V, W, F and P
Four lip sounds that Sinhala mixes up. Very or wery, fan or pan, and what your teeth and lips do for each.
/v/ සහ /f/ දෙකටම උඩ දත් යට තොලට තියනවා: /v/ හඬ එක්ක, /f/ හුළඟ විතරයි. /w/ වලට දත් ඕනේ නෑ, තොල් ඌ කියනවා වගේ රවුම් කරන්න. /p/ තොල් දෙකම වහලා අරිනවා. ව එකක් දෙකටම පාවිච්චි කළොත් west, vest වගේ වචන එක වගේ ඇහෙනවා.
A mirror is the best teacher for these four. You can see the difference: teeth on the lip for /v/ and /f/, round lips with no teeth for /w/, closed lips for /p/.
V or W?
For /v/, bite gently: your top teeth touch your lower lip, and you hum. Your lip tickles.
For /w/, your teeth don't touch anything. Round your lips as if you are about to say ඌ, then open them into the vowel. We is almost ඌ-ඊ, said quickly.
V or W?
- vest /vest/ · west /west//v/ or /w/
- vine /vaɪn/ · wine /waɪn//v/ or /w/
- vet /vet/ · wet /wet//v/ or /w/
- We went to Colombo by van.
- The water in the village is very clean.
F or P?
/f/ is a long sound: top teeth on your lower lip, and the air hisses through. You can hold it: fffff.
/p/ is a short pop: both lips close and burst open. You can't hold it.
F or P?
- fan /fæn/ · pan /pæn//f/ or /p/
- coffee /ˈkɒfi/ · copy /ˈkɒpi//f/ or /p/
- fair /feə/ · pair /peə//f/ or /p/
- Can I have your phone number?
Practise with a tongue twister
Wayne went to Wales to watch walruses.
- /w/
Four fine fresh fish for you.
- /f/
- /ʃ/
A proper cup of coffee from a copper coffee pot.
- /k/
- /f/
Quick check
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