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The voiceless alveolar fricatives are a type of
fricative consonant A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in t ...
pronounced with the tip or blade of the tongue against the
alveolar ridge The alveolar process () or alveolar bone is the thickened ridge of bone that contains the tooth sockets on the jaw bones (in humans, the maxilla and the mandible). The structures are covered by gums as part of the oral cavity. The synonymous ...
(gum line) just behind the teeth. This refers to a class of sounds, not a single sound. There are at least six types with significant perceptual differences: *The
voiceless alveolar sibilant The voiceless alveolar fricatives are a type of fricative consonant pronounced with the tip or blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge (gum line) just behind the teeth. This refers to a class of sounds, not a single sound. There are at le ...
has a strong hissing sound, as the ''s'' in
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...
''sink''. It is one of the most common sounds in the world. *The voiceless denti-alveolar sibilant (an ''ad hoc'' notation), also called apico-dental, has a weaker lisping sound like English ''th'' in ''thin''. It occurs in Spanish dialects in southern
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...
(eastern
Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...
). *The voiceless alveolar retracted sibilant .html" ;"title="Voiceless alveolar fricative#Voiceless alveolar retracted sibilant">">Voiceless alveolar fricative#Voiceless alveolar retracted sibilant"> and the subform apico-alveolar , or called grave, has a weak hushing sound reminiscent of fricatives. It is used in the languages of northern
Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese language, Aragonese and Occitan language, Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a pe ...
, like Asturleonese, Basque,
Castilian Spanish In English, Castilian Spanish can mean the variety of Peninsular Spanish spoken in northern and central Spain, the standard form of Spanish, or Spanish from Spain in general. In Spanish, the term (Castilian) can either refer to the Spanish lang ...
(excluding parts of Andalusia),
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
, Galician, and Northern
European Portuguese European Portuguese ( pt, português europeu, ), also known as Portuguese of Portugal ( Portuguese: português de Portugal), Iberian Portuguese ( Portuguese: português ibérico), and Peninsular Portuguese ( Portuguese: português peninsular), re ...
. A similar retracted sibilant form is also used in Dutch, Icelandic, some southern dialects of Swedish, Finnish, and Greek. Its sound is between and []. *The Voiceless alveolar fricative#Voiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative, voiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative or , using the alveolar diacritic from the Extended IPA, is similar to the ''th'' in
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...
''thin''. It occurs in Icelandic as well as an intervocalic and word-final allophone of English in dialects such as
Hiberno-English Hiberno-English (from Latin '' Hibernia'': "Ireland"), and in ga, Béarla na hÉireann. or Irish English, also formerly Anglo-Irish, is the set of English dialects native to the island of Ireland (including both the Republic of Ireland ...
and Scouse. *The
voiceless alveolar lateral fricative The voiceless alveolar lateral fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents voiceless dental, alveolar, and postalveolar lateral fricatives is , ...
sounds like a voiceless, strongly articulated version of English ''l'' (somewhat like what the English cluster ''**hl'' would sound like) and is written as ''ll'' in
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
. The first three types are
sibilant Sibilants are fricative consonants of higher amplitude and pitch, made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the teeth. Examples of sibilants are the consonants at the beginning of the English words ''sip'', ''zip'', ''ship'', and ...
s, meaning that they are made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the teeth and have a piercing, perceptually prominent sound.


Voiceless alveolar sibilant

The voiceless alveolar sibilant is a common consonant sound in vocal languages. It is the sound in English words such as ''sea'' and ''pass'', and is represented in the
International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation ...
with . It has a characteristic high-pitched, highly perceptible hissing sound. For this reason, it is often used to get someone's attention, using a call often written as or . The voiceless alveolar sibilant is one of the most common sounds cross-linguistically. If a language has fricatives, it will most likely have . However, some languages have a related
sibilant Sibilants are fricative consonants of higher amplitude and pitch, made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the teeth. Examples of sibilants are the consonants at the beginning of the English words ''sip'', ''zip'', ''ship'', and ...
sound, such as , but no . In addition, sibilants are absent from
Australian Aboriginal languages The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...
, in which fricatives are rare; even the few indigenous Australian languages that have fricatives do not have sibilants.


