U5b English Affricates Fricatives

Unit 5b: English Affricates and Fricatives
/ʧ ʤ, f v, θ ð, s z, ʃ ʒ, h/
1 INTRODUCTION
This unit describes the sounds referred to as affricate and fricative sounds.
2 OBJECTIVES
By the end of the unit, learners will be able to identify and describe:
 the affricate sounds,
 the fricative sounds, and
 distinguish between the acoustic cues for the affricate and fricative sounds.
3.1 THE AFFRICATE SOUNDS

Affricate sounds are produced at two points of the organs of speech namely the alveolar
and palatal regions. Their rendition is achieved by placing the tip of the tongue at the
alveolar; at the same time stuck the blade to the palatal region. This results in their
double-phonemic phonetic representations.
Table: Three part description of the consonant phonemes in English
Place Bi- Labio- Dental Alveolar Palato- Palatal Velar Glottal

labial dental alveolar
Manner
Plosive
p b t d k g ?
Fricative
f v θ ð s z ∫ ʒ h
Affricate
t∫ ʤ
Nasal
m n ŋ
Lateral
l
Liquid
r
Semi-vowel
w j
3.1.1 /ʧ ʤ/: Palato-alveolar Affricate

The first of this pair is voiceless and fortis while the other is voiced and lenis. They are
the two main affricate consonant sounds of English. The first pair, /ʧ/, is a combination
of the voiceless fortis alveolar /t/ and its voiceless fortis but palato-alveolar counterpart,
/ʃ/. The second pair, /ʤ/, combines the voiced lenis alveolar, /d/, with the voiced lenis
palato-alveolar, /ʒ/. This is the reason they are described as palato-alveolar consonants.
Like the plosive sounds, they completely obstruct or stop the airflow in the oral tract;
but unlike the plosive sounds, do not abruptly release the pent up air with an explosion,
but by gentle release. This is why they are called affricate consonant sounds.
/ʧ/ Can occur as: ch, tch, t as in e.g.: choice, catch, feature.
When initial: choice, chess; medial: orchard, wretched; and final: catch, batch.
/ʤ/ Can occur as: j, g, dg, gg, dj, de, di, ch as in: Jos, gem, bridge, suggest, adjective,
grandeur, soldier, Norwich.
When initial: joy, jam; medial: budget, urgent; and final: large, judge.
3.2 THE FRICATIVE SOUNDS

The plosive and the affricate sounds are produced with some degrees of stoppage.
Fricative sounds do not experience such stoppage as the articulators involved in
producing them do not often make a complete closure against the air which travels to
the mouth. Thus, within the little opening between the articulators, the emanating air is
allowed to come outer space with a little sibilant (sss) sound.
3.2.1 /f v/: Labio-dental Fricative

Just like the pairs before, first of this pair is voiceless and fortis while the other is voiced
and lenis. The main articulators employed to produce these sounds are the lower lip and
the upper teeth; this is where they have earned the name “labio-dental”. They are
fricatives because, as explained above, there is left a little gap between the lower lip and
the upper teeth; it’s through this little gap that the air which produces the two sounds
passes.
/f/ occurs as: f, ff, ph, gh as: in file, office, philosophy and cough.
When initial: fill, phoneme; medial: affair, orphan; and final: staff puff.
/v/ occurs as: v, f, ph, as in: Victor, of, nephew.

When initial: vain, Valentine; medial: avoid reveal; and final: starve, pave.
3.2.2 /θ ð/: Dental Fricative

The first of this pair is voiceless and fortis while the other of the pair is voiced and lenis.
They are dental sounds because the main organ in their production (apart from the
tongue) is the upper teeth. The tongue and the upper teeth path ways very slightly
allowing the passage of the air-stream with just little friction, in order to produce the
fricative sounds.
/θ/ occurs as: th as in: thin, think

When initial: thorough; medial: orphan; and final: blacksmith.
/ð/ occurs as: th, as in: then, them.

When initial: then, them; medial: father, within; and final: with.
3.2.3 /s z/: Alveolar Fricatives

Like the pairs before, the first of this pair is voiceless and fortis while the other is voiced
and lenis. They are produced with blade of the tongue stuck to the alveolar region living
a partial space for the air-stream to force out. This is the reason the pair is described as
“alveolar fricative”.
/s/ occurs as: s, ss, c, sc, x(+k) as in: site, miss, cite, science, lax;
when initial: sink, sing; when medial: respond, decide; when final: loose, lights;
/z/ occurs as: s, ss, z, zz, x(g+) as in: rise, scissors zinc, frizzle, example;
when initial: zinc, zing; when medial: lazy, excite; when final: lose, lies
3.2.4 /ʃ ʒ/: Palato-alveolar Fricatives

The first of this pair is voiceless and fortis while the other is voiced and lenis. Also, the
sounds are palato-alveolar because there is an articulatory glide from the palatal to the
alveolar region made by the tongue. While the tongue sweeps through these regions, it
leaves a tiny space for the air to escape causing a little friction that gives rise to the
sounds.
/ʃ/ occurs as: s, ss, sh, sch, sc, c, ch, t as in: sure, mission, shell, schedule, conscience,
oceanic, charade, nation;
when initial: shout, sugar; medial: brochure, assure; final: fish, wish.
/ʒ/ occurs as: s, z, g as in: pleasure, seizure, genre;

when initial: genre, gigue; medial: visual, measurement; final: does not occur in most
English words.
3.2.5 /h/: Glottal Fricative

This sound is produced at the glottal region with the characteristics of the fricative
sounds. It is a voiceless fortis sound which occurs as: h and wh as in: how, he, who,
whose. When in the initial position, it occurs as: hell, his; at the medial position as:
perhaps, behind; it does not appear at the final position in English.
4 EXERCISE
With the aid of 2 consonant sounds, distinguish between affricate and fricative sounds.

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Unit 5b: English Affricates and Fricatives

3.1 THE AFFRICATE SOUNDS

Table: Three part description of the consonant phonemes in English

Place Bi- Labio- Dental Alveolar Palato- Palatal Velar Glottal

3.1.1 /ʧ ʤ/: Palato-alveolar Affricate

3.2 THE FRICATIVE SOUNDS

3.2.1 /f v/: Labio-dental Fricative

/v/ occurs as: v, f, ph, as in: Victor, of, nephew.

3.2.2 /θ ð/: Dental Fricative

/θ/ occurs as: th as in: thin, think

/ð/ occurs as: th, as in: then, them.

3.2.3 /s z/: Alveolar Fricatives

3.2.4 /ʃ ʒ/: Palato-alveolar Fricatives

/ʒ/ occurs as: s, z, g as in: pleasure, seizure, genre;

3.2.5 /h/: Glottal Fricative

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