Hi again and welcome back to Seattle Learning Academy's American English pronunciation podcast.

My name is Mandy, and this is our 117th episode.

If you've looked at any of the new spelling and pronunciation lessons that have been published to pronunciation,

hopefully you've noticed that we've also added a section for suffixes that contain a certain sound.

We added this because suffixes often appear to be non-phonetic.

However, by digging deep enough, patterns can be found.

Do you know what sound is usually pronounced at the beginning of the T-I-O-N and T-I-A-L suffixes?

Examples of the more common pronunciation are the words station and initial.

It's the S-H sound.

S-H. Station, initial.

However, when the T-I-O-N suffix is preceded by an S sound and the T-I-A-L suffix is preceded by an N sound,

both of those suffixes are likely to be pronounced as the C-H sound.

CH. Remember how similar the SH sound and CH sound are.

The SH sound is produced by placing the tip of the tongue close to the back of the tooth ridge.

The tooth ridge is that bump behind your top front teeth.

There is a sort of groove running down the center of your tongue that the air travels through,

creating the SH sound.

To create the CH sound, the tip of the tongue briefly touches the back of the tooth ridge,

and then the tip is released into a shape, much like the SH sound.

Listen to both sounds to compare them to one another.

I'll say the S.H. sound first, then the CH sound.

SHH. Repeat these sounds after me.

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