Consonants Together
School, not is-school. Film, not filum. How to say two or three consonants in a row without adding a vowel.
s එකකින් පටන් ගන්න වචන (school, station, speak) වලට ඉස්සරහින් "ඉ" එකක් දාන්න එපා. film, ask වගේ වචන වලත් consonants දෙක අතරට "අ" හෝ "උ" එකක් දාන්න එපා. s එක දිගට කියලා ඊළඟ අකුරට කෙළින්ම යන්න: sss-kool.
Adding a vowel is very natural for us, because Sinhala words almost never start with two consonants. It also changes how many beats a word has: school is one beat, but "is-school" is two. Listeners hear the extra beat before anything else.
No vowel before s
Start straight on the /s/. Hold it for a moment, then slide into the next sound: sssss-tation.
Start on the s
- school /skuːl/, not is-school1 beat
- station /ˈsteɪʃn/, not is-station2 beats
- speak /spiːk/, not is-peak1 beat
- small /smɔːl/, not is-mall1 beat
- Please stop at the station near the school.
No vowel in the middle or at the end
Keep them together
- film /fɪlm/, not filum1 beat
- asked /ɑːskt/, not askeda1 beat
- help /help/, not helap1 beat
- months /mʌnθs/1 beat
- street /striːt/1 beat
Practise with a tongue twister
A snake sneaks to seek a snack.
- /s/
- /sn/
Six sleek swans swam swiftly southwards.
- /s/
- /sw/
We all scream for ice cream.
- /skr/
- /s/
Quick check
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How many beats are in school?
How do you say film?
How do you start station?
How do you say asked?
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