6.1 Production of fricatives and affricates Fricatives are co | English books pdf learning

6.1 Production of fricatives and affricates

Fricatives are consonants with the characteristic that air escapes through a narrow passage and makes a hissing sound. Most languages have fricatives, the most commonly found being something like /s/. Fricatives are continuant consonants, which means that you can continue making them without interruption as long as you have enough air in your lungs.

Plosives, which were described in Chapter 4, are not continuants. You can demonstrate the importance of the narrow passage for the air in the following ways:

i) Make a long, hissing /sssss/ sound and gradually lower your tongue so that it is no longer close to the roof of the mouth. The hissing sound will stop as the air passage gets larger.

ii) Make a long /fffff/ sound and, while you are producing this sound, use your fingers to pull the lower lip away from the upper teeth. Notice how the hissing sound of the air escaping between teeth and lip suddenly stops.

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