Voiceless retroflex fricative
The
voiceless retroflex fricative is a type of
consonantal sound, used in some
spoken languages. The symbol in the
International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent
X-SAMPA symbol is
s`. Like all the
retroflex consonants, the IPA symbol is formed by adding a rightward pointing hook extending from the bottom of the symbol used for the equivalent
alveolar consonant, in this case the
voiceless alveolar fricative which has the symbol s. The IPA symbol is thus a lowercase letter
s with a rightward tail protruding from the lower left of the letter. Compare s and .
Features of the voiceless retroflex fricative:
* Its
manner of articulation is
sibilant fricative, which means it is produced by directing air flow through a groove in the tongue at the place of articulation and directing it over the sharp edge of the teeth, causing high-frequency
turbulence.
* Its
place of articulation is
retroflex, which prototypically means it is articulated with the tip of the tongue curled up, but more generally means that it is
postalveolar without being
palatalized. That is, besides the prototypical sub-apical (curled) articulation, the tongue contact can be
apical (pointed) or
laminal (flat).
* Its
phonation type is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
* It is an
oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
* It is a
central consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the middle of the tongue, rather than the sides.
* The
airstream mechanism is
pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the
lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the
glottis or the mouth.
LaminalLaminal retroflex fricatives are found in
Polish (spelled
sz),
Russian, and
Standard Mandarin (spelled
sh in
Pinyin).
*Polish
kasza 'groats'
;
ApicalApical articulations are typical of
Indic languages and
Northwest Caucasian languages which distinguish more than one postalveolar fricative.
*
Sanskrit akṣara 'letter of the alphabet'
*
Ubykh 'head'
;
Sub-apicalSub-apical articulations are typical of the
Dravidian languages.
*
Telugu akṣaramu 'letter of the alphabet'
*
Castilian Spanish also replaces the
voiceless denti-alveolar silibant with this sound; in contrast to the Latin American dialects and some peninsular dialects. For example the word "dos" [d"ʐ] 'two'. Note however that the sound occurs in all positions (initial, final and intervocalic).For many people to which this sound is foreign, it might actually sound like a hiss, or even a whistle. Many also make the incorrect assumption that this phone is a result of a
speech impediment or
lisp.
*
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