Fricatives

2. Fricatives Mechanism of sound production is simple: Air is passed through a narrow channel, creating turbulence. Turbulence = noise. When you look at white water on a river or stream you are looking at turbulence. (You can also hear this turbulence; this is the noise you hear when white water passes between boulders and whatnot.) All fricatives involve this turbulence-generating mechanism.

English fricatives: Voiceless: [f] [θ] (“theory”) [s] [ʃ] (“shoe”) [h] Voiced: [v] [ð] (“this”) [z] [ʒ] (“Zsa Zsa”) All English fricatives except [h]* form voiced- voiceless cognates: [v]-[f] [ð]-[θ] [z]-[s] [ʒ]-[ʃ] For each pair: Same place, same manner, different voicing. *There is a voiced (breathy is a better word) [h], but it is an allophone of /h/. Symbol: [ɦ]. It can appear in words such as behind and behold.

for weak fricatives) for strong fricatives) WEAK (not very loud) STRONG (comparatively loud) (Slit Fricatives) ` (Groove Fricatives) [f] [v] [θ] [ð] [h] [s] [z] [ʃ] [ʒ] (constriction shape for (constriction shape for weak fricatives) for strong fricatives) Long flat constriction = More circular constriction = Inefficient noise generator Efficient noise generator (noise is weak) (noise is strong)

[f]-[v]: Place = Labiodental (lips-teeth) Flat constriction (slit fricatives); flat (rather than round or grooved) constrictions produce a weak noise. No resonator in front of the constriction; spectrum has a pretty flat shape (no well-defined resonant peaks) [fɑ]: spectrum during [f] noise (flat) [vɑ]: Narrow band spectrum during [v] noise (flat, but with harmonics in the lows)

[θ]-[ð]: Place = Linguadental (tongue-teeth) or interdental (linguadental & interdental are synonyms) Flat constriction (slit fricatives); flat (rather than round or grooved) constrictions produce a weak noise No resonator in front of the constriction; like [f] and [v], spectrum has a pretty flat shape (no well-defined resonant peaks) NOTE: Place is always listed as linguadental/ interdental, but for [ð] in particular the tongue is often behind the top teeth; i.e., [ð] is more often dental than linguadental/interdental.

[s]-[z]: Place = alveolar Round-ish, grooved constriction; these produce a strong noise Short resonator in front of the constriction formed by the lips; spectrum has a strong high-frequency peak. Why high freq? Short tubes have high-frequency resonances. [sɑ]-: spectrum during [s] noise (hi-freq peak) [z]: Spectrogram for [z] (not shown) is very similar, except that voicing (a glottal buzz) will be mixed in with the noise, just like [v] and [ð].

[ʃ]-[ʒ] (also [sà] and [zà]; small wedge over [s]/[z] = hachek): Place = Alveopalatal/Palatoalveolar/Prepalatal Round-ish, grooved constriction; these produce a strong noise Relative to [s]-[z]: Place further back and lips are rounded. Result: Longer resonator in front of the constriction; longer tubes have lower resonant freq’s. So, [ʃ] has more low freq energy than [s]; [ʒ] has more low freq energy than [z]. [sɑ]: More low freq energy for [ʃɑ]- than [sɑ]. Same deal for [ʒ] and [z]. [ʃɑ]:

Place = Glottal (whisper) Tongue, lips & jaw don’t have anything in particular to do in the production of [h] since it is a glottal articulation. Since the vocal tract can do whatever it pleases during [h], the tongue, lips & jaw will take the position of the following vowel. [h], then, is simply a whispered vowel: he [hi]: [h] = whispered [i] who [hu]: [h] = whispered [u] hoe [ho]: [h] = whispered [o] . . .

Which is [fɑ], which is [vɑ]? Which is [sɑ], which is [zɑ]?

zɑ sɑ

Which is [sɑ], which is [θɑ]? Which is [æʃɚ], which is [æʒɚ]?

Which is [θɑ], which is [ðɑ]?