Fricative

Fricatives are consonant sounds produced by forcing air through a narrow constriction in the vocal tract, creating turbulent airflow and thus a characteristic hissing or buzzing sound. They form one of the major classes of consonant sounds, alongside plosives, nasals, and approximants.

Description

When producing a fricative, the articulators (such as the tongue, teeth, lips, or the back of the throat) come close enough together to create significant turbulence in the airflow, but not so close as to completely block it (which would create a plosive). This turbulent airflow generates the acoustic noise that characterizes fricatives.

The narrow passage through which air flows can be created at various places in the vocal tract, giving rise to different types of fricatives. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) has distinct symbols for fricatives produced at different places of articulation:

Place of Articulation	Voiceless	Voiced	Example Languages
Bilabial	[ɸ]	[β]	Japanese: "富士山" [ɸɯdʑisaɴ], Spanish: "Cuba" [ˈkuβa]
Labiodental	[f]	[v]	English: "five" [faɪv], "very" [vɛɹi]
Dental	[θ]	[ð]	English: "thin" [θɪn], "this" [ðɪs]
Alveolar	[s]	[z]	English: "seal" [siːl], "zeal" [ziːl]
Postalveolar	[ʃ]	[ʒ]	English: "ship" [ʃɪp], French: "je" [ʒə]
Retroflex	[ʂ]	[ʐ]	Mandarin: "上" [ʂɑŋ], Polish: "żaba" [ˈʐaba]
Palatal	[ç]	[ʝ]	German: "ich" [ɪç], Spanish: "hielo" [ˈʝelo]
Velar	[x]	[ɣ]	German: "Bach" [bax], Greek: "γάτα" [ˈɣata]
Uvular	[χ]	[ʁ]	Hebrew: "חיים" [χaim], French: "rouge" [ʁuʒ]
Pharyngeal	[ħ]	[ʕ]	Arabic: "حليب" [ħalib], "عربي" [ʕarabi]
Glottal	[h]	[ɦ]	English: "hat" [hæt], Czech: "hladký" [ɦlatki:]

Sibilants and Non-Sibilants

Fricatives are often divided into two categories:

• Sibilants: Characterized by high-amplitude, high-frequency noise. They include [s], [z], [ʃ], [ʒ], [ʂ], [ʐ]. Sibilants are produced by directing the airstream with the tongue toward the sharp edge of the teeth, creating a high-pitched sound.
• Non-sibilants: Have less acoustic energy and lower amplitude. They include [f], [v], [θ], [ð], [ç], [ʝ], [x], [ɣ], [χ], [ʁ], [ħ], [ʕ], [h], [ɦ].

Occurrence in Languages

Almost all languages have fricatives, though the specific inventory varies:

• The vast majority of languages have at least one voiceless fricative
• [s] is the most common fricative cross-linguistically
• The dental fricatives [θ] and [ð] are relatively rare, found in only about 4% of languages
• Some languages (like Hawaiian) have very few fricatives ([h] only)
• Others (like Czech) have extensive fricative inventories

Acoustic Properties

Fricatives are characterized acoustically by:

• Aperiodic noise (for voiceless fricatives) or a mix of periodic and aperiodic energy (for voiced fricatives)
• Relatively high intensity for sibilants compared to non-sibilants
• Spectral peaks at different frequencies depending on the place of articulation
• Lower amplitude than surrounding vowels, especially for non-sibilants

Related Articles

• Voiced Alveolar Fricative
• Voiced Bilabial Fricative
• Voiced Dental Fricative
• Sibilant
• Plosive
• Affricate

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