Voiceless apico-alveolar sibilant

The voiceless alveolar retracted sibilant (commonly termed the voiceless apico-alveolar sibilant) is a
fricative A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in ...
that is articulated with the tongue in a hollow shape, usually with the tip of the tongue ( apex) against the
alveolar ridge The alveolar process () or alveolar bone is the thickened ridge of bone that contains the tooth sockets on the jaw bones (in humans, the maxilla and the mandible). The structures are covered by gums as part of the oral cavity. The synonymous ...
. It is a
sibilant Sibilants are fricative consonants of higher amplitude and pitch, made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the teeth. Examples of sibilants are the consonants at the beginning of the English words ''sip'', ''zip'', ''ship'', and ...
sound and is found most notably in a number of languages in a linguistic area covering northern and central
Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese language, Aragonese and Occitan language, Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a pe ...
. It is most well known from its occurrence in the Spanish of this area. In the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, it occurred in a wider area, covering
Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language ...
spoken throughout
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
,
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...
, and
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...
, as well as
Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old Hig ...
and
Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. Hig ...
.


Occurrence in Europe


Modern

In Romance languages, it occurs as the normal voiceless alveolar sibilant in
Astur-Leonese Asturleonese ( ast, Asturlleonés; es, Asturleonés; pt, Asturo-leonês; mwl, Asturlhionés) is a Romance language spoken primarily in northwestern Spain, namely in the historical regions and Spain's modern-day autonomous communities of Astu ...
,
Castilian Spanish In English, Castilian Spanish can mean the variety of Peninsular Spanish spoken in northern and central Spain, the standard form of Spanish, or Spanish from Spain in general. In Spanish, the term (Castilian) can either refer to the Spanish lang ...
,
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
, Galician, northern European Portuguese, and some Occitan dialects. It also occurs in Basque and
Mirandese The Mirandese language ( mwl, mirandés, links=no or ''lhéngua mirandesa''; pt, mirandês or ) is an Astur-Leonese language or language variety that is sparsely spoken in a small area of northeastern Portugal in Terra de Miranda (made up of ...
, where it is opposed to a different voiceless alveolar sibilant, the more common ; the same distinction occurs in a few dialects of northeastern Portuguese. Outside this area, it also occurs in a few dialects of Latin American Spanish (e.g. Antioqueño and Pastuso, in
Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...
). Amongst
Germanic languages The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, ...
, it occurs in Dutch (and closely related
Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle ...
), Icelandic, many dialects in
Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and S ...
, and working-class Glaswegian English. It also occurs in
Modern Greek Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...
(with a articulation), as well as the
Baltic languages The Baltic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 4.5 million people mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. Together with the Slavic lan ...
. There is no single
IPA IPA commonly refers to: * India pale ale, a style of beer * International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation * Isopropyl alcohol, a chemical compound IPA may also refer to: Organizations International * Insolvency Practitioners A ...
symbol used for this sound. The symbol is often used, with a diacritic indicating an pronunciation. However, that is potentially problematic in that not all alveolar retracted sibilants are apical (see below), and not all apical alveolar sibilants are retracted. The ad hoc non-IPA symbols and are often used in the linguistic literature even when IPA symbols are used for other sounds, but is a common transcription of the retroflex sibilant .


Medieval

In medieval times, it occurred in a wider area, including the
Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language ...
spoken in most or all of
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and
Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese language, Aragonese and Occitan language, Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a pe ...
(
Old Spanish Old Spanish, also known as Old Castilian ( es, castellano antiguo; osp, romance castellano ), or Medieval Spanish ( es, español medieval), was originally a dialect of Vulgar Latin spoken in the former provinces of the Roman Empire that provided ...
,
Galician-Portuguese Galician-Portuguese ( gl, galego-portugués or ', pt, galego-português or ), also known as Old Portuguese or as Medieval Galician when referring to the history of each modern language, was a West Iberian Romance language spoken in the Middle ...
,
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
,
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
, etc.), as well as in the
Old Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England * Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, M ...
and
Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. Hig ...
of central and southern
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
, and most likely Northern Germany as well. In all of these languages, the retracted "apico-alveolar" sibilant was opposed to a non-retracted sibilant much like modern English , and in many of them, both voiceless and voiced versions of both sounds occurred. A solid type of evidence consists of different spellings used for two different sibilants: in general, the retracted "apico-alveolar" variants were written or , while the non-retracted variants were written , or . In the Romance languages, the retracted sibilants derived from Latin , or , while the non-retracted sibilants derived from earlier
affricate An affricate is a consonant that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative, generally with the same place of articulation (most often coronal). It is often difficult to decide if a stop and fricative form a single phoneme or a consonant pai ...
s and , which in turn derived from palatalized or . The situation was similar in High German, where the retracted sibilants derived largely from Proto-Germanic , while the non-retracted sibilants derived from instances of Proto-Germanic that were shifted by the High German sound shift. Minimal pairs were common in all languages. Examples in Middle High German, for example, were "to know" (
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...
, cf. "to wit") vs. "known" (Old English ), and "white" (Old English ) vs. "way" (Old English , cf. "-wise").


