Omaha fricative set

[Bryan Gordon]

>  So does this mean that in English /s/ is "apical" and /s^/ is
> "distributed"?  I think I'd agree that the articulator-site contact area for
> /s/ is small, and for /s^/ is large, in the way I form them.  But doesn't
> the term "apical" refer to the tip of something, rather than the size of the
> articulator-site contact area?  I assumed it meant a sound made with the tip
> of the tongue.  For me, both /s/ and /s^/ are made with the tip or leading
> edge of the tongue, or maybe the top of the leading margin for /s/.
>
My impression is that /s^/ in English at least (and probably most
European languages) is almost never apical. A pronunciation with the
tip of the tongue would cause the fricative surface to be too small
for a "distributed" specification. Rather, /s^/ for me at least seems
to be pronounced significantly behind the tip of the tongue. If I
attempt to pronounce an apical /s/ in the same site as /s^/, what I
get is a retroflex.