The three veils of darkness

"He makes you in the wombs of your mothers in stages, one after another, in three veils of darkness." (Quran 36:6)

This statement is from Sura 39:6. We do not know when it was realized that human beings underwent development in the uterus (womb), but the first known illustration of a fetus in the uterus was drawn by Leonardo da Vinci in the 15th century. In the 2nd century A.D., Galen escribed the placenta and fetal membranes in his book "On The Formation of the Foetus."

Consequently, doctors in the 7th century A.D. likely knew that the human embryo developed in the uterus. It is unlikely that they knew that it developed in stages, even though Aristotle had described the stages of development of the chick embryo in the 4th century B.C.

The realization that the human embryo develops in stages was not discussed and illustrated until the 15th century.

After the microscope was discovered in the 17th century by Leeuwenhoek descriptions were made of the early stages of the chick embryo. The staging of human embryos was not described until the 20th century. Streeter (1941) developed the first system of staging which has now been replaced by a more accurate system proposed by O'Rahilly (1972).

"The three veils of darkness" may refer to:

(1) the anterior abdominal wall;
(2) the uterine wall;
and (3) the amniochorionic membrane .

Although there are other interpretations of this statement, the one presented here seems the most logical from an embryological point of view.

In their Hearts is a Disease

The sickness/Disease mentioned here is one of doubt(kufr/ hypocrisy) and because they tell lies , Allah (ta'ala) increases this disease in their hearts in another verse of Surah Baqarah Allah (Ta'ala) says:

 "ﻣَﺜَﻠُﻬُﻢْ ﻛَﻤَﺜَﻞِ ﺍﻟَّﺬِﻱ ﺍﺳْﺘَﻮْﻗَﺪَ ﻧَﺎﺭًﺍ ﻓَﻠَﻤَّﺎ ﺃَﺿَﺎﺀَﺕْ ﻣَﺎ ﺣَﻮْﻟَﻪُ ﺫَﻫَﺐَ ﺍﻟﻠَّﻪُ ﺑِﻨُﻮﺭِﻫِﻢْ ﻭَﺗَﺮَﻛَﻬُﻢْ ﻓِﻲ ﻇُﻠُﻤَﺎﺕٍ ﻟَﺎ ﻳُﺒْﺼِﺮُﻭﻥَ

" Their example is that of people who kindle a fire: but as soon as it has illumined all around them, God takes away their light and leaves them in utter darkness, wherein they cannot see"

Imaan (belief) is a light and it is all around you , in the creation of the earth and heavens , to the creatures that dwell in the sea for which they all bear testimony .

The human eye bears testimony to the creation of Allah and thus it has light all around but the disease mentioned above leaves one in darkness and Allah increases that disbelief and gives them rope in their wrong doing, for them they wonder blindly and is great punishment.

Palestinians of all faiths living side by side, and praying side by side.

Palestinians of all faiths – Christians, Jews and Muslims – living side by side, and praying side by side.

15 years later, the cinema is taking its first steps. Cameramen employed by the Lumiere Brothers filming in Jerusalem’s station, provide the first moving pictures taken in Palestine.

From now on, the camera’s a recording eye and what it records is this: A society much like that of Cairo, Damascus, or Beirut, in an Arab city much like any other.

By the end of the 19th century, Palestine has 500,000 inhabitants, of whom 30,000 live in Jerusalem. A veiled woman, a Sunni Muslim, one of the majority. An orthodox Jew. He too turns away from the camera. Here we have an Armenian pope. Each of the Christian denominations has its church here in the holy city. The holy places of the three religions are scattered across a few hundred square meters.
The Great Mosque is close to Christ’s tomb.

Further along at the foot of the wailing wall, a Jew is reciting a prayer. He is wearing a Turkish tarboush, and although he prays in Hebrew his everyday language is Arabic. Jews form half the population of Jerusalem, but in the country as a whole they make up less than 5% of the total.
Christians account for 10% and Muslims 85%.

All of them are subjects of the Sultan of Constantinople. There are no frontiers in the Ottoman Empire.

There are administrative divisions in which, in this immense territory, Palestine occupies a mere 27,000 square kilometers, made up of three small districts, in the south of the province of Damascus.

