The /j/sound sound as in yellow, year and university, is a voiced sound, meaning that the vocal cords are used to produce sound. The whole tongue is raised towards the roof of your mouth, while air is pushed out.
The /ʤ/ sound as in jeer, John and wage is a voiced sound which is made by first stopping air by briefly touching the tongue against the roof of your mouth behind your top teeth.
Exercise 1: listen to the word pairs, concentrating on the difference between the two sounds. Repeat each word pair.
| /j/ | /ʤ/ | |
| your | jaw | |
| yacht | jot | |
| yolk | joke | |
| yak | Jack | |
| Yule | joule | |
| yellow | jello | |
| use (Noun) | juice | |
| use (Verb) | Jews | |
| yes | Jess | |
| year | jeer | |
| you | Jew |
Exercise 2: Listening.
- Click the play button to listen.
- You can listen as many times as you want.
- Choose the word you heard.
- Click the blue arrow on the bottom right to move to the next question.
Exercise 3: Listening.
- Click the play button to listen.
- You can listen as many times as you want.
- Choose the sentence you heard.
- Click the blue arrow on the bottom right to move to the next question.
Tongue twister
- Repeat the following tongue twister.
- Focus on the two different sounds /ʤ/ as in Jess and /j/ as in yes.
- Repeat again, trying to say the tongue twister faster and faster.
Every year they all jeer:
“Humpty Dumpty look at your jaw
you’re a joke of a yolk
all yellow and jello.”
“Yes,” said Jess, “he is of no use.”
“Let’s mix him up to make some juice.”