Fricatives which arise out of a sequence of sounds

Postalveolar fricatives

A common combination of sounds across morphemes in English is [-s + j-], as in phrases like ‘this year’, ‘I miss you’.

These sequences can be produced as [-s j-]. The two sounds can also merge to produce a postalveolar fricative with a palatal off-glide [-ʃj-].

A phrase like ‘this year’ can be produced as  , where the last syllable is not homophonous with ‘shear’, [ʃiə(r)]. These two possibilities are extremes of a spectrum of possibilities, including portions during which the friction changes from [s] to [ʃ].