Hopefully one day we will find back to the roots!

# freePalestine

10 HOME REMEDIES FOR COLON CLEANSING.

10 HOME REMEDIES FOR COLON CLEANSING.

The colon is responsible for extracting water, salt, vitamins and nutrients from indigestible food matter, processing food that was not digested in the small intestine, and eliminating solid waste from the body. However, when it doesn’t function properly, it begins to absorb toxins instead of eliminating them, thereby causing problems like fatigue, weight gain, headaches, chronic constipation or other intestinal disturbances.

If you suffer from these problems, you may want to try a natural colon cleanse to flush out some of the toxins in your body that are contributing to your ill health. With the help of colon cleansing, you can easily get rid of harmful toxins and promote healthy intestinal bacteria. It will also help increase your energy and improve the body’s absorption of vitamins and nutrients.

Here are 10 effective home remedies for colon cleansing:

1. Apple Juice:

Fresh apple juice is one of the best home remedies for colon cleansing. Regular consumption of apple juice encourages bowel movements, breaks down toxins and improves the health of the digestive system.

• Start your day with one glass of unfiltered apple juice.
• After 30 minutes, drink one glass of water.
• Repeat this routine several times throughout the day and continue for three days.
• When following this remedy, avoid consuming solid foods.

Note: Freshly squeezed apple juice provides the best results, but if it is not available, you can use packaged organic apple juice.

2. Sea Salt:

Another effective ingredient for colon cleansing is sea salt, thanks to its detoxifying properties.

Sea salt removes fecal matter from your intestines and restores optimal intestinal movement that carries food through your digestive tract.

• Stir 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt into a glass of warm water and drink the mixture in the morning on an empty stomach.

• If you can’t drink the mixture straight, mix about 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice into the sea salt-water.

• If you still can’t drink it with the added lemon juice, add enough maple syrup or agave nectar to the mixture.

3. Water:

Nice, refreshing, plain water will make everything in your body function better.
Drinking enough water will give your body the liquid and lubrication required to flush out the harmful toxins and waste from the body in a natural manner.

Drinking plenty of water will also stimulate the natural peristaltic action, helping the food to move through the digestive system. Instead of drinking 8 glasses of water, look at the color of your urine. If it is pale yellow or near-clear you’re doing a great job; if it’s darker than that, start drinking more!

4. Flax and Chia Seeds:

Unique in their nutritional profiles, both flax and chia seeds possess fats and fiber that help promote healthy digestion and a clean colon.
Both are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, for instance, which have been shown to stabilize cell walls and reduce inflammation.

5. Cayenne Pepper and Lemon Juice:

Cayenne pepper breaks down mucus in your colon, while lemon juice eliminates toxins.

• Pour 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper into a 10- ounce glass and then add 4 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

• Fill the glass with warm water and stir thoroughly.

• Add 1/2 teaspoon of organic maple syrup to sweeten the mixture, if desired.

• Drink on an empty stomach up to five times per month to cleanse your colon.

• If you don’t like the taste of the warm mixture, let it cool for 10 minutes, re-stir and drink.

6. Fiber-Rich Foods:

Foods rich in fiber help keep the stools soft and improve the bowel movement, which ultimately encourages the body to expel waste products.

You can add a lot of fiber into your diet by eating fresh fruits like raspberries, pears and apples, as well as fresh vegetables like artichokes, peas and broccoli. Cereals, whole grains, nuts, beans and seeds also contain a good amount of fiber.

7. Fermented Foods:

There are bacteria in fermented foods that are very good for you and your colon. Without them, certain nutrients go unsynthesized, toxins don’t degrade, and disease-causing micro-organisms can set up house in your digestive system.

Basically, they give the cells in your colon the energy to do their job.
Yogurt, miso, kimchi, and sauerkraut are four examples of fermented foods. Kefir and kombucha tea provide the good stuff through drink, too.

8. Raw Vegetable Juice:

For colon cleansing, it is essential to keep away from processed and cooked food for 1-2 days.
Instead of solid food, drink fresh vegetable juice several times a day.
Pick a variety of vegetables, including green vegetables that you wouldn’t normally think of drinking, such as celery, broccoli, kale, lettuce, wheatgrass. Add carrots and apples to improve the taste of green juices.

