Palatoalveolar fricatives

Palatoalveolar fricatives are produced by the front of the tongue forming a closure along the sides of the mouth and opening a wide groove (slit) along the middle. The air escapes through the groove making a hissing sound. The hiss is deeper (have a lower sound frequency) than for alveolar fricatives. The sounds are generally accompanied by lip rounding. The Fortis variant is never voiced, and the Lenis is devoiced when not surrounded by other voiced sounds. Devoicing generally occurs in the end position of a word. The lenis form never occurs in initial position. Both sounds are generally difficult for Norwegians, as there is no exact Norwegian counterpart.