Fricative consonant
Fricative consonants are produced by air flowing through a narrow channel made by placing two articulating organs close together (e.g. the tip of the tongue and the upper teeth, as in the pronunciation of English initial "th" in thick, or the back of the tongue and the soft palate, as in the case of German [x], the final consonant of Bach). Turbulent airflow produces a characteristic noise called "frication". Fricatives may be voiceless or voiced (see phonation).
List of fricatives
- [ɸ] voiceless bilabial fricative
- [β] voiced bilabial fricative
- [ʍ] voiceless labial-velar fricative
- [f] voiceless labiodental fricative
- [v] voiced labiodental fricative
- [θ] voiceless dental fricative
- [ð] voiced dental fricative
- [s] voiceless alveolar fricative
- [s'] alveolar ejective fricative
- [z] voiced alveolar fricative
- [ɬ] lateral voiceless alveolar fricative
- [ɮ] lateral voiced alveolar fricative
- [ʃ] voiceless postalveolar fricative
- [ʒ] voiced postalveolar fricative
- [ʑ] voiced alveolo-palatal fricative
- [ɕ] voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative
- [ʂ] voiceless retroflex fricative
- [ʐ] voiced retroflex fricative
- [ç] voiced palatal fricative
- [ʝ] voiceless palatal fricative
- [x] voiceless velar fricative
- [ɣ] voiced velar fricative
- [χ] voiceless uvular fricative
- [ʁ] voiced uvular fricative
- [ħ] voiceless pharyngeal fricative
- [ʕ] voiced pharyngeal fricative
- [ʢ] voiced epiglottal fricative
- [ʜ] voiceless epiglottal fricative
- [h] voiceless glottal fricative
- [ɦ] voiced glottal fricative
Ubykh may be the language with the most fricatives, with 26. This number actually outstrips the number of all consonants in English (which has 24 consonants).