APA Dictionary of Psychology

fricative

Updated on 04/19/2018
  1. adj. denoting a speech sound made by forcing a stream of air through a narrow opening of the vocal tract against one or more surfaces, particularly the hard palate, alveolar ridge, teeth, or lips. A fricative has high-frequency vibrations. It may be voiced (e.g., [v], [z], [zh]) or unvoiced (e.g., [f], [s], [sh]).
  2. n. a fricative speech sound.
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