Hi there this is the ʤ sound. As in the words:
- job /dʒɒb/
- join /dʒɔɪn/
- age /eɪdʒ/
How to pronounce the ʤ sound
The ʤ sound is a sound from the ‘Consonants Pairs’ group and it is called the ‘Voiced palato-alveolar affricate’. This means that you create friction by first stopping the airflow with your tongue and the ridge behind your teeth, then release it through a narrow gap.
The /ʤ/ sound is made through the mouth and it is Voiced which means that you vibrate your vocal chords to make the sound.
It is defined by shape of your lips and the position of your tongue and it is an affricate, which is a sound made by closing the air flow but then opening it by forcing air through a narrow space. In this case it is the tip of your tongue that creates the narrow space between it and the ridge behind the teeth.
To produce the sound touch your tongue to that ridge lightly and allow air pressure to force the tongue down whilst voicing out.
How the ʤ sound is Spelled
The /ʤ/ phoneme is normally spelled with the letter ‘j’ as in the word:
- just /dʒəst/
But can also be spelled with the letters ‘ge’ or ‘gi’ as in the words:
As in the words:
- college /ˈkɒlɪdʒ/
- suggest /səˈdʒest/
- religion /rɪlɪʤən/
Examples of the /ʤ/ phoneme
Here are some words that begin with the /ʤ/ sound:
- general /ˈdʒenərəl/
- judge /ʤʌʤ/
- joy /ʤɔɪ/
- jealous /ʤeləs/
Here are some words with the /ʤ/ sound in the middle:
- major /ˈmeɪdʒə/
- energy /ˈenədʒi/
- subject /ˈsʌbdʒɪkt/
- management /ˈmænɪdʒmənt/
Here are some words with the /ʤ/ sound at the end:
- large /lɑːdʒ/
- message /‘mesɪʤ/
- knowledge /ˈnɒlɪdʒ/
- huge /hjuːdʒ/
So, that’s it for the /ʤ/ sound but we have made additional videos on each of the groups of sounds Vowels, Diphthongs, Single Consonants, or Consonant Pairs as well as a video explaining the the phonetic chart.
