Letter Z
Letter z is pronounced as in English 'zoo' or 'zip'. This sound occurs only at the end of a syllable.Click on a video below to see and hear Mrs. Irene Arnold pronouncing words with Z.
jîiz gray jay, camprobber
deshaaz cow moose
tthindíiz ceiling
Click below to hear Mrs. Irene Arnold illustrating the difference between dz and z at the end of words.
Sentences with contrasting sibilant (S-like) sounds.
Stsêey ts'eyh súu éhtsįį. My grandfather made a nice canoe.
Súus éł jîiz éł ts'ôgh tah ts'į́ xétsax.
The robin and the jay in the tree are crying.
Êy ts'éhxeh seey tsêdl dat-sęy sínt'eh. That is that woman's black pocket knife.
Tanacross s and z are voiceless and voiced alveolar sibilant fricatives [s] and [z], respectively.
Letter s is a semi-voiced fricative. It can generally be described as beginning voiceless and transitioning to a fully voiced fricative.
similar sounds