Canβt Stop the fricatives ππ
We're going to talk about Fricatives next. Last week, I spoke about plosives or stops . Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. The key words are narrow, forced air, and close together. This may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of the F-sound; the tip of the tongue against the space behind your teeth in the case of the S-sound. This turbulent airflow is called frication.
Imagine a fantasy tale about the hero and his party are stuck in a cave where the entrance collapsed in. After a moment of panic about their impending doom, someone makes a discovery. The cave leads deep into the mountain and there is an audible and tangible sensation of airflow. At the sealed off cave entrance, whistling air escapes through a sliver of space - a small slit that connects the air inside the cave to the outside world.
That's what I think of when I think of fricatives or frication. Air is squeezed through a tiny space which makes it turbulent whereas air flowing through an expansive hole is relaxed, flows easily and unnoticed. You don't notice or hear airflow in a wide, expansive space until it starts travelling really fast (like in a tornado). But you start to hear it or feel it in a valley, amidst the trees or between buildings as the air is forced through smaller spaces and becomes more turbulent.
The key difference between stops and fricatives though is the airflow is not completely stopped in the production of fricative consonants.
Fricatives can further be distinguished as sibilants and non-sibilants. Sibilants are a type of fricative where one still is forcing air through a narrow channel AND the tongue is curled lengthwise to direct the air over the edge of the teeth.
In English, sibilants includes the S-sound [s], Z-sound [z], SH-sound [Κ], and ZH-sound [Κ].
In English, non-sbilant fricatives include the F-sound [f], V-sound [v], voiceless TH-sound [ΞΈ], and voiced TH-sound [Γ°].
When compared with stops/plosives, another key difference between fricatives and stops is air flow. By definition, air flow is obstructed in a stop. In a fricative, airflow is turbulent but continuous - like a whistle. The sound keeps coming out as long as you have air from the lungs to continue the airflow.
You can start to distinguish them by trying to continue producing the sound indefinitely or not.
Compare the following:
S-sound vs. P-sound
Z-sound vs. B-sound
T-sound vs. F-sound
V-sound vs. K sound
It becomes extremely obvious which one is a fricative and which one is a stop.
Now, when we compare fricatives amongst themselves, the key difference is which articulators make that narrowed passage for air.
Is it the lips?
Is it the teeth?
Is it the tongue?
and what part of the tongue? (the tip, the blade, the body)
Finally, the presence of voicing (the vocal fold vibrations) further distinguishes or separates sounds that share the same articulator use. What that means is even if the key articulators are the same and the place of narrowed air flow is the same, you can make a different sound with voicing.
So for example, the F and V sounds share the same narrowing of airflow at the level of the bottom lip + top teeth. But the vocal cord vibration adds a layer of complexity to the V-sound that distinguishes it from the F-sound that other English speakers can detect as a distinct and separate sound. And the end result is F and V are recognized distinctly by English speakers so "fee" and "V" are distinct words.
So why does this matter? What does learning the theory do for you as an English language learner?
If you have trouble with certain fricatives, you need to play with and explore the amount of frication or turbulent in the air flow. Try narrowing the passage more or less to see if that makes the sound more clear. If airflow fully stops, you narrowed it too much. If it's too much airflow, you don't get enough turbulent air for the correct sound.
Take 5 minutes in your own room to try it out. Experiment with your sounds. You won't get it right away and that's okay. But you need to start exploring mouth shapes if you want to improve or modify your sound repertoire.
You don't expect an oil painter and a water-colour painter to swap mediums and instantly be successful. Sure, you have the same skills holding the paintbrush but some of the skills are distinct to the tools you are familiar with. Same with pronunciation. Some skills are distinct to the specific language and you have to be patient and forgiving enough with yourself to be explorative, willing to make mistakes, and modify.
Happy exploring!
