Voiceless palatal fricative
Consonantal sound represented by ⟨ç⟩ in IPA
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A voiceless palatal fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ç⟩. It is the non-sibilant equivalent of the voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative. Palatal fricatives are relatively rare phonemes, and only 5% of the world's languages have /ç/ as a phoneme.[1] The sound further occurs as an allophone of /x/ (e.g. in German or Greek), or, in other languages, of /h/ in the vicinity of front vowels.
| Voiceless palatal fricative | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ç | |||
| IPA number | 138 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ç | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+00E7 | ||
| X-SAMPA | C | ||
| Braille |   | ||
| |||
Features
Features of a voiceless palatal fricative:
- Its manner of articulation is fricative, which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence.
- Its place of articulation is palatal, which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised to the hard palate.
- Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
- It is an oral consonant, which means that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
- It is a median consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream down the midline of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
- Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air only with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.
Occurrence
Palatal
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackfoot[citation needed] | ᖱᑊᖽᒧᐧᖿ / ihkitsíkaa | [ɪçkit͡síkaː] | 'Seven' | Allophone of /x/. | |
| Chinese | Taizhou dialect | 嬉 | [çi] | 'to play' | Corresponds to alveolo-palatal /ɕ/ in other Wu dialects. |
| Meixian dialect | 香 | [çʲɔŋ˦] | 'fragrant' | Corresponds to palatalized fricative /hj/ in romanised as "hi-" or "hy-" Hakka dialect writing. | |
| Danish | Standard[2] | pjaske | [ˈpçæskə] | 'splash' | May be alveolo-palatal [ɕ] instead.[2] Before /j/, aspiration of /p, t, k/ is realized as devoicing and fortition of /j/.[2] Note, however, that the sequence /tj/ is normally realized as an affricate [t͡ɕ].[3] See Danish phonology |
| Dutch | Standard Northern[4] | wiegje | [ˈʋiçjə] | 'crib' | Allophone of /x/ before /j/ for some speakers.[4] See Dutch phonology |
| English | Australian[5] | hue | [çʉː] | 'hue' | Phonetic realization of the sequence /hj/.[5][6][7] See Australian English phonology and English phonology |
| British[6][7] | |||||
| Scouse[8] | like | [laɪ̯ç] | 'like' | Allophone of /k/; ranges from palatal to uvular, depending on the preceding vowel.[8] See English phonology | |
| Estonian[citation needed] | vihm | [viçm] | 'rain' | Allophone of /h/. See Estonian phonology | |
| Finnish[citation needed] | vihko | [ʋiçko̞] | 'notebook' | Allophone of /h/. See Finnish phonology | |
| French | Parisian[9] | merci | ⓘ | 'thank you' | The close vowels /i, y, u/ and the mid front /e, ɛ/ at the end of utterances are often devoiced.[9] See French phonology |
| German | nicht | ⓘ | 'not' | Traditionally allophone of /x/, or vice versa, but phonemic for some speakers who have both /aːx/ and /aːç/ (< /aʁç/). See Standard German phonology § Ich-Laut and ach-Laut. | |
| Haida[citation needed] | xíl | [çɪ́l] | 'leaf' | ||
| Hmong | White (Dawb) | 𖬗𖬰𖬧𖬰 / xya | [ça˧] | 'seven' | Corresponds to alveolo-palatal /ɕ/ in Dananshan dialect |
| Green (Njua) | |||||
| Hungarian[10] | kapj | [ˈkɒpç] | 'get' (imperative) | Allophone of /j/ between a voiceless obstruent and a word boundary. See Hungarian phonology | |
| Icelandic | hérna | [ˈçɛ(ɾ)tnä] | 'here' | Allophone of /h/ near /j/ and /i/.[11] See Icelandic phonology | |
| Irish[citation needed] | a Sheáin | [ə çaːnʲ] | 'John' (voc.) | See Irish phonology | |
| Japanese[12] | 日 / hi | ⓘ | 'day' | Allophone of /h/ before /i/ and /j/. See Japanese phonology | |
| Kabyle[citation needed] | ḵtil | [çtil] | 'to measure' | ||
| Korean[citation needed] | 힘 / him | ⓘ | 'strength' | Allophone of /h/ word-initially before /i/ and /j/. See Korean phonology | |
| Minangkabau | Mukomuko[citation needed] | loyh | [lojç] | 'loose' | Allophone of /h/ after /i/, /oj/, and /uj/ in coda. |
| Moksha[citation needed] | шалхка | [ʃalçka] | 'nose' | ||
| Muniche | [tʃaçu] | 'plant stalk' | [13] | ||
| Norwegian | Urban East[14] | kjerne | ⓘ | 'core' | Often alveolo-palatal [ɕ] instead; younger speakers in Bergen, Stavanger and Oslo merge it with /ʂ/.[14] See Norwegian phonology |
| Pashto | Ghilji dialect[15] | پښه | [pça] | 'foot' | See Pashto phonology |
| Wardak dialect | |||||
| Romanian | Standard[citation needed] | Rohia | ⓘ | 'Rohia' | Allophone of /h/ before /i/. Typically transcribed with [hʲ]. See Romanian phonology |
| Russian | Standard[16] | твёрдый / tvjordyj | ⓘ | 'hard' | Possible emphatic realization of /j/.[16] See Russian phonology |
| Scottish Gaelic[17] | eich | [eç] | 'horses' | Slender allophone of /x/. See Scottish Gaelic phonology and orthography | |
| Sicilian[citation needed] | ciumi | [ˈçuːmɪ] | 'river' | Evolved from the Latin /fl/ nexus. Realized as [t͡ʃ] when preceded by a consonant. See Sicilian phonology | |
| Spanish | Chilean[18] | mujer | [muˈçe̞ɾ] | 'woman' | Allophone of /x/ before front vowels. See Spanish phonology |
| Turkish[19] | zihin | ⓘ | 'intellect' | Allophone of /h/.[19] See Turkish phonology | |
| Uzbek[citation needed] | maktab | [mɑçtɑb] | 'school' | Occurs when /k/ comes before /t/ and /b/ sounds. | |
| Walloon[citation needed] | texhe | ⓘ | 'to knit' | ⟨xh⟩ spelling proper in Common Walloon, in the Feller system it would be written ⟨hy⟩ | |
| Welsh | hiaith | ⓘ | 'language' | Occurs in words where /h/ comes before /j/ due to h-prothesis of the original word, i.e. /jaɪ̯θ/ iaith 'language' becomes ei hiaith 'her language', resulting in /j/ i → /ç/ hi.[20] See Welsh phonology | |
Post-palatal
There is also a voiceless post-palatal or pre-velar fricative in some languages, which is articulated slightly farther back compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical voiceless palatal fricative, though not as back as the prototypical voiceless velar fricative. The International Phonetic Alphabet does not have a separate symbol for that sound, though it can be transcribed as ⟨ç̠⟩, ⟨ç⟩ (both symbols denote a retracted ⟨ç⟩) or ⟨x̟⟩ (advanced ⟨x⟩).
