Fricative consonant

Fricatives are consonants [produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of [f]; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German [x] (the final consonant of Bach); or the side of the tongue against the molars, in the case of Welsh [ɬ] (appearing twice in the name Llanelli). This turbulent airflow is called frication. A particular subset of fricatives are the sibilants. When forming a sibilant, one still is forcing air through a narrow channel, but in addition, the tongue is curled lengthwise to direct the air over the edge of the teeth. English [s], [z], [ʃ], and [ʒ] are examples of sibilants.

The usage of two other terms is less standardized: "Spirant" can be a synonym of "fricative", or (as in e.g. Uralic linguistics) refer to non-sibilant fricatives only. "Strident" could mean just "sibilant", but some authors include also labiodental and uvular fricatives in the class.

Types

Sibilants

• [s] voiceless coronal sibilant, as in English sip
• [z] voiced coronal sibilant, as in English zip
• [s̪] voiceless dental sibilant
• [z̪] voiced dental sibilant
• [s̺] voiceless apical sibilant
• [z̺] voiced apical sibilant
• [s̠] voiceless postalveolar sibilant (laminal)
• [z̠] voiced postalveolar sibilant (laminal)
• [ʃ] voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant (domed, partially palatalized), as in English ship
• [ʒ] voiced palato-alveolar sibilant (domed, partially palatalized), as the si in English vision
• [ɕ] voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant (laminal, palatalized)
• [ʑ] voiced alveolo-palatal sibilant (laminal, palatalized)
• [ʂ] voiceless retroflex sibilant (apical or subapical)
• [ʐ] voiced retroflex sibilant (apical or subapical)

All sibilants are coronal, but may be dental, alveolar, postalveolar, or palatal (retroflex) within that range. However, at the postalveolar place of articulation, the tongue may take several shapes: domed, laminal, or apical, and each of these is given a separate symbol and a separate name. Prototypical retroflexes are subapical and palatal, but they are usually written with the same symbol as the apical postalveolars. The alveolars and dentals may also be either apical or laminal, but this difference is indicated with diacritics rather than with separate symbols.

Central 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
• [θ̼] voiceless linguolabial fricative
• [ð̼] voiced linguolabial fricative
• [θ], [θ̟] voiceless dental non-sibilant fricative, as in English thing
• [ð], [ð̟] voiced dental non-sibilant fricative, as in English that
• [θ̠], [ɹ̝̊] voiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative
• [ð̠], [ɹ̝] voiced alveolar non-sibilant fricative
• [r̝̊] voiceless trilled fricative
• [r̝] voiced trilled fricative
• [ç] voiceless palatal fricative
• [ʝ] voiced palatal fricative
• [x] voiceless velar fricative
• [ɣ] voiced velar fricative
• [ɧ] voiceless palatal-velar fricative (articulation disputed)
• [χ] voiceless uvular fricative
• [ħ] voiceless pharyngeal fricative

The IPA also has letters for epiglottal fricatives,

• [ʜ] voiceless epiglottal fricative
• [ʢ] voiced epiglottal fricative

with allophonic trilling, but these might be better analyzed as pharyngeal trills.

Lateral fricatives

• [ɬ̪] voiceless dental lateral fricative
• [ɮ̪] voiced dental lateral fricative
• [ɬ] voiceless alveolar lateral fricative
• [ɮ] voiced alveolar lateral fricative
• [ɬ̠] voiceless postalveolar lateral fricative (Mehri)
• [ɭ̥˔] or [ꞎ] voiceless retroflex lateral fricative
• [ʎ̥˔] or [ʎ̝̊] voiceless palatal lateral fricative (also written ⟨⟩)
• [ʟ̝̊] voiceless velar lateral fricative (also written ⟨⟩)
• [ʟ̝] voiced velar lateral fricative

The lateral fricative occurs as the ll of Welsh, as in Lloyd, Llewelyn, and Machynlleth ([maˈxənɬɛθ], a town), as the unvoiced 'hl' and voiced 'dl' or 'dhl' in the several languages of Southern Africa (such as Xhosa and Zulu), and in Mongolian.

IPA letters used for both fricatives and approximants

• [ʁ] voiced uvular fricative
• [ʕ] voiced pharyngeal fricative

No language distinguishes voiced fricatives from approximants at these places, so the same symbol is used for both. For the pharyngeal, approximants are more numerous than fricatives. A fricative realization may be specified by adding the uptack to the letters, [ʁ̝, ʕ̝]. Likewise, the downtack may be added to specify an approximant realization, [ʁ̞, ʕ̞].

(The bilabial approximant and dental approximant do not have dedicated symbols either and are transcribed in a similar fashion: [β̞, ð̞]. However, the base letters are understood to specifically refer to the fricatives.)

Pseudo-fricatives

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

External links

• Fricatives in English