Description of the retracted sibilant

Often, to speakers of languages or dialects that do not have the sound, it is said to have a "whistling" quality, and to sound similar to palato-alveolar . For this reason, when borrowed into such languages or represented with non-Latin characters, it is often replaced with . This occurred, for example, in English borrowings from
Old French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intel ...
(e.g. ''push'' from ''pousser'', ''cash'' from ''caisse''); in Polish borrowings from medieval German (e.g. from ''kosten'', from ''sūr'' (contemporary )); and in representations of Mozarabic (an extinct medieval
Romance language The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language ...
once spoken in southern Spain) in Arabic characters. The similarity between retracted and has resulted in many exchanges in Spanish between the sounds, during the medieval period when Spanish had both phonemes. Examples are (formerly ''xabón'') "soap" from Latin /, "cuttlefish" (formerly ''xibia'') from Latin , and "scissors" (earlier < medieval ''tiseras'') from Latin (with initial ''t-'' due to influence from "shaver"). One of the clearest descriptions of this sound is from Obaid: "There is a Castilian ''s'', which is a voiceless, concave, apicoalveolar fricative: The tip of the tongue turned upward forms a narrow opening against the alveoli of the upper incisors. It resembles a faint and is found throughout much of the northern half of Spain". Many dialects of
Modern Greek Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...
have a very similar-sounding sibilant that is pronounced with a articulation.


Loss of the voiceless alveolar sibilant

This distinction has since vanished from most of the languages that once had it in medieval times. * In most dialects of Spanish, the four alveolar sibilants have merged into the non-retracted () while distinguish in spelling. * In French and most dialects of Portuguese, the four alveolar sibilants have merged into non-retracted and , while in European Portuguese, most other Old World Portuguese variants and some recently European-influenced dialects of Brazil all instances of coda , voiced before voiced consonants, were backed to , while in most of Brazilian Portuguese this phenomenon is much rarer, being essentially absent in the dialects that had a greater indigenous and/or non-Portuguese European influence. * In the remaining dialects of Portuguese, found in northern Portugal, they merged into the retracted , or, as in
Mirandese The Mirandese language ( mwl, mirandés, links=no or ''lhéngua mirandesa''; pt, mirandês or ) is an Astur-Leonese language or language variety that is sparsely spoken in a small area of northeastern Portugal in Terra de Miranda (made up of ...
(which is, however, not a Portuguese dialect, but belongs to Asturian-Leonese), conserved the medieval distinction. * In central and northern Spanish, the non-retracted was fronted to after merging with non-retracted , while the retracted remains (). * In
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
, was early on voiced to in prevocalic position. This sound was then fronted to , but did not merge with any other sound (except that it was later re-devoiced in some southern dialects). In pre-consonantal and final position, merged with either or . The rules for these mergers differ between dialects. In Standard German, is used stem-initially and sporadically after ‹r›. Especially in Alemannic, every pre-consonantal became .


Loss-causing events

Those languages in which the sound occurs typically did not have a phonological process from which either or appeared, two similar sounds with which ⟨s̺⟩ was eventually confused. In general, older European languages only had a single pronunciation of s. In Romance languages, was reached from -ti-, -ci-, -ce- (, , ) clusters that eventually became , , and later , , (as in Latin ''fortia'' "force", ''civitas'' "city", ''centum'' "hundred"), while was reached: * From a or cluster in southern Romance, as in Latin ''miscere'' > Portuguese ''mexer'' "to move", Latin ''fluxus'' > Spanish ''flojo'' "lax", Latin ''crescere'' > Italian ''crescere'' "grow", with a different pronunciation. * from a deaffricated in Northern France and southern-central Portugal, as in French ''chat'' "cat", Portuguese ''achar'' "find". In High German, was reached through a > > process, as in German ''Wasser'' compared to English ''water''. In English, the same process of Romance > occurred in Norman-imported words, accounting for modern homophones ''sell'' and ''cell''. was also reached from a -sk- cluster reduction as in Romance, e.g.
Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...
spelling ''asc'' for modern ''ash'', German ''schiff'' and English ''ship'' compared to Danish ''skib''.


