ABSTRACT
Fricative consonants are made by narrowing the air passage at some point: the air escapes through this narrowed space making a fricative sound. The voiceless fricatives are much more easily recognized as fricatives than their voiced counterparts, the fricative nature of the latter being generally somewhat obscured by their weaker articulation. In the formation of a bi-labial fricative the two lips are concerned: they are brought together, and the air passes through this narrow opening with or without the accompaniment of voice. As speech sounds they are not very common in European languages. A dental or pre-dental fricative is articulated with the tip of the tongue against the edge of the upper teeth. A number of fricative consonants can be described as sibilants-hissing or hushing sounds. The voiced counterparts are called buzzing sounds. The place where the hiss or buzz is made may vary, and consequently we have sibilants of varying acoustic properties.
