The Phonic Sound of C

The Phonic Sound of C

Pronunciation is of great importance. When there is pronunciation accuracy, a word can be understood easily. The word can be read easily and written accurately. Some patterns can help in learning English.

The Letter C

One of the letters is the letter “C”. The letter “C” produces different sounds. It is crucial to know the differences and educate your child in a way that he will pronounce accurately.

The Soft C

The letter “C” is called soft C when it produces the sounds of /s/ or /∫/. When does it produce these sounds? We have to check which letter or letters follow the letter “C”.

The Sound of /S/

The letter “C” produces the sound of /s/ when the letter "C" is followed by “E”, “I”, or “Y”.

• City = The letter “C” in the word “city” produces the sound of /s/ because it is followed by “I”.
• Century = The letter “C” in the word “century” produces the sound of /s/ because it is followed by “E”.
• Cylinder = The letter “C” in the word “cylinder” produces the sound of /s/ because it is followed by “Y”.

The Sound of /∫/

The sound of the letter “C” depends on the letters following the letter “C”. When the letter “C” precedes the letters “IA” or “IO”, it produces the sound of /∫/.

• Special
• Artificial

The sound of “C” in these examples is /∫/ because it is followed by “IA”.

Precious

Spacious

The letter “C” in these examples is followed by “IO”; therefore, the sound of the letter "C" is /∫/.

The Hard C

When the letter “C” precedes the letters A, O, U, or a consonant, it is called the hard C. The hard C produces the sound of /k/. The letter “C” at the end of a word commonly produces the sound of /k/.

• Cash
• Consume
• Cut
• Class
• Craft

Exceptions

The rules we discussed are not applied 100%. There are exceptional cases where we may not follow the rules. The word “Soccer” does not follow the rule of the soft C; otherwise, it would be pronounced, “Sokser”.

Adding K

When adding a suffix having “E”, “I”, or “Y” at the start, we add the letter “K” to words like picnic, panic, etc.

C with H

When "C" precedes “H”, the above rules are not applied. In such a case, the letter “C” is combined with the letter “H” and follows the rules of “CH”.