The English plural morpheme or marker is the letter –S.
It has three sound variants -/s/,/z/ and /ɪz/. It’s important to know when the plural marker –S makes this different sounds in words.
/s/ is the voiceless sound of the plural marker –S. And so, the plural marker –S is realized as /s/ when its follows voiceless consonants such as /k/, /p/,/t/,/f/,/θ/ etc
You pronounce the plural marker –S as /s/ in the following words:
Written: spoken:
Books Books
Hooks Hooks
Cups Cups
Hats Hats
Months Months
/z/ is the voiced sound of the plural marker –S. When the plural marker –S is after a voiced consonant such as /d/,/g/,/v/,/l/,/b/ etc its realized as /z/.
Pronounce the plural marker- S as /z/ in the following words:
Written: Spoken:
Heads Headz
Bags Bagz
Legs Legz
Hands Handz
Caves Cavez
The plural marker –S is also realized as /z/ when it follows a vowel at the end of a word.
Pronounce the plural marker-S as /z/ in the following words:
Written: Spoken:
Boys Boyz
Doctors Doctorz
Goes Goez
Teachers Teacherz
Layers Layerz
The plural marker – S is realized as /ɪz/ when it follows consonant /tS/,/ʤ/ and /s/.
Pronounce the plural marker –S as /ɪz/ in the following words:
Written: Spoken:
Churches Churchɪz
Judges Churchɪz
Peaches Preachɪz
Buses Busɪz