This week, as promised, we’re picking back up on the /v/ sound from earlier on this season, and we’re adding the voiceless /f/. In the /w/ and /v/ episode, I described /v/ as a fricative sound, where the upper teeth against the lower lip provide friction and make the /v/ sound when the vocal cords are vibrated. Do go back and listen to that one if you need to.
The /f/ sound is exactly the same, but is unvoiced. If you struggled with the voiced and voiceless pairs in season one (we looked at /s/ and /z/, /θ/ and /ð/ and /t/ and /d/) it will be interesting to notice if you find this contrast easier or more difficult. As with those previous sounds, the biggest difficulty I notice my students having here is a tendency to devoice those /v/ sounds, particularly towards the ends of words. Also, if you did find that /w/ and /v/ contrast tricky you may find the same here with the /v/ words in particular.
Let’s start with just a few common words with /f/
1. afraid
2. before
3. café
4. different
5. elephant
6. family
7. favourite
8. find
9. food
10. friend
11. left
12. life
13. office
14. photo
15. phrase
16. traffic
In terms of spelling, the patterns you’ll notice are the letter ‘f’ (single or double) and the ‘ph’ combination.
We looked at common words with /v/ in our /w/ and /v/ episode, so let’s go with some slightly higher-level ones today! We’ll just do 16, to get you warmed up.
1. achieve
2. available
3. civil
4. comprehensive
5. controversy
6. equivalent
7. incentive
8. individual
9. innovate
10. intervene
11. motive
12. objective
13. relevant
14. revolution
15. survive
16. valid
And now to really feel that contrast, let’s move on to some minimal pairs with /f/ and /v/. Firstly, at the beginning of words.
We’ll read the first three together
1. fan van
2. feel veal
3. fine vine
Now, I’ll read three /f/ words. See if you can read the /v/ word as well. We’ll do the first one together as an example.
1. fail vail
2. fat
3. fault
Listen, repeat, and check how you did.
1. fail vail
2. fat vat
3. fault vault
And now I’ll read three /v/ words. See if you can read the /f/ word as well.
1. vast
2. view
3. vole
Listen, repeat, and check how you did.
1. vast fast
2. view few
3. vole foal
Now some minimal pairs where the /f/ and /v/ sounds at the end of a word. As with previous voiceless/ voiced pairs, you’ll notice that the vowel sound is slightly elongated before the voiced sound. Try to ensure you do this in your own pronunciation too: it does make a difference to how easily your listener will grasp what you’re saying. Of course, as we’ve found whenever these voiced sounds appear at the end of a word, you’ll also notice a devoicing of the sound towards the end – just make sure that you *are* voicing it initially.
We’ll read the first two together:
1. leaf leave
2. calf carve
Now I’ll read the /f/ words. See if you can read the /v/ word as well.
1. off
2. half
3. grief
Listen, repeat, and see how you did.
1. off of
2. half halve
3. grief grieve
And now I’ll read three /v/ words. See if you can read the /f/ word as well.
1. save
2. prove
3. serve
Listen, repeat, and see how you did.
1. save safe
2. prove proof
3. serve surf/ serf
Finally, let’s think about some words with /f/ and /v/
1. effective
2. favourite
3. fever
4. fishwives
5. five
6. flavour
7. flyover
8. hoverfly
9. foxgloves
10. overqualified
11. unforgivably
12. verify
Well done. To finish, let’s have a go at some sentences with all of those words. We’ll start shorter, and get longer. As always, it would be an excellent idea to take some time with the script and see if you can come up with any more!
1. Five fewer feverish fishwives.
2. A hoverfly flew over foxgloves.
3. We found evidence of an equivalent family controversy.