Fricative

A Dictionary of Phonetics and Phonology

n. or adj. 1. (also spirant) A segment whose articulation involves a radical constriction in the vocal tract short of a complete closure but sufficient to produce friction noise as the airstream flows through the constricted opening. Fricatives may be voiced or voiceless; examples include [f v s z]. Since small differences in articulatory posture can produce large differences in the auditory quality of the segment, the number of distinguishable fricatives is quite large, and the IPA provides more distinct symbols for fricatives than for any other manner of consonants. Fricatives are sometimes classified, both phonetically and phonologically, into two groups differing in ‘noisiness’ by means of such features as [±strident] or [±sibilant]. The most widely occurring fricative in the world’s languages is [s], and most languages have one or more fricatives in their phoneme inventory, though some, like Hawaiian and the majority of Australian languages, have none.

The combination of a fricative articulation with other independent articulatory gestures allows such segments as a lateral fricative or a fricative trill. See Laver (1994: ch. 9) for a summary. 2. In the Ladefoged feature system, one of the three possible values of the feature stop. 3. In the Williamson feature system, one of the five possible values of the feature stricture. 4. (fric) A binary distinctive feature proposed by Ladefoged (1971), distinguishing affricates and fricatives ([+fric]) from all other segments ([-fric]).