Fricatives

A fricative is a consonant sound that is created by constricting the vocal tract, causing
friction as the air passes through it. The nine English fricative sounds
/f/ /v/ /θ/ /ð/ /s/ /z/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/ /h/

MOUTH POSITIONS

Examples:

/f/ The fox fought off the ferret for food

/v/ Victor never lived or drove in Venezuela.

/θ/ Think about both authors’ theories thoroughly.

/ð/ My father and brother share these clothes.

/s/ Sophie and Jess sell essential briefcases to businessmen.

/z/ Zoe has crazy zebra-striped designer shoes.

/ʃ/ Surely you wish Welsh stations sold champagne?

/ʒ/ He measures his Asian television exposure at leisure.

/h/ He helped to fund the hospital’s helicopter ahead of the election.

Approximants

Approximants are produced when one articulator approaches another but does not
make the vocal tract so narrow that a turbulent airstream results. The terms frictionless
continuant, semivowel, and glide are sometimes used for some of the sounds made
with this manner of articulation. The consonants in the words we and you are examples
of approximants.

The English approximant sounds are /r/, /w/ and /y/)

r sound /r/: the back of the tongue is bunched high so the sides of the tongue touch
the back side teeth

w sound /w/: lips are made into a small circle, the back of the tongue is lifted

y sound /y/: the tongue blade is pressed very close to the back of the tooth ridge

Examples:

/j/ Yonkers youths used to use yellow yaks to ride to Europe.

/w/ One Wednesday last week, I woke up to find Wally walking weirdly.

/r/ Running rings around Rebecca really irritates Ronald.

Trills

a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the active articulator and
passive articulator. Standard Spanish <rr> as in perro, for example is an alveolar
trill.The tongue tip and blade, the uvula, and the lips are the only articulators than can
be used in this way.

EXAMPLES:
-Aterrar to terrify
-Arruinarto ruin
-Arrojar top throw
-Arriba above,up
-Barrio neighbourhood

Taps

A tap is produced if one articulator is thrown against another, as when the loosely held
tongue tip makes a single tap against the upper teeth or the alveolar ridge. The
consonant in the middle of a word such as letter or Betty is often made in this way in
American English. The term flap is also used to describe these sounds, but some
authorities make a distinction between taps as defined here and flaps, in which the tip
of the tongue is raised up and back and then strikes the alveolar ridge as it returns to a
position behind the lower front teeth.

EXAMPLES:
-Better
-Water
-Later
-Matter
-Daddy
Laterals
Lateral (also called lateral approximant), a type of consonant sound, which is
produced by allowing the air to escape around the sides of the tongue rather than over
the middle of the tongue. The lateral sound is frictionless. It is in many respects vowel-
like and could be considered as a continuant. It is to some extent similar to /r/j/
– The English sound /l/ has two common variations:

Clear ‘l’ (/l/ before a vowel)

Place of Articulation: The upper alveolar ridge, the tip of the tongue, the front of the
tongue, and the hard palate.
Examples:
law, leaf, holler, melon

Dark ‘l’ (/l/ at the end or before a consonant)

Place of Articulation: The upper alveolar ridge, the tip of the tongue, the back of the
tongue, and the velum.
Examples:
all, feel, holding, mel