Template:Sibilants

A sibilant is a manner of articulation of some fricatives and affricates consonants characterized for be made by directing a stream of air with the tongue towards the sharp edge of the teeth, which are held close together. The sibilant usually are related to the letters S, Z & C; and are characterized by their intense sound (for this usually their are used for call the attention, like when you are quieting someone using "shhhh!")

In relation as the perceived sound, the sibilants can classified in two categories: the hissing sibilants and the hushing sibilant. The hissing sibilants are related with the phonemes s, z and their variation. In the case of the hushing sibilants, most of them are Post-Alveolar Consonants, with different degree of palatalization, and where the main different is the shape of the tongue when they're articulated.

The voiceless hissing and hushing sibilant (mainly the first ones) has a soothing sound and isn't weird find them in words with a calming meaning or connotation in several languages. For this reason, the sibilance is poetic resource often used to create a smooth, flow, soothing and emphatic tone. Example of Sibilance