What is a fricative consonant?

Its

a type of consonant made by forcing air

through a narrow gap so that a hissing noise is
generated.

They

are continuous consonants.

Remember!
A

voiced consonant produces vibration in

the vocal folds by the time it is produced.

voiceless consonant doesnt produce any

vibration in the vocal folds by the time it is
produced.

According to the place of articulation

Labio
dental
Voiceless

Voiced

f
v

dental alveolar

s
z

Postalveolar

glottal
h

Different positions
for fricative
consonants

/f/ /v/

Example words: fan, van, safer, saber, half, halve.

These are labiodental consonants, that is, the lower lip is

in contact with the upper teeth.

The fricative noise is never very strong and is scarcely

audible in the case of /v/

// //

Example words: thumb, thus, ether, father, breath,

breathe.

The dental fricatives are sometimes described as if the

tongue were placed between the teeth.

However, the tongue is normally placed behind the teeth.

The tip touching the inside of the lower front teeth and
the blade touching the inside of the upper teeth.

/s/ /z/

Example words: sip, zip, facing, phasing, rice, rise.

These are alveolar fricatives, with the same place of

articulation as /t/ and /d/.

The air escapes through a narrow passage along the center

of the tongue, and the sound produced is comparatively
intense.

// //

Example words: ship, Russia, measure, irish, garage.

Initial // is very rare in English.

These fricatives are called post-alveolar, which can be taken to

mean that the tongue is in contact with an rea slightly further back
than that for /s/ and /z/.

If you make /s/ and then //, you should be able to feel your tongue
move backwards.

/h/
Example

words: head, ahead, playhouse.

The

place of articulation is glottal. It is usually

found before vowels.

As

well as being found in initial position, it is found

medially in words such as ahead or greenhouse.

AFFRICATE
CONSONANTS

An affricate is a single unit consonant made up of a stop and a period

of fricative release.

Apparently, an affricate is just a production of a sequence of a stop

and a fricative.

However, affricates occupies a single phonetic/phonological unit

(often called a segment) identical to a single obstruent.

A stop-fricative sequence would be two segments rather than one.

Hence, a sequence of a stop and a fricative does not necessarily form

an affricate.

Africate consonants:

Affricates as a segment:
ketchup

the shop

Give it a try! Transcribe the following

words:

Test

Get

Express

Dictionary

Edition

Horse

Father

That

Thunder

Fire