Animal with the sound [ʒ] as in pleasure

[englishhobby]

Could you please name an animal with this sound in its name?

 

[Rover_KE]

Why do you ask?

 

[englishhobby]

I am writing English lessons for children and in each lesson a few sounds are taught, not separately, of course, but in words. I'd like to teach [ʃ] and [ʒ] sounds together, in the section about animals and pets. There is no trouble with [ʃ] (a fish, though not exactly an animal, is OK). But I can't think of anything with [ʒ]. If I don't find a word, I'll think of other ways to introduce this sound, but I decided to ask here first.

 

[Rover_KE]

Right. I get it.

'Fish' does not exactly have that sound (I can't do the IPA squiggle), though it can count as an animal — as could a reptile or amphibian.

I can't think of one offhand but I'll sleep on it.

:sleeping:

How about kinkajou?

• IPA[SUP](key)[/SUP]: /ˈkɪŋkəˌʒuː/

(Wiktionary)

(Click here for pics.)


`

 

[englishhobby]

Thank you, kinkajou is very pretty, but it was the first time I had heard about it. :-D I thought kids need more common words.
As to 'fish', yes, the sound is different, I just wanted to teach these two sounds (sh and j as in kinkajou) together in the topic about animals. Thank you anyway!

P.S. And on second thought - why not try kinkajou, it may be interesting for kids to learn about a new animal! I think I'll take it.

 

[Tdol]

I'm struggling to think of a common animal, so the very cute kinkajou may be a good idea.

 

[emsr2d2]

Ohhhh, my new favourite animal!

 

[probus]

I am not a speaker of AusE but thanks to Lonnie Donegan, I am pretty sure that kinkajou does not contain the sound [ʒ]. It's a plain old ordinary j.

 

[Raymott]

I am not a speaker of AusE but thanks to Lonnie Donegan, I am pretty sure that kinkajou does not contain the sound [ʒ]. It's a plain old ordinary j.

I, on the other hand, am a speaker of AusE, and have no idea how the name of this Central and South American animal is pronounced. ;-)

 

[emsr2d2]

According to this online dictionary, the word has its origins in French so I can see why it would have the soft "j", as it's pronounced in French. However, I can imagine that even if it started as the soft "j", it's probably becoming a hard "j" as naturally pronounced in most variants of English.