CallS or CallZ

English translation: callz

03:19 Oct 23, 2010

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Art/Literary - Advertising / Public Relations

English term or phrase: CallS or CallZ

I am trying to find out what is the correct pronunciation of plural words. As you know most of these words end with S.

Some pronounce these words with Z at the end like CallZ while other pronounce like CallS. There are many examples TelephoneS/Z, CompanieS/Z, ComputerS/Z, etc. Same goes to some names like PharmaceuticalS/Z, WaleS/Z etc.

Sorry if I could not make my question clear to you but I think you will get an idea. Thanks so much and I look forward to hearing from you.

Naseeruddin (X) KudoZ activity Questions: 70 (2 open) (12 without valid answers) (1 closed without grading) Answers: 213
Local time: 20:13

Selected answer:callz

Explanation:
Pronunciation of the final "s", whether for plural noun forms (cats, dogs) or for third person singular verbs (he sleeps, walks), depends entirely on the preceding sound.

First say the word to yourself without the "s". How does the word end? Do you use your voice box or not?

To demonstrate;
try saying cat, walk, sleep, then isolating the last sound (t,k,p). You'll find that no sound comes out - these are 'silent' or 'unvoiced'

Now try saying wood, dog, rub and isolating the d,g,b. You'll be able to hear these sounds as they are 'voiced'. You can also 'feel' the vibration if you put your hand to your throat.

In fact, /t/ and /d/ are the same sound, only unvoiced and voiced.

Now try adding the final 's' to these words: cats, dogs etc - isn't it easier and more natural to say /cats/ but /dogz/?

The grammar rule is that you say /s/ after an unvoiced word ending, /z/ after a voiced one, but I don't really teach my students the rule - I just ask them to do what seems easiest and that seems to work.

An NB for completeness:

For words that end in a sound that makes it really difficult to simply add /s/ or /z/ - such as horse, watch, badge - you need to add /iz/ (never /is/)

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Note added at 4 hrs (2010-10-23 07:36:21 GMT)
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More NBs:

All of the above depends on [b]sounds NOT spellings[/b]

All vowel sounds are voiced.

Selected response from:

Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 15:43

Grading comment

Thanks a lot for helping me. I think I need to practice :).

Thanks to David as well. Unfortunately, there is no way I can award points to both of you.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

5 +9

callz

Sheila Wilson

5 +6

callz

David Hollywood

Discussion entries: 6

Sheila Wilson

Spain

@ Noni

16:12 Oct 23, 2010

Yes, it's amazing what you don't know about your own language - you know what's correct, but not why. The lesson I gave to gain acceptance for teacher training was on shorthand. I explained that /p/ and /b/ were virtually identical but I couldn't say why. Now I know! But I prefer my students to try the "suck it and see" approach

Noni Gilbert Riley

Spain

And now I've misspelt your name

15:46 Oct 23, 2010

Apologies once again Naseeruddin. I'm particularly fussy about respecting the way people spell their names, and then I go and put my foot in it!!

Noni Gilbert Riley

Spain

And thanks for clarifying Naseerudin

15:45 Oct 23, 2010

I was fresh from responding to someone who thought that we could provide a kind of Berlitz type phrasebook! I should have taken the time to look at your profile, and I apologise.

Sheila's explanation is spot on. The theory (all the unvoiced and voiced stuff) is something you don't learn as a native speaker but anyone who is trying to take the teachers' exams in Spain has to know it, so I had to learn immediately on arrival in my first teaching job here! Now I tend to tell them not to learn the list of voiced consonants, but to try to pronounce it as an s, and if it doesn't come out naturally, then the resulting z sound is correct. It's a question of what the mouth is capable of producing, soundwise, in English.

Best

Noni

Naseeruddin (X)

ASKER

Not For Learning

13:59 Oct 23, 2010

Dear Noni, While I appreciate your comments but this is also to be noted that one word (that even pronunciation) can't lead to much learning. Posting KudoZ is to learn from colleague translators. I am in middle of a translation and I need to transliterate the term CALLS in Urdu. I do not think I bypassed KudoZ rules hence. In any case, I liked what you have written - atleast you are amongst those who want this site clean.

Noni Gilbert Riley

Spain

Professional translation site

12:16 Oct 23, 2010

Naseerudin: we are always willing to help, as you can see, but this is a translation site, not a language teaching site, although we are always learning things here. ;-)

Oliver Lawrence

Italy

CallZ is correct

11:37 Oct 23, 2010

but I believe native speakers of Dutch tend to use the CallS pronunciation when speaking in English; I don't know if, strictly speaking, that counts as an accent or whether it is 'incorrect', but either way if you stick to CallZ then you'll be fine :).

Answers

1 min confidence:

peer agreement (net): +6

calls or callz callz

Explanation:
:)

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Note added at 2 mins (2010-10-23 03:21:43 GMT)
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it's like a zzz

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Note added at 3 mins (2010-10-23 03:23:05 GMT)
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not a technical explanation but there we go

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Note added at 7 mins (2010-10-23 03:26:24 GMT)
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I'm sure someone will be able to explain it in more phonetic terms but this is the correct pronunciation in your question

David Hollywood
Local time: 11:43
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 6

3 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +9

calls or callz

callz

Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 15:43
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 12

Grading comment

Thanks a lot for helping me. I think I need to practice :).

Thanks to David as well. Unfortunately, there is no way I can award points to both of you.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

Alison Sabedoria (X): Well explained!

12 mins

-> Thanks. It's something that an English trainer has to explain regularly.

agree

Tony M: Super!

53 mins

-> Thanks

agree

Madeleine MacRae Klintebo: Top marks for explaination

2 hrs

-> Thanks

agree

cmwilliams (X)

3 hrs

-> Thanks

agree

Stephanie Ezrol

4 hrs

-> Thanks

agree

Noni Gilbert Riley: Quite!

5 hrs

-> Thanks

agree

British Diana: you deserve at least 4 points for this!

5 hrs

-> Thanks

agree

Arabic & More

6 hrs

-> Thanks

agree

Polangmar: 1. The grammar rule is = The phonetic rule is. 2. It's easier to say /doks/ - it's standard pronunciation in Polish words ending in two voiced consonants: eg. "bruzd" (plural genetive of "bruzda") is pronounced /brust/.

17 hrs

-> Thanks

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