Orals: Consonant /∫/ and /3/ - SS1 English Past Questions and Answers - page 1

The consonant sounds /∫/ and /3/ are known as the voiceless and voiced postalveolar fricatives, respectively. These sounds can affect the meaning of words in English because they are distinctive phonemes, which means that they can create minimal pairs when substituted for one another. A minimal pair is a pair of words that differ by only one sound, and changing that sound changes the meaning of the word. i.e Ship vs. chip: The only difference between these two words is the initial consonant sound. "Ship" starts with the voiceless postalveolar fricative /∫/, while "chip" starts with the voiced postalveolar fricative /3/. The substitution of one sound for the other creates a new word with a different meaning.