Consonant Sound / j / as in “yes” – American English Pronunciation

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.

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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 /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
• Youtube

[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!

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