the word piano /piˈænoʊ/ like i not /y/ , /j/. Thank you.
How about pronouncing the /ju/ and /jə/ or the /yu/ ang /yə/ ?