Is there a name for the speech impediment where a persons voice whistles on the “S” sound?
Isn’t “sibilant consonant” just the name for an s-type sound itself? I don’t think anything about whistling esses is discussed in sibilant consnants.
I’m still working my way through the Link, but I don’t think it’s what exactly I’m looking for. Sibilant seems to include a whole class of sounds whereas I’m looking just for the whistling sound.
But thanks anyway. I got to see the term “sphincteric vowels” which I hope to use in a conversation one day.
Perhaps, but I have always heard the whistling impediment referred to as “sibilant esses”.
Hmm… Aren’t all esses sibilant by definition?
English is a strange language, idnit?
Indeed. However, looking up “sibilant s” on Google gives me a bunch of hits on the lisping ess, or “gay-mannerism” ess, not the whistling ess. Whistling esses seem to be referred to exactly as such: “whistling esses.”
Thus my query on the SDMB.
“Other children do not produce the /s/ and /z/ sounds with the tongue between the teeth, but rather with the tongue touching the teeth. This is called dentalised production or dentalised /s/ and /z/. When they do this, their esses and zeds (zees) may sound muffled, or indistinct or even have a bit of a whistling sound associated with them.”
(Found here.)
I find myself trying to create the whistle by speaking S-words with my tongue against my teeth. I can almost get a whistle sound, but not quite. Anyone else?
Isn’t that a form of a lisp? 
ETA: Didn’t Daffy Duck sometimes whistle with his lisp?
Daffy seemed to have what that one link describes as a “lateral lisp.” The tongue touches the teeth and the air exits past the sides of the tongue. If I read it right.
Looks like dentalized ess seems to be the most promising in the definitions. We’re talking the whistling ess as demonstrated by the Herbert character in the video, right?
This sound is also the strange speech produced by the gopher in Winnie the Pooh, right? I’d be interested in finding out an answer to this as well.
I don’t know about Winnie the Pooh, but there’s a beaver in Lady and the Tramp that has this speech impediment.
That is an excellent, if disturbing, example.
Wait, so how am I supposed to make an /s/ sound if I don’t touch my teeth? I’ve been trying with my tongue in other positions, and I just make spitty farty noises. I guess I must be doing it wrong, because about once a month, I accidentally let loose a sharp whistle when I talk. (It’s even more frustrating since I can’t whistle on purpose.)
Just for the record, I make my esses by putting the tip of my tongue against the back of my two front teeth, very close to the tips, and exhaling. I also have an open bite.
Strange, I have to work to keep my tongue against my lower teeth when I say ess. When I say the opening “eh” part of the ess, my tongue pulls back to make the vowel unless I conciously stop it. I can keep my tongue against my teeth if I’m just hissing, though.
How about the impediment as evidenced by Lily Tomlin’s Edith Ann character? When she says an ess-sound, she blows a little raspberry. I remember hearing a while back that Ms. Tomlin didn’t make that mannerism up, but I can’t remember what it’s called now.