Fricative consonant

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

This is a list of sibilant fricatives.

• [s] voiceless coronal sibilant, as in English sip
• [z] voiced coronal sibilant, as in English zip
• [ʃ] voiceless palat-alveolar sibilant (domed, partially palatalized), as in English ship
• [ʒ] voiced palat-alveolar sibilant (domed, partially palatalized), as the s in English vision
• [ɕ] voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant (laminal, palatalized)
• [ʑ] voiced alveo-palatal sibilant (laminal, palatalized)
• [ʂ] voiceless retroflex sibilant (apical or subapical)
• [ʐ] voiced retroflex sibilant (apical or subapical)

Non-sibilant fricatives

• [ɸ] voiceless bilabial fricative
• [β] voiced bilabial fricative
• [f] voiceless labiodental fricative, as in English fine
• [v] voiced labiodental fricative, as in English vine
• [θ], [θ̟] voiceless dental fricative, as in English thing
• [ð], [ð̟] voiced dental fricative, as in English that
• [r̝] voiced alveolar fricative trill
• [ç] voiceless palatal fricative
• [ʝ] voiced palatal fricative
• [x] voiceless velar fricative
• [ɣ] voiced velar fricative
• [ɧ] voiceless palatal-velar fricative
• [χ] voiceless uvular fricative
• [ʁ] voiced uvular fricative
• [ħ] voiceless pharyngeal fricative
• [ʕ] voiced pharyngeal fricative
• [ʜ] voiceless epiglottal fricative
• [ʢ] voiced epiglottal fricative

Lateral fricatives

• [ɬ] voiceless coronal lateral fricative
• [ɮ] voiced coronal lateral fricative

Pseudo-fricatives

• [h] voiceless glottal transition, as in English hat
• [ɦ] breathy-voiced glottal transition

In many languages, such as English, the glottal "fricatives," like the [h] in English "hat", are not really fricatives because they are just vowels that are not voiced. However, in languages such as Arabic, they are true fricatives.

Other websites

• Fricatives in English