1. Fricatives

2. 2. Fricatives
Mechanism of sound production is simple: Air is passed through a narrow channel, creating turbulence. Turbulence = noise.
When you look at white water on a river or stream you are looking at turbulence. (You can also hear this turbulence; this is the noise you hear when white water passes between boulders and whatnot.)
All fricatives involve this turbulence-generating mechanism.

3. English fricatives:
Voiceless: [f] [θ] (“theory”) [s] [ʃ] (“shoe”) [h]
Voiced: [v] [ð] (“this”) [z] [ʒ] (“Zsa Zsa”)
All English fricatives except [h]* form voiced- voiceless cognates:
[v]-[f] [ð]-[θ] [z]-[s] [ʒ]-[ʃ]
For each pair: Same place, same manner, different voicing.
*There is a voiced (breathy is a better word) [h], but it is an allophone of /h/. Symbol: [ɦ]. It can appear in words such as behind and behold.

4. for weak fricatives) for strong fricatives)
WEAK (not very loud) STRONG (comparatively loud)
(Slit Fricatives) ` (Groove Fricatives)
[f] [v] [θ] [ð] [h] [s] [z] [ʃ] [ʒ]
(constriction shape for (constriction shape
for weak fricatives) for strong fricatives)
Long flat constriction = More circular constriction =
Inefficient noise generator Efficient noise generator
(noise is weak) (noise is strong)

5. [f]-[v]: Place = Labiodental (lips-teeth)
Flat constriction (slit fricatives); flat (rather than round or grooved) constrictions produce a weak noise.
No resonator in front of the constriction; spectrum has a pretty flat shape (no well-defined resonant peaks)
[fɑ]:
spectrum during [f] noise (flat)
[vɑ]:
Narrow band spectrum during [v] noise (flat, but with harmonics in the lows)

6. [θ]-[ð]:
Place = Linguadental (tongue-teeth) or interdental (linguadental & interdental are synonyms)
Flat constriction (slit fricatives); flat (rather than round or grooved) constrictions produce a weak noise
No resonator in front of the constriction; like [f] and [v], spectrum has a pretty flat shape (no well-defined resonant peaks)
NOTE: Place is always listed as linguadental/ interdental, but for [ð] in particular the tongue is often behind the top teeth; i.e., [ð] is more often dental than linguadental/interdental.

7. [s]-[z]: Place = alveolar
Round-ish, grooved constriction; these produce a strong noise
Short resonator in front of the constriction formed by the lips; spectrum has a strong high-frequency peak. Why high freq? Short tubes have high-frequency resonances.
[sɑ]-:
spectrum during [s] noise (hi-freq peak)
[z]: Spectrogram for [z] (not shown) is very similar, except that voicing (a glottal buzz) will be mixed in with the noise, just like [v] and [ð].

8. [ʃ]-[ʒ] (also [sà] and [zà]; small wedge over [s]/[z] = hachek):
Place = Alveopalatal/Palatoalveolar/Prepalatal
Round-ish, grooved constriction; these produce a strong noise
Relative to [s]-[z]: Place further back and lips are rounded. Result: Longer resonator in front of the constriction; longer tubes have lower resonant freq’s. So, [ʃ] has more low freq energy than [s]; [ʒ] has more low freq energy than [z].
[sɑ]:
More low
freq energy
for [ʃɑ]- than
[sɑ]. Same
deal for [ʒ]
and [z].
[ʃɑ]:

9. Place = Glottal (whisper)
Tongue, lips & jaw don’t have anything in particular to do in the production of [h] since it is a glottal articulation.
Since the vocal tract can do whatever it pleases during [h], the tongue, lips & jaw will take the position of the following vowel.
[h], then, is simply a whispered vowel:
he [hi]: [h] = whispered [i]
who [hu]: [h] = whispered [u]
hoe [ho]: [h] = whispered [o]

10. Which is [fɑ], which is [vɑ]?
Which is [sɑ], which is [zɑ]?

11. zɑ sɑ

12. Which is [sɑ], which is [θɑ]?
Which is [æʃɚ], which is [æʒɚ]?

14. Which is [θɑ], which is [ðɑ]?