Pronounce English Accurately

Video Text

Making the /f/ sound involves close contact between the lower lip and the upper teeth.

This means it's a 'labio-dental' sound, 'labio-' meaning the lips and 'dental' meaning the teeth.

The lower lip and upper teeth are in contact, but the closure is not total – in fact it can't be, due to the gaps between our teeth.

The air passage is tightly restricted so it is forced out of the mouth with a lot of noise – literally noise in the acoustic sense, like white noise.

This type of sound is a fricative – the word 'fricative' comes from the 'friction' created by the narrow constriction through which the air is forced.

Is /f/ voiced or voiceless?

[fffff]

there's no vibration in the larynx, so it's voiceless.

It's a voiceless labio-dental fricative.

/f/ can occur anywhere in a word, in initial, medial and final position and in consonant clusters.

The letters 'f' and 'ff' are always pronounced /f/.

'ph' is usually /f/, as in 'photo', except in the name 'Stephen'. In 'Stephen' it is a /v/ sound, the same as the other spelling, 'Steven'.

Of course, if 'ph' occurs in a compound word like 'loophole', then it's /p/ plus /h/, and in 'shepherd' the 'p' is a /p/ and the 'h' is silent.

In 'haphazard', it's /p/ plus /h/.

But in most words 'ph' is pronounced /f/: 'photograph', 'aphasia', 'alpha', 'philosophy', 'physics', 'elephant', 'dolphin', 'diaphragm'.

'gh', in words from Old English, is sometimes being pronounced /f/ as in:

'enough', 'laugh', 'laughter', 'cough', 'rough', 'tough' and 'trough', 'chough', a bird, and sometimes the surname 'Bough'.

But the 'bough' of a tree rhymes with 'cow'.

Some examples of /f/ in initial position:

'fin' /fɪn/

'feed' /fiːd/

'fine' /faɪn/

'far' /fɑː/

'fact' /fækt/

'full' /fʊl/

'fool' /fuːl/

In medial position:

'afraid' /əˈfreɪd/

'office' /ˈɒfɪs/

'after' /ˈɑːftə/

'traffic' /ˈtræfɪk/

'roofer' /ˈruːfə/

'rougher' /ˈrʌfə/

'loofah' /ˈluːfə/

/f/ is voiceless so it's a fortis or 'strong' consonant – so when it occurs in final position the vowel preceding it is clipped short:

'leaf' /liːf/

'loaf' /ləʊf/

'laugh' /lɑ:f/

'stuff' /stʌf/

'golf' /gɒlf/

'wife' /waɪf/

Be sure that you are making a labio-dental sound – [f], lips and teeth in contact.

/v/

/v/ is made in exactly the same position as /f/, and in the same manner, so it's a labio-dental fricative.

The only difference is that /v/ is voiced – feel the buzzing….

or hear the buzzing….

As it's voiced, it's a lenis or weak consonant, and any preceding consonant will be lengthened, so we have important contrasts such as 'leaf' /liːf/ vs. 'leave' /liːv/.

Both words have the same target vowel, /iː/, but in 'leave' the vowel is much longer and the final consonant shorter, in 'leaf' the vowel is clipped shorter and the final /f/ much stronger and longer.

Other examples of /v/ in initial position:

'very' /ˈveri/, 'vast' /vɑːst/, 'vile, vial' /vaɪl/, 'van' /væn/.

You will see that all of these have a contrast with /f/: 'ferry, fast, file', and 'fan', so it's a very important distinction to be able to make.

/v/ in medial position:

'over' /ˈəʊvə/

'river' /ˈrɪvə/

'never' /ˈnevə/

'driver' /ˈdraɪvə/

'Dover' /ˈdəʊvə/

In final position:

'eve, Eve' /iːv/

'hive' /haɪv/

'give' /gɪv/

'dove' /dʌv/

'glove' /glʌv/

'stove' /stəʊv/

The /f – v/ contrast in final position is a particularly important one as it makes the difference between pairs of grammatically related words in which one is a noun and the other a verb.

Examples are 'half' /hɑːf/ and 'to halve' /hɑːv/, 'calf' /kɑːf/ and 'to calve' /kɑːv/, 'proof' /pruːf/ and 'to prove' /pruːv/, 'safe' /seɪf/ and 'to save' /seɪv/.

Similarly, the plural of many words ending in /f/ has /v/:

'knife, knives'

'life, lives'

'wife, wives'

'waif, waives'

'hoof, hooves'

but not 'roof' – the plural is 'roofs'.

This /f – v/ distinction can be difficult, notably for German and Dutch speakers, who don't have an equivalent of the final /v/ sound.

Some practice sentences:

/f/:

Fearless Frankie fried four fish fingers for his final feast.

After the fantastic festivities, fifteen of the fellows fell off the ferry.

/v/:

The valiant victors vaulted round the valley.

Vying for vital victuals, the vanquished soon vanished.

In the next lesson we'll contrast /v/ and /w/.