I had to find out what sibilant consonants were and now I'm more confused than ever. From Wiki:
A sibilant is a type of fricative or affricate consonant, made by directing a jet of air through a narrow channel in the vocal tract towards the sharp edge of the teeth.
is often taken to be
synonymous with the term
strident, though this is incorrect - there is variation in usage. The term
sibilant tends to have an
articulatory or
aerodynamic definition involving the production of
aperiodic noise at an obstacle.
Strident refers to the
perceptual quality of
intensity as determined by
amplitude and
frequency characteristics of the resulting sound (i.e. an
auditory, or possibly
acoustic, definition). Sibilants are louder than their non-sibilant counterparts, and most of their acoustic energy occurs at higher frequencies than non-sibilant fricatives. [s] has the most acoustic strength at around 8,000 Hz, but can reach as high as 10,000 Hz. [ʃ] has the bulk of its acoustic energy at around 4,000 Hz, but can extend up to around 8,000 Hz.
The spin-off terms
shibilant, and rarely
thibilant, are used to describe particular kinds of sibilant.
But I now have a new favourite word - fricative.