2504: Retracted -S- Across Languages Oct 20, 2021

It is common for languages that don't have the [ʃ] sound (as in 'SHe') to use a retracted [s] as opposed to a laminal [s̻], i.e. it will not be produced using the blades of the tongue (or 'lamina') touching the alveolar ridge at the top of the mouth. Instead, the retracted [s̠] is produced further back in the mouth, and as sounds somewhere in between [s] and [ʃ]. It is rare therefore to see the retracted version exist with the others, but not impossible by any means, as in Modern Greek which has both forms of [s] described above. German used to have a retracted [s̠], but these have shifted to become either [s] and [ʃ], because these are easier to distinguish.