Note: Don’t consume ready-made vegetable juices as they don’t contain the effective enzymes that help your body break down and remove waste products. You can easily make fresh vegetable juice at home using a juicer or blender.

9. Avocados:

Avocados are another great option for healthy digestion and effective colon cleansing. They are rich in fiber, and include both soluble and insoluble varieties at a ratio of about one to three, which is quite unique. Insoluble fiber is the type that promotes healthy bowel movements and cleanses the colon.

Avocado’s soluble fiber content is also important for absorbing water and binding with other digested substances to help them easily move through the digestive tract. This mechanistic “gelling” effect also helps maintain bowel regularity in its own unique way, and prevents the toxic buildups that can lead to irregularity and constipation.

10. Aloe Vera:

Aloe vera is known for its detoxification abilities and acts as a laxative, hence it is regarded as an effective colon cleanser.

The medicinal properties of aloe vera gel will not only improve your colon health, but it will also treat other health problems like headaches, skin infections, diarrhea, stomach cramps and constipation.

Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to fresh aloe vera gel and put the mixture in a blender to make a few ounces of smooth juice.
Keep this juice in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
Drink it several times a day for a few days.

WARNINGS:

Stay away from laxatives or visiting a colon cleansing clinic, unless recommended by a doctor. Using these techniques of colon cleansing can actually harm your health. Avoid alcohol and caffeinated beverages, such as soda and coffee.

Schedule your colon cleanse to begin on a day when you do not have to leave the house to give your body time to adjust to the internal cleansing process.

 

The Healing Properties of Figs

The Healing Properties of Figs

Figs are a healing fruit and the health benefits of eating figs are amazing. They are helpful for asthma, bronchitis, constipation, diabetes, piles, heart disease, lowering cholesterol, anemia, and high blood pressure. They are high in vitamins A, B, C, potassium, dietary fiber, magnesium, and high in calcium so they help develop strong bones, (making it an excellent source of calcium for those who are lactose intolerant). History records show that figs have been around since 5000 B.C.

It is reported that Galen, a famous Herbalist of the 11th century said, ”If the dried figs were eaten with walnuts and rue before taking a fatal poison, they would preserve against its noxious effects.” This shows that figs have the ability to pull toxins out of the body.

The best types of figs to eat are fully ripened white figs. However, dried figs are good as well.
Just be sure when choosing them, to avoid mold or discolorations. Shipping and handling often causes damages to the fruit.

Figs are very cleansing to the kidneys and remove poisons from them. Figs generate heat and pass quickly through the intestines.

Figs are also known to clear chronic coughs and clear blockages. If eaten on an empty stomach with almonds and walnuts, will provide a complete meal.

Here are a few facts about Figs;

• Good for ladies in a family way and for the nursing mothers. They reduce acid levels, provide richness to the diet and increase the energy.

• During bouts of fever a small amount of a fig chewed by the patient can bring relief from dryness of the mouth.

• According to Japanese scientist, figs and fig syrup are good for shrinking tumors.

• Have anti-ulcer and antibacterial properties.

• Useful for mental illness when taken daily.

• Clears obstructions in the liver, gallbladder, and kidney’s.

• Relieves inflammation in the kidneys and bladder.

• Good for sore throats because they are high in mucilage which helps to protect a sore throat.

• A mixture of figs and honey is very good for coughs.

• A mixture of powdered fenugreek seeds, honey and figs are helpful for bronchial Asthma.

Figs are high in digestive enzymes, they contain the three components of a good diet; proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Figs are good for weight control, fresh or dried; they are high in fiber which can help to reduce snacking.

The nutrients are absorbed more slowly making people feel more satisfied. The down side is that figs are high in calories, about 50 calories per fig, so one or two with lots of water may have to do.

Figs are also good for insomnia.

They contain a nutrient called tryptophan. This promotes good sleep and helps the brain use sugars properly; it also encourages and stimulates good circulation throughout the body.

Fig leaves:

The leaves have been used also for diabetes, ringworm, warts and shingles. For diabetes a tea is made from the leaves. For skin infections a tea is made and applied to the skin.

Fig Facials:

Figs are also excellent for the skin.

