/ʧ/ vs /ʒ/

[JDWright]

Hey all. Brand new here. Very glad that I found this forum. I'm pretty new to linguistics and phonetics. I can tell this place will be a valuable resource.

I am helping someone and they are having trouble with the /ʒ/ sound. He actually didn't even know the sound existed and instead had been subbing in /ʧ/. "Usual" becomes "Uchual" and "Massage" is "Massach". I told him the main differences are that /ʒ/ is voiced and the tongue won't touch the top of the mouth. Is that correct? He still really struggled. Is there anything else I can tell him to help him? Thank you.

[5jj]

Welcome to the forum, J D Wright.

How is your friend on other unvoiced/voiced pairs such as /f -v/, /θ - ð/, /s - z/, /ʃ -ʒ/ ? If they can distinguish those, then at least they can understand what you are talking about. You are correct in saying that the tongue does not touch the roof of the mouth in /ʧ - ʤ/. Try to move them from /ʧ/ to /ʃ/. Then it's just a matter of switching on the voice.

[JDWright]

Thanks for the reply. We're working on /v/. He voices it fine, but will start it before his teeth are in the right place, giving him a /w/ /v/ hybrid. His/θ - ð/ issue is more of a /th/ instead of a /ð/, but only when his rhythm is wrong. /s-z/ seems fine.

Can you recommend any practice word pairs that will help him "switch on" the voice with everything else already in place?

Thanks!

[5jj]

There is a wide selction of minimal pairs here: Minimal pairs for English RP

[JDWright]

Thank you!

[raindoctor]

What is his first language? Sounds like Indian to me (cues: between /v/ and /w/, /th/ problems)

Give him a bone prop that keeps his mouth open a bit while articulating consonants.

[5jj]

Give him a bone prop that keeps his mouth open a bit while articulating consonants.

I suggest that you do no such thing!