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.

Non-sibilant fricatives

Lateral fricatives

Pseudo-fricatives

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.[1]

References

  1. Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19814-8.

Other websites