They are very helpful in the ridding of dark circles under the eyes, as well as removing fine lines and wrinkles. Use them by themselves or combine with pumpkin if you like. Both of these foods are favorites of our Blessed Holy Last Messenger, peace be upon him.

Here is a recipe for radiant skin:

1. Clean the skin with a ½ teaspoon of yogurt, rinse well.

2. Scoop the pulp out of a fig. Put this in a mortar and use a pestle to mash the contents, adding a little almond oil until it is smooth enough to apply.

The high enzyme and high vitamin C content help remove impurities and dead skin. It softens the skin and leaves it feeling youthful and radiant. Five minutes is long enough for the mask to remain. Rinse the face and add moisturizer.

And now you know the amazing benefits of figs!

Bidhya Bhandari, First Female MUSLIM President of Nepal

Bidhya Bhandari, First Female MUSLIM President of Nepal

A women’s rights campaigner, before being elected as the President she was the vice-chair of the Communist Party of Nepal. Bidhya Devi Bhandari was elected by the parliament.

The 54 year old, was a defense minister from the year 2009 to 2011. She has promised the people of Nepal of Women’s rights and champion minority.

Bidhya Bhandari, has been a political atavist in a male dominated society for a long time now.

Before the democratic era, she worked underground, and was later elected into the parliament. Her husband was also a politician who passed away in a suspicious car crash.

 

First Hijabi (MUSLIMAH) to Hold a Position in the White House.

First Hijabi (MUSLIMAH) to Hold a Position in the White House.

Dalia Mogahed, in 2009 became the first ever hijabi to hold a positing in the White House. We have been working on putting successful Muslim women in the spotlight, and wanted to add her on the list. As the saying goes, better to be late, then never.

Dalia, was appointed in President Barack Obama’s administration. When he was setting up a new body at the White House. She was appointed by the Office of Religious Partnerships, whose duty was to support religious institutes in the United States and strengthen the bond between inter-faith dialogues and the government.

After being appointed she was asked to perform the toughest job in the United States. She had to improve US’s perception towards Muslims.

When her term ended, she handed in an advisory report to the President, which consisted of recommendations on Muslim outreach.

Along with being the advisor, she was working as a full time head of Gallup’s Center for Muslim Studies. A research center that provides analysis on Muslim views from around the world.

She is the co-author of “Who speaks for Islam? What a billion Muslims really think”.

Currently, she is the Director of Research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. Which is a nonprofit think tank, that produces research on Muslim communities worldwide, and American Muslims.

  

Maryam Mirzakhani, First MUSLIM Woman to Win the “Nobel Prize” in Mathematics.

Maryam Mirzakhani, First MUSLIM Woman to Win the “Nobel Prize” in Mathematics.

The International Mathematical Union was established to honor excellent mathematicians under the age of 40 years. The award presented was named after the Canadian mathematician John C. Fields. It is known as the “Nobel Prize of Mathematics.”

Since 1936 the field medal was awarded every 4 years, and 1 to 4 outstanding mathematicians are honored with it.

In 2014 it was the first time a woman was honored by the prize. A professor at Stanford University, she was rewarded for her outstanding contributions towards the “dynamics and geometry or Riemann surfaces and their moduli spaces.”

Maryam Mirzakhani, an Iranian national, has excelled in maths since she was in high school.

Over the years she won numerous gold medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad; at the most distinguished math tournament in the world, for per-collegiate students TWICE.

In an interview with Stanford Report she said; “It is fun, like connecting the dots to a case or like solving a puzzle” added “It was something I could accomplish, and wanted to pursue it.”
She got her undergraduate degree from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran. And her PhD at Harvard University; she studied under Curtis McMullen (Who was awarded the Fields Medal in 1998.)

Maryam is honored for her findings the volume of moduli spaces in the complex one dimensional planes also known as Riemann Surfaces. She is also talented in other areas of Math; and has research interests in “Teichmuller theory, Sympathetic geometry, Hyperbolic geometry, and Ergodic theory.”

Her workings have the potential to influence areas such as material science, quantum field theory, engineering, and theoretical physics.

  

Semantic is the study of meaning

Semantic

It is the study of meaning. It focuses on the relation between signifiers, like words, phrases, signs, and symbols, and what they stand for; their denotation.

