Postalveolar Consonant - Postalveolar Sibilants

Postalveolar Sibilants

The sibilant postalveolars (i.e. fricatives and affricates) are sometimes called "hush consonants" because they include the sound of English Shhh! (as distinguished from the "hiss consonant", as in Ssss!). For most sounds involving the tongue, the place of articulation can be sufficiently identified just by specifying the point of contact on the upper part of the mouth (e.g. velar consonants involve contact on the soft palate, while dental consonants involve with the teeth), along with any secondary articulation such as palatalization (raising of the tongue body) or labialization (lip rounding). However, among sibilants, and postalveolar sibilants in particular, slight differences in the shape of the tongue and the point of contact on the tongue itself correspond to large differences in the resulting sound. For example, the alveolar fricative and the three postalveolar fricatives differ noticeably both in pitch and sharpness, with the order corresponding to progressively lower-pitched and duller (less "hissy" or piercing) sounds. ( is the highest-pitched and most piercing, which is the reason that hissing sounds like "Sssst!" or "Psssst!" are typically used to attract someone's attention.) As a result it is necessary to specify many additional subtypes.