In this video, we’ll focus on the place of articulation of fricatives in English. Fricatives are also called spirants. Whilst all fricatives share the same manner of articulation, they have different places of articulation. If you would like to learn more about this manner of articulation, please watch my other video lesson here.

In total, we have 9 fricatives in English and we classify them into 4 groups. 

Group 1: Labiodental /f/ & /v/

Both these sounds formed when our top teeth move towards our bottom lip. The place of articulation is called labiodental. ‘Labio’ refers to the lips and ‘dental’ to the teeth. /f/ is a voiceless labiodental fricative but /v/ is a voiced labiodental fricative.

Group 2: Interdental /θ/ & /ð/

The next pair is also often called the two TH sounds because the spelling is always ‘th’ in English. They are formed when the tip of our tongue moves between our teeth. We call this place of articulation interdental. ‘Inter’ means between and ‘dental’ refers to the teeth = in between the teeth. /θ/ is a voiceless interdental fricative and /ð/ is a voiced interdental fricative.

Group 3: Alveolar /s/ & /z/

In the next pair of fricatives, the tip of the tongue moves further back near the little bump behind the top teeth. This is called the alveolar ridge. There is no contact, but the tongue comes close and forms a narrow opening through which the airstream flows and creates audible air friction. So, the place of articulation is called alveolar. /s/ is a voiceless alveolar fricative and /z/ is a voiced alveolar fricative.

Group 4: Postalveolar /ʃ/ & /ʒ/

Once again, we move our tongue a little bit further back but not much to form these two fricatives. We call this place postalveolar, and we can form 2 sounds here: /s/, a voiceless postalveolar fricative and /z/, a voiced postalveolar fricative. 

Fricative: Glottal /h/

The last fricative is not really a group because it has no counterpart in English. It’s the sound /h/ which is formed near the glottis. We call this place of articulation glottal and that makes /h/ a voiceless glottal fricative. Please note that there is some discussion whether or not /h/ even is a fricative. Sometimes it is also classified as an approximant. Whatever you decide, the place of articulation is definitively glottal!

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