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 easy to recognize—it is the "sh" sound you make when saying a word 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 exact sound, which is written as [ ʃ ] in their special symbols. While this term mostly refers to the "sh" sound, it can also technically describe another, less common sound with some important differences in how it is heard.

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

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. This symbol comes from old writing systems used in some European languages.

Voiceless postalveolar non-sibilant fricative

A voiceless postalveolar non-sibilant fricative is a special sound used in some languages. It is written in a special alphabet called the International Phonetic Alphabet as ⟨ɹ̝̠̊⟩, showing a sound that is made with the tongue pulled back and not using voice.

This sound is made by narrowing the airflow in the mouth to create a rough sound, but 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 sound is made without using the voice box, so it does not have the vibration of talking voice. Air is pushed out through the mouth, not the nose, and the sound is made straight down the middle of the tongue.