22 Learning the /z/ Sound Through Buzzing
Catherine Huertas
Guided Practice Script
Let’s warm up with some practice humming. This will help us become familiar with the vibration needed to make the Z sound. I’ll hum first and then you copy me. Perfect! You’ll use humming to help make your sounds.
I would like for you to make the /s/ sound like in the word snake. Perfect! Let’s do a competition of who can say the /s/ sound the longest until we run out of breath! Haha, okay now that you have the /s/ sound down, lets try to put together our /s/ sound and our humming[1]. It will
sound like a bee buzzing, “bzzz“[4].
Okay now watch how my mouth moves when I say these words, then repeat after me, “Zzzap, Zzzoom , Zzoo.” [2,3] Now what black and white animal would you see in a “zzzoo”? Yes, a “zzebra”!
Now I am going to show you some flashcards with the letter Z and I want you to try and say the /z/ a little faster *words on flashcards: zero , zombie and zigzag.*[3] Amazing job!
Targeted Techniques and Considerations
Elicitation Techniques in the Script
- Facilitating context
- Modeling
- Sound approximation
- Instruction using metaphors
Common /z/ Sound Errors
- Error: substituting the /s/ for the /z/ sound
- Likely cause: Voicing can be difficult to understand when making the /z/ so some will devoice it with /s/ to make it.
- Error: It’s possible to produce the /z/ sound with the tongue too far forward (interdental lisp) or the air may flow through the sides of the mouth, instead of the front/center (lateral lisp).
- Likely cause: The lisp can be because of tongue placement or airflow creating a distortion of the /z/ sound.
Accent or Dialect Variation
- In states like New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, accents can be found to have replaced the /d/ for the /z/ sound.
- In England (British English) they often replace the /s/ for the /z/.
