Definition

A lisp is a functional speech disorder that involves the inability to correctly pronounce one or more sibilant consonant sounds, usually s or z.

Description

Lisping is a speech disorder characterized by the inability to correctly pronounce the sounds of s or z, known as the sibilant consonants. Usually th sounds are substituted for the sibilants. The word "lisp," for example, would be pronounced "lithp" by someone with this speech disorder.

Many children lisp at certain stages of speech development, especially when they lose their front primary teeth. Lisping is, therefore, sometimes called a developmental phonetic disorder. Frontal or interdental lisp is produced when the tongue protrudes through the front teeth when teeth are missing...