# Whistling "S"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 12, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828 "2007-04-12T17:46:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828/1 "2007-04-12T17:46:58Z")
Is there a name for the speech impediment where a persons voice whistles on the “S” sound?
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828/2 "2007-04-12T18:00:57Z")
[Sibilant consonant](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibilant_consonant)
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828/3 "2007-04-12T18:02:11Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself]
[Sibilant consonant](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sibilant_consonant)
[/QUOTE]
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.
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828/4 "2007-04-12T18:07:52Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828/5 "2007-04-12T18:12:06Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell]
Isn’t “sibilant consonant” just the name for an s-type sound itself?
[/QUOTE]
Perhaps, but I have always heard the whistling impediment referred to as “sibilant esses”.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828/6 "2007-04-12T18:26:58Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself]
Perhaps, but I have always heard the whistling impediment referred to as “sibilant esses”.
[/QUOTE]
Hmm… Aren’t all esses sibilant by definition?
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### Author:  [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828/7 "2007-04-12T19:19:01Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell]
Hmm… Aren’t all esses sibilant by definition?
[/QUOTE]
English is a strange language, idnit?
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828/8 "2007-04-12T20:06:59Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself]
English is a strange language, idnit?
[/QUOTE]
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.”
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828/9 "2007-04-12T21:55:35Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell]
Whistling esses seem to be referred to exactly as such: “whistling esses.”
[/QUOTE]
Thus my query on the SDMB.
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### Author:  [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)
#### Post date: [April 12, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828/10 "2007-04-12T22:49:15Z")
“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](http://members.tripod.com/Caroline_Bowen/fsd-norms.htm).)
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2007, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828/11 "2007-04-13T02:49:33Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud]
“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.”
[/QUOTE]
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?
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### Author:  [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2007, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828/12 "2007-04-13T02:53:15Z")
Isn’t that a form of a lisp? 😕 ETA: Didn’t Daffy Duck sometimes whistle with his lisp?
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2007, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828/13 "2007-04-13T17:42:58Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2007, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828/14 "2007-04-13T17:46:27Z")
Looks like dentalized ess seems to be the most promising in the definitions. [We’re talking the whistling ess](http://youtube.com/watch?v=jWabMq7qXDQ) as demonstrated by the Herbert character in the video, right?
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### Author:  [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828/15 "2007-04-13T19:48:19Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Cheez\_Whia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheez_Whia)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2007, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828/16 "2007-04-13T23:40:46Z")
[QUOTE=Autolycus]
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.
[/QUOTE]
I don’t know about Winnie the Pooh, but there’s a beaver in _Lady and the Tramp_ that has this speech impediment.
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2007, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828/17 "2007-04-15T00:02:37Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell]
Looks like dentalized ess seems to be the most promising in the definitions. [We’re talking the whistling ess](http://youtube.com/watch?v=jWabMq7qXDQ) as demonstrated by the Herbert character in the video, right?
[/QUOTE]
That is an excellent, if disturbing, example.
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### Author:  [@mlai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlai)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2007, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828/18 "2007-04-16T01:45:31Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud]
“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](http://members.tripod.com/Caroline_Bowen/fsd-norms.htm).)
[/QUOTE]
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.
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### Author:  [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2007, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828/19 "2007-04-16T12:04:48Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)
#### Post date: [April 16, 2007, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whistling-s/399828/20 "2007-04-16T12:12:26Z")
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.
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