Linguistic semantics is the study of meaning that is used for understanding human expression through language. Other forms of semantics include the semantics of programming languages, formal logics, and semiotics. In international scientific vocabulary semantics is also called semasiology.

The word semantics itself denotes a range of ideas—from the popular to the highly technical.

It is often used in ordinary language for denoting a problem of understanding that comes down to word selection or connotation. This problem of understanding has been the subject of many formal enquiries, over a long period of time, especially in the field of formal semantics.

In linguistics, it is the study of the interpretation of signs or symbols used in agents or communities within particular circumstances and contexts.

Within this view, sounds, facial expressions, body language, and proxemics have semantic (meaningful) content, and each comprises several branches of study. In written language, things like paragraph structure and punctuation bear semantic content; other forms of language bear other semantic content.

The formal study of semantics intersects with many other fields of inquiry, including lexicology, syntax, pragmatics, etymology and others.

Independently, semantics is also a well-defined field in its own right, often with synthetic properties. In the philosophy of language, semantics and reference are closely connected.
Further related fields include philology, communication, and semiotics. The formal study of semantics can therefore be manifold and complex.

Semantics contrasts with syntax, the study of the combinatorics of units of a language (without reference to their meaning), and pragmatics, the study of the relationships between the symbols of a language, their meaning, and the users of the language.

Semantics as a field of study also has significant ties to various representational theories of meaning including truth theories of meaning, coherence theories of meaning, and correspondence theories of meaning. Each of these is related to the general philosophical study of reality and the representation of meaning.

 

 

General knowledge for English Phonetics

General knowledge for English Phonetics

Sounds can be divided into two main types :

A vowel is a sound that needs an open air passage in the mouth . The air passage can be modified in terms of shape with different mouth and tongue shapes producing different vowels .

A consonant is formed when the air stream is restricted or stopped at the same point between the vocal cards and the lips .
The central sound ( cat ) is a vowel. The first and the last sounds are consonants.

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Allophone

Allophone : is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds (or phones) or signs used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, [pʰ] (as in pin) and [p] (as in spin) are allophones for the phoneme /p/ in the English language.

The specific allophone selected in a given situation is often predictable from the phonetic context (such allophones are called positional variants), but sometimes allophones occur in free variation.

Replacing a sound by another allophone of the same phoneme will usually not change the meaning of a word, although sometimes the result may sound non-native or even unintelligible. Native speakers of a given language usually perceive one phoneme in that language as a single distinctive sound, and are "both unaware of and even shocked by" the allophone variations used to pronounce single phonemes. Complementary and free-variant allophones.

Every time a speech sound is produced for a given phoneme, it will be slightly different from other utterances, even for the same speaker.

This has led to some debate over how real, and how universal, phonemes really are (see phoneme for details).

Only some of the variation is significant (i.e., detectable or perceivable) to speakers.

There are two types of allophones, based on whether a phoneme must be pronounced using a specific allophone in a specific situation, or whether the speaker has freedom to (unconsciously) choose which allophone to use.

When a specific allophone (from a set of allophones that correspond to a phoneme) must be selected in a given context (i.e., using a different allophone for a phoneme will cause confusion or make the speaker sound non- native), the allophones are said to be complementary (i.e., the allophones complement each other, and one is not used in a situation where the usage of another is standard).

In the case of complementary allophones, each allophone is used in a specific phonetic context and may be involved in phonological process.

In other cases, the speaker is able to select freely from free variant allophones, based on personal habit or preference.

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Here we have a text about English phonemes with examples : ـــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــــ
A phoneme is a single "unit" of sound that has meaning in any language.

There are 44 phonemes in English (in the standard British model), each one representing a different sound a person can make. Since there are only 26 letters in the alphabet, sometimes letter combinations need to be used to make a phoneme. A letter can also represent different phonemes.

 Here is a good example:

chef = /ʃef/
choir = /kwaɪə/
cheese = /tʃi:z/

The "ch" letter combination has three different pronunciations, which are represented by three different phonemes: /ʃ/, /k/ and /tʃ/. Of course, this is confusing when you need to learn new words, but unfortunately, we are stuck with a strange spelling system in English. You really just need to learn the pronunciation of every new word, along with its meaning. Unlike other languages, English spelling is not phonetic.