Exceptions

Standard Modern Greek, which has apical , lacked both processes. The Germanic-speaking regions that did not have either phenomenon have normally preserved the apical , that is, Icelandic, Dutch and many
Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and S ...
n lects. It is also found in a minority of
Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle ...
dialects. The main Romance language to preserve the sound,
Castilian Spanish In English, Castilian Spanish can mean the variety of Peninsular Spanish spoken in northern and central Spain, the standard form of Spanish, or Spanish from Spain in general. In Spanish, the term (Castilian) can either refer to the Spanish lang ...
, is exceptional in that it had both events that produced and , and preserved the apical S at the expense of both, that were shifted farther away. Galician,
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
and Ladino changed only .


Reach in ancient times

Because of the widespread medieval distribution, it has been speculated that retracted was the normal pronunciation in spoken
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
. Certain borrowings suggest that it was not far off from the sh-sound , e.g.
Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...
''Jeshua'' > Greek ''Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs)'' > Latin ''Jesus'',
Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
''Shabbat'' > Latin ''sabbatum''; but this could also be explained by the lack of a better sound in Latin to represent Semitic ''š''. It equally well could have been an areal feature inherited from the prehistoric languages of Western Europe, as evidenced by its occurrence in modern Basque. For the same reasons, it can be speculated that retracted was the pronunciation of
Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic br ...
s. Its presence in many branches of
Indo-European The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Du ...
and its presence particularly in the more conservative languages inside each branch (e.g. Icelandic, Spanish), as well as being found in disparate areas, such as the
Baltic languages The Baltic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 4.5 million people mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. Together with the Slavic lan ...
and
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...
, suggests it could have ultimately been the main allophone of
Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...
s, known for ranging from to as far as . , but not , was developed in Italian. However, where Spanish and Catalan have apical , Italian uses the same laminal that occurs in standard forms of English: evidence, it could be argued, that S was not pronounced apically in Latin. But
Neapolitan Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to: Geography and history * Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city * Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and Hig ...
has a medieval S becoming either or depending on context, much as in
European Portuguese European Portuguese ( pt, português europeu, ), also known as Portuguese of Portugal ( Portuguese: português de Portugal), Iberian Portuguese ( Portuguese: português ibérico), and Peninsular Portuguese ( Portuguese: português peninsular), re ...
, which could attest to the previous existence of in the Italian Peninsula. The Italian pronunciation as laminal S could also be explained by the presence of but not , thus moving the pronunciation of to the front of the mouth in an attempt to better differentiate between the two sounds.


Voiceless lamino-dental sibilant

A voiceless laminal dental or dentialveolar sibilant contrasts with a voiceless apical alveolar or post-alveolar sibilant in Basque and several languages of California, including Luiseño of the Uto-Aztecan family and
Kumeyaay The Kumeyaay, also known as Tipai-Ipai or by their historical Spanish name Diegueño, is a tribe of Indigenous peoples of the Americas who live at the northern border of Baja California in Mexico and the southern border of California in the Unit ...
of the Yuman family.


