The consonants

Fricatives- Âm xát
Affricates- Âm tắt xát
English Fricatives
 Definition: sound produced by forcing the air
to escape through a narrow passage b/w an
articulator and a point of articulation with a
friction.
 There are 9 English fricatives
English Fricatives
 Make a long [s] and gradually lower your
tongue → hissing sound will stop.
 Make a long [f] sound and then pull the lower

lip away from the upper teeth → hissing sound

will disappear.
 It is important to let the air escape through a

narrow passage and make a hissing sound in

order to create the fricatives.
 Fricatives are continuant consonants: you can

continue making them without interruption

(plosives are not continuants).
English Fricatives
Place of Articulation
Post-
Labiodental Dental Alveolar Glottal
alveolar
Fortis
f θ s ʃ
(voiceless) h

The fortis fricatives are said toðbe articulated with greater

•Lenis ʒ
(voiced) v z
force
than the lenis, and their friction noise is louder.
• The lenis fricatives have very little or no voicing in initial and
final positions, but may be voiced between voiced sounds.

• Fortis fricatives can shorten the preceding vowel/dipthong.

 E.g. : ice [aɪ´s] and eyes [aɪz]

 diphthong
[aɪ] is shorter (Next)
English Fricatives
 [f, v] are labio-dental sounds where the lower lip is in
contact with the upper teeth, soft hissing noise.
◦ E.g. half - halve
 [θ, ð] (called theta and eth) are dental sounds with the
tongue is placed behind the upper teeth, soft hissing noise.
◦ E.g. ether - father
 [s, z] are alveolar fricatives with the same place of
articulation as [t, d], loud hissing noise.
◦ E.g. facing - phasing
 [∫, ʒ] (called esh and yogh; initial [ʒ] is very rare in English)
are post-alveolar with the tongue touches further back area
than [s, z] and the lips are rounded, loud hissing noise.
◦ E.g. chauffeur - measure - garage
The glottal fricative and its “relatives” – âm xát hầu
 [h] is a glottal fricative, which means that the narrowing producing
the friction noise is between the vocal folds.
 This is a special “copy-cat” phoneme: hat [hæt] when [h] is

produced, the tongue, jaw and lip positions are similar to that of
[æ].
→ [h] has [æ] quality
→ The consonant always has the quality of the vowel it precedes.
 Phonetically, [h] is a voiceless vowel with the quality of the voiced
vowel that follows it.
 Phonologically, [h] is a consonant which is usually found before

vowels. When it occurs between voiced sounds, it is pronounced

with weak voicing (breathy voice).
◦ E.g.: ahead [әhed] and greenhouse [griːnhaʊs]
 [h] is omitted in unstressed pronunciations of her, he, him, his and
have, has, had when they occur at the middle or near the end of a
sentence.
◦ E.g.: Tell her I love her.
(Read more of [ʍ] (≈ [hw]) and [ç] (≈ [hj]) in 6.2/chapter 6)
Characteristics of English Fricatives
1. One characteristic of Fricatives: hissing noise
2. Sibilants: sound with loud hissing noise
3. Voiceless Fricatives at final position: shorten
preceding vowel/diphthong
4. /h/: voiceless, glottal, fricative
+ phonetically/ manner of articulation: /h/ similar to
vowel, no obstruction of the air
+ phonemically/ monologically/ distribution: similar
to consonants. E.g. : a hat- V-C-V-C.
+ /h/ is voiced b/w 2 voiced sound.
ˆE.g. : ahead- behind- HOUR
English Affricates – âm tắc xát
 Affricates are sounds that begin as plosives and end as
fricatives.
◦ E.g. church [t∫ɜːt∫]
 The tongue moves from the position of [t]
to that of [∫] very quickly.

 Affricates can only be made by a plosive and a fricative that

are homorganic (= being made with the same articulator).
◦ E.g.: /t, d, ∫, ʒ/ are phonemes made with tongue blade against the
alveolar ridge → 2 affricates /t∫/ and /dʒ/
◦ N.B. /t/, /∫/ and /t∫/ are three different phonemes!
 Speakers normally round their lips when making these sounds.
 [t∫] is slightly aspirated and post-alveolar. It tends to shorten
a preceding vowel.
 [dʒ] is voiced and post- alveolar.
English Affricates – âm tắc xát
1. Affricatives: sound produced by stopping the
air completely then forcing it to escape with a
friction. 2 affricatives: / t∫/, / dʒ/
2. Characteristics of affricatives:
◦ The stop and fricative in an affricative must be
homorganic: having the same place of articulation
◦ / t∫, dʒ /: lips rounded, loud hissing noise  Sibilants
◦ / t∫ / voiceless/ Fortis
 At initial position: slightly aspirated
 At final position: shorten the preceding vowel/dipthong
Fortis consonants
 From those mentioned above, we can say that syllable final
fortis consonants can shorten a preceding vowel, especially
long vowels and diphthongs. Similarly, they can shorten [l,
m, n, ŋ] in words like bump [bᴧmp] and bank [bæŋk].
 Fortis consonants are articulated with open glottis because

the airflow is essential to produce them successfully. But

with plosives, an alterative is to produce the consonant with
closed glottis. This is glottalisation which usually occurs
before [p, t, k, t∫].
◦ E.g.: catching [kæt∫ɪŋ] → [kæʔt∫ɪŋ]
riches [rɪt∫iz] → [rɪʔt∫iz]
 Glottalisation of [p, t, k] happens , though not noticeable,
when the plosive is followed by another consonant or a
pause.
◦ E.g.: football [fʊtbɔːl] → [fʊʔtbɔːl]
mat [mæt] → [mæʔt]