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Question

Difficulty: EasyConsonant Sounds

Fill in the blanks to identify the consonant sounds produced in the given words.

Answer:The final consonant letter 's' in the word 'cats' represents the sound 【/s/】, while the final letter 's' in the word 'dogs' represents the sound 【/z/】.

Answer

The final consonant 's' in 'cats' represents the voiceless sound /s/, while the final 's' in 'dogs' represents the voiced sound /z/.
In English phonetics, the pronunciation of the ending '-s' depends on whether the preceding consonant sound is voiced or voiceless. In 'cats', the sound preceding '-s' is the voiceless /t/, so '-s' takes the voiceless sound /s/. In 'dogs', the sound preceding '-s' is the voiced /g/, so '-s' takes the voiced sound /z/.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Examine the sound preceding the final 's' in 'cats'.
The sound before 's' is the voiceless alveolar stop /t/.
Following a voiceless consonant sound, the plural suffix '-s' is pronounced as the voiceless alveolar fricative /s/.
2
Examine the sound preceding the final 's' in 'dogs'.
The sound before 's' is the voiced velar stop /g/.
Following a voiced consonant sound, the plural suffix '-s' assimilates and is pronounced as the voiced alveolar fricative /z/.

Key Concept

Voiced and Voiceless Consonant Contrast in Suffixes
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Topics

Consonant Sounds

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