The Question:
The word “is” has been bothering me for a while and I can’t seem to find a related video. Sometimes is sounds like /IZ/ to me and sometimes it sounds like /IS/, i.e. ending in the /z/ sound and ending in the /s/ sound.
I wonder if the sound of “is” changes depending on the surrounding words or apostrophes such as he’s, it’s, etc, or if I was just imagining it.
The Answer:
IS is always officially a [z] — a voiced sound. Voiced sounds are considered ‘weak’ next to their unvoiced counterparts, so depending on the context you might not hear it strongly. This also applies to contractions where it is following a voiced sound: he’s, she’s.
But when it’s following an unvoiced sound in a contraction: it’s, what’s, that’s — then it switches to unvoiced, [s].
Also, if it is followed by a word that begins with S, it will usually be [s], connecting right into the next word. Example: “When is Sam leaving?” –> iss_ssam.
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The Question: The word "is" has been bothering me for a while and I can't seem to find a related ...
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