Voiceless postalveolar fricative

A voiceless postalveolar or palato-alveolar fricative is a special sound used in many spoken languages. For English speakers, this sound is the "sh" sound in words like "ship."

This sound is made by directing air through a narrow space in the mouth, creating a hissing-like quality without using the voice boxes.

The International Phonetic Association uses the term voiceless postalveolar fricative to describe this sound, written as [ ʃ ] in their special symbols. This term mostly refers to the "sh" sound but can also describe another, less common sound.

This sound appears in many languages around the world, not just English. Learning about these sounds helps linguists and language learners understand how languages work and how people communicate.

Voiceless palato-alveolar fricative

A voiceless palato-alveolar fricative is a special sound used in many languages, including English. In English, we hear this sound when we say "sh" in words like ship.

The special symbol for this sound is ⟨ ʃ  ⟩, and it was created by a person named Isaac Pitman. Some other symbols for this sound include ⟨š⟩, which looks like an s with a little hook.

Voiceless postalveolar non-sibilant fricative

A voiceless postalveolar non-sibilant fricative is a special sound found in some languages. It is written in the International Phonetic Alphabet as ⟨ɹ̝̠̊⟩. This sound is made by moving the tongue back and making a rough sound without using the voice.

The sound is created by narrowing the airflow in the mouth. It is not the hissing "sh" sound. It is made at the back of the upper teeth, using the tip or blade of the tongue. The voice box does not vibrate when making this sound. Air is pushed out through the mouth, not the nose, and the sound is made straight down the middle of the tongue.