Sometimes, there is more than one way to pronounce a phoneme. These different pronunciations are called allophones. They are not phonemes, because they do not change the meaning of the word. 

Allophones often show up when people have different accents. One good example is the word "butter". Some native speakers will say [bʌɾə]. Others will say [bʌtə].

You can see here that [t] and [ɾ] are allophones of the same phoneme. Whatever way you say it, the meaning of the word does not change! It's still the yellow stuff made from milk that you put on bread. Because different accents use different allophones, the British and American phonemic charts are a little bit different. Most ESL students do not need to worry too much about allophones. Use whatever one is in your textbook or dictionary, or ask your teacher for some advice.

Types of phoneme:

The two major phoneme categories are vowels and consonants.

Vowels:

Basically, a vowel is any "open" sound where there is no obstruction or "blocking" caused by the teeth, tongue, lips, palate or other articulators.

 In the English alphabet, there are 5 vowels: A, E, I, O, U. But there are many more vowel sounds in the English language. Forexample, the /e/ vowel sound is usually represented by the letter "E". But when you put two "E" letters together, like in "speed" (/spi:d/), you get a long vowel sound: /i:/.

Single vowel:

A single vowel sound is any vowel that is not a diphthong (see below). A single vowel can be short or long.

Short vowels:

This is the list of the short vowels in standard (RP) English:

/ɪ/ as in ship
/ʊ/ as in book
/e/ as in egg
/æ/ as in cat
/ʌ/ as in cup
/ɒ/ as in hot
Schwa - /ə/

The schwa is a special type of short vowel. It is a very "weak" sound that is never stressed. This means you often find the schwa in words with more than one syllable. Here are some examples:
mother: /'mʌðə/
America: /ə'merɪkə/

Long vowels:

In the British English phonemic chart, long vowels are easy to recognise, because they have a colon (":") symbol after them. Some long vowels are basically longer versions of short vowels (like /ɪ/ and /i:/).

Long vowels in English:

/i:/ as in sheep
/u:/ as in boot
/ɜ:/ as in learn
/ɔ:/ as in door
/ɑ:/ as in car

Diphthongs:

A diphthong is a two vowel sounds, one after the other. There is movement or "glide" between the two parts of the sound. For example, to say the /eɪ/ dipthong, like in the word "cake" (/keɪk/) first say /e/, then say /ɪ/ without stopping. Your
mouth will move from the /e/ shape to the /ɪ/ shape. 

This is the "glide".

Diphthongs of English: ɪə/ as in beer
/eɪ/ as in same
/ʊə/ as in tour
/ɔɪ/ as in coin
/əʊ/ as in nose
/eə/ as in hair
/aɪ/ as in fly
/aʊ/ as in house

Consonants:

Consonants are sounds where there is obstruction or "blocking" of the airflow caused by your lips (/m/), teeth (/θ/), tongue (/l/), palate (/ŋ/) or even deep down in your larynx (/h/).

The two major categories of consonants are voiced and unvoiced consonants.
Voiced Consonants Voiced consonants make sound using the vibration of your vocal folds in your larynx - the "voice box".

You can tell if a consonant is voiced in a couple of ways:

1. Put your finger on your throat when you say it.

If you feel vibration, it is voiced.

2. Put your fingers in your ears when you say it.

If you can still "hear" the consonant through the vibrations in your neck and head, it is voiced.

Voiced consonants in English:

/b/ as in ball

/d/ as in dog

/ʤ/ as in joke

/g/ as in good

/v/ as in van

/ð/ as in that

/z/ as in zoo

/ʒ/ as in vision

/m/ as in mouth

/n/ as in no

/ŋ/ as in thing

/l/ as in love

/r/ as in right

/w/ as in why

/j/ as in you

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Unvoiced consonants:

Unvoiced consonants do not use this vibration.

Instead they make sound using the movement of air through your teeth, tongue, lips and other articulators.

Unvoiced consonants in English:

/p/ as in pea

/t/ as in tea

/ʧ/ as in cheap

/k/ as in coffee

/f/ as in fat

/θ/ as in thin

/s/ as in see

/ʃ/ as in she

/h/ as in he

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