Comparison between English and Spanish

The term "voiceless alveolar sibilant" is potentially ambiguous in that it can refer to at least two different sounds. Various languages of northern
Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese language, Aragonese and Occitan language, Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a pe ...
(e.g.,
Astur-Leonese Asturleonese ( ast, Asturlleonés; es, Asturleonés; pt, Asturo-leonês; mwl, Asturlhionés) is a Romance language spoken primarily in northwestern Spain, namely in the historical regions and Spain's modern-day autonomous communities of Astu ...
,
Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...
, Basque, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish) have a so-called "
voiceless apico-alveolar sibilant The voiceless alveolar fricatives are a type of fricative consonant pronounced with the tip or blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge (gum line) just behind the teeth. This refers to a class of sounds, not a single sound. There are at lea ...
" that lacks the strong hissing of the described in this article but has a duller, more "grave" sound quality somewhat reminiscent of a
voiceless retroflex sibilant The voiceless retroflex sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is which is a Latin letter s combined with a retroflex h ...
. Basque,
Mirandese The Mirandese language ( mwl, mirandés, links=no or ''lhéngua mirandesa''; pt, mirandês or ) is an Astur-Leonese language or language variety that is sparsely spoken in a small area of northeastern Portugal in Terra de Miranda (made up of ...
and some Portuguese dialects in northeast Portugal (as well as medieval Spanish and Portuguese in general) have both types of sounds in the same language. There is no general agreement about what actual feature distinguishes these sounds. Spanish phoneticians normally describe the difference as (for the northern Iberian sound) vs. (for the more common sound), but Ladefoged and Maddieson claim that English can be pronounced apically, which is evidently not the same as the apical sibilant of Iberian Spanish and Basque. Also, Adams asserts that many dialects of
Modern Greek Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...
have a laminal sibilant with a sound quality similar to the "apico-alveolar" sibilant of northern Iberia. Some authors have instead suggested that the difference lies in tongue shape. Adams describes the northern Iberian sibilant as "retracted". Ladefoged and Maddieson appear to characterize the more common hissing variant as ', and some phoneticians (such as J. Catford) have characterized it as ''
sulcal Sulcalization (from la, sulcus 'groove'), in phonetics, is the pronunciation of a sound, typically a sibilant consonant, such as English language, English and , with a deep ''groove'' running along the back of the tongue that focuses the airstre ...
'' (which is more or less a synonym of "grooved"), but in both cases, there is some doubt about whether all and only the "hissing" sounds actually have a "grooved" or "sulcal" tongue shape.


Features

Features of the voiceless alveolar sibilant: * There are at least three specific variants of : ** Dentalized laminal alveolar (commonly called "dental"), which means it is articulated with the tongue blade very close to the upper front teeth, with the tongue tip resting behind lower front teeth. The hissing effect in this variety of is very strong., cited in ** Non-retracted alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the
alveolar ridge The alveolar process () or alveolar bone is the thickened ridge of bone that contains the tooth sockets on the jaw bones (in humans, the maxilla and the mandible). The structures are covered by gums as part of the oral cavity. The synonymous ...
, termed respectively '' apical'' and ''
laminal A laminal consonant is a phone (speech sound) produced by obstructing the air passage with the blade of the tongue, the flat top front surface just behind the tip of the tongue in contact with upper lip, teeth, alveolar ridge, to possibly, as ...
''. According to about half of
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...
speakers use a non-retracted apical articulation. ** Retracted alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue slightly behind the alveolar ridge, termed respectively ''apical'' and ''laminal''. Acoustically, it is close to laminal or (to a lesser extent) .


Examples


Dentalized laminal alveolar


Non-retracted alveolar


Retracted alveolar


Variable


Voiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative

The voiceless alveolar non-sibilant fricative (also known as a "slit" fricative) is a consonantal sound. As the
International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation ...
does not have separate symbols for the alveolar consonants (the same symbol is used for all coronal places of articulation that are not palatalized), this sound is usually transcribed , occasionally ( retracted or alveolarized , respectively), (constricted voiceless ), or (lowered ). Some scholars also posit the voiceless alveolar approximant distinct from the fricative. The approximant may be represented in the IPA as . Few languages also have the voiceless alveolar tapped fricative, which is simply a very brief apical alveolar non-sibilant fricative, with the tongue making the gesture for a tapped stop but not making full contact. This can be indicated in the IPA with the lowering diacritic to show full occlusion did not occur. Tapped fricatives are occasionally reported in the literature, though these claims are not generally independently confirmed and so remain dubious. ''Flapped'' fricatives are theoretically possible but are not attested.


Features

However, it does not have the grooved tongue and directed airflow, or the high frequencies, of a sibilant.


Occurrence


See also

* Voiceless corono-dentoalveolar sibilant * Tongue shape *
Apical consonant An apical consonant is a phone (speech sound) produced by obstructing the air passage with the tip of the tongue (apex) in conjunction with upper articulators from lips to postalveolar, and possibly prepalatal. It contrasts with laminal cons ...
* Laminal consonant *
Index of phonetics articles A * Acoustic phonetics * Active articulator * Affricate * Airstream mechanism * Alexander John Ellis * Alexander Melville Bell * Alfred C. Gimson * Allophone * Alveolar approximant () * Alveolar click () * Alveolar consonant * Alveolar e ...


Notes


References

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Martin Harris and Nigel Vincent. The Romance Languages. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links

* * {{Authority control Alveolar consonants Fricative consonants Voiceless oral consonants Central consonants Pulmonic consonants