Minimal Pair List Consonants /j/ versus /ʧ/, 40 pairs

The /j/ sound is spelled with <y>, <ew> in ewe and is heard in the letter name U . The /ʧ/ sound is spelled with <ch> or <c> in cello .

This is a contrast between a voiced palatal semivowel and a voiceless alveolar affricate. It only ocurs initially. It is not a problem.

The mean density value is 1.3%. The lists make 20 semantic distinctions, a loading of 50%.

  
ewe chew
  ewes chews
ewes choose  
U chew
  U's chews
U's choose  
use chews
use choose
  uses chooses 
  using choosing 
yap chap 
  yapped chapped 
  yapping chapping 
  yaps chaps 
yard Chard 
yaw chaw 
  yawed chawed 
  yawing chawing 
  yaws chaws 
yaw chore
  yaws chores
year cheer 
yearn churn 
  yearned churned 
  yearning churning 
  yearns churns 
yellow cello 
  yellows cellos 
yes chess 
yoke choke 
  yoked choked 
  yokes chokes 
  yoking choking 
yore chaw
yore chore 
York chalk
your chaw
  yours chaws
your chore
  yours chores  

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John Higgins

John Higgins retired in 2000, having spent the bulk of his career as a British Council English Language Officer working in Thailand, Turkey, Egypt and Yugoslavia and the last fifteen years in lectureships at Bristol University and then running an M.Sc. programme at Stirling University. His main field was EFL, with a special interest in CALL (computer-assisted language learning) in which, together with Tim Johns of Birmingham, he was responsible for important developments in methods and materials. His publications include A Guide to Language Laboratory Material Writing, Universitetesforlaget, 1969, Computers and Language Learning, Collins, 1984, Language Learners and Computers, Longman, 1988, and Computers in English Language Learning, Intellect Press, 1992, together with numerous papers, reviews and pieces of software. He maintains a web page on minimal pairs and homographs for teachers of English pronunciation skills.