Fricative consonant

consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together

A fricative consonant is a consonant that is made when you squeeze air through a small hole or gap in your mouth. For example, the gaps between your teeth can make fricative consonants; when these gaps are used, the fricatives are called sibilants. Some examples of sibilants in English are [s], [z], [ʃ], and [ʒ].

English has a fairly large number of fricatives, and it has both voiced and voiceless fricatives. Its voiceless fricatives are [s], [ʃ], [f], and [θ], and its voiced fricatives are [z], [ʒ], [v], and [ð]

Sibilant fricatives

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This is a list of sibilant fricatives.

Non-sibilant fricatives

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Lateral fricatives

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Pseudo-fricatives

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In many languages, such as English, the glottal "fricatives," like the [h] in English "hat", are not really fricatives because throughout the length of time it takes to produce this speech sound, the state of the gaps or holes in your mouth remains unchanged, without being joined by any manner, fricative or otherwise. They may be mistaken for real glottal constriction in a number of languages, such as Finnish.[1]

References

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  • Laufer, Asher (1991), "Phonetic Representation: Glottal Fricatives", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 21 (2): 91–93, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004448, S2CID 145231104

Other websites

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  1. Laufer (1991:91)