41 The Snake Sound: Keeping the Tongue in the Cage
Cybil Rampy
Guided Practice Script
Our next sound is the /s/ sound. This is the sound that snakes make! When we make this sound we can pretend our tongue is a snake and our teeth are a cage. We don’t want the snake to escape its cage! So when we make this sound, we keep our tongue right behind our top teeth. Let’s try it! I’m going to keep my tongue in its cage and behind my teeth. Now your turn!
Targeted Techniques and Considerations
Eliciting Techniques
- Phonetic Placement → tells where tongue should be when sound is produced
- Metaphor → compares the /s/ sound to a snake and teeth to the snake’s cage
- Modeling/Demonstration → clinician demonstrates the sound first for client to follow
Common Errors
- Distortion can occur when tongue is protruding too much and results in a “slurpy” /s/ sound (dentalized lisp)
- Distortion can occur when tongue is not touching the sides of top teeth and results in an “airy” /s/ sound (lateralized lisp)
Dialectical Differences
- Certain Spanish dialect speakers substitute final /s/ sounds with /h/ or can omit them entirely
- Common for many American dialects to substitute final /s/ sounds with the /z/ sound