Features
- Its manner of articulation is fricative, which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence.
- Its place of articulation is post-palatal (or pre-velar; also called palato-velar, retracted palatal, backed palatal, advanced velar or fronted velar), which means it is articulated between the position of palatal consonants and velar consonants. Palatalized velar consonants may be the same, but "palatalized" may also simply mean a palatal approximant-like release.
- Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
- It is an oral consonant, which means that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
- It is a median consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream down the midline of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
- Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air only with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.
Occurrence
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belarusian[citation needed] | глухі / hluchí | ⓘ | 'deaf' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨xʲ⟩. See Belarusian phonology | |
| Dutch | Standard Belgian[4] | acht | ⓘ | 'eight' | May be velar [x] instead.[4] See Dutch phonology |
| Southern accents[4] | |||||
| Greek[21] | ψυχή / psychí | ⓘ | 'soul' | See Modern Greek phonology | |
| Limburgish | Weert dialect[22] | ich | [ɪ̞x̟] | 'I' | Allophone of /x/ before and after front vowels.[22] See Weert dialect phonology |
| Lithuanian[23][24] | chemija | [ˈx̟ɛmija] | 'chemistry' | Very rare;[25] typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨xʲ⟩. See Lithuanian phonology | |
| Russian | Standard[16] | хинди / chindi | ⓘ | 'Hindi' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨xʲ⟩. See Russian phonology |
| Spanish | mujer | [muˈx̟e̞ɾ] | 'woman' | Allophone of /x/ before front vowels.[26] See Spanish phonology | |
| Ukrainian[citation needed] | алхімія / alchimija | ⓘ | 'alchemy' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨xʲ⟩. See Ukrainian phonology | |
| Uzbek[27] | xurmo | [x̟urmɒ] | 'date palm' | Weakly fricated; occurs word-initially and pre-consonantally, otherwise it is post-velar [x̠].[27] | |
Voiceless palatal approximant
| Voiceless palatal approximant | |
|---|---|
| ȷ̊ | |
| IPA number | 153 402A |
| Audio sample | |
| Encoding | |
| Entity (decimal) | j̊ |
| Unicode (hex) | U+006A U+030A |
| X-SAMPA | j_0 |
A voiceless palatal approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ j̊ ⟩, a j with a ring,[28] indicating the voiceless homologue of the voiced palatal approximant. The IPA also had a dedicated symbol ⟨ꞕ⟩, an h with palatal hook, for the similar palatalized hʲ sound, but that is now obsolete. In the Finno-Ugric transcription, it is transcribed ⟨ᴊ⟩, a small capital j.
The palatal approximant can in many cases be considered the semivocalic equivalent of the voiceless variant of the close front unrounded vowel [i̥]. The sound is essentially an Australian English ⟨y⟩ (as in year) pronounced strictly without vibration of the vocal cords.
Features
- Its manner of articulation is approximant, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but not enough to produce a turbulent airstream.
- Its place of articulation is palatal, which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised to the hard palate.
- Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
- It is an oral consonant, which means that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
- It is a median consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream down the midline of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
- Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air only with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.
Occurrence
It is found as a phoneme in Jalapa Mazatec and Washo as well as in Kildin Sami.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Breton | Bothoa dialect | [example needed] | Contrasts voiceless /j̊/, plain voiced /j/ and nasal voiced /ȷ̃/ approximants.[29] | ||
| Chinese | Standard | 票 / piào | ⓘ | 'ticket' | Common allophony of /j/ after aspirated consonants. Normally transcribed as [pʰj]. See Standard Chinese phonology |
| English | Australian | huge | [j̊ʉːdʒ] | 'huge' | H-dropping, also allophone of /j/. See Australian English phonology[30][31] |
| New Zealand | [j̊i̠(ːʷ)dʒ] | H-dropping, also allophone of /j/, also can be [ç] instead. See New Zealand English phonology[32][31] | |||
| French | pierre | ⓘ | 'stone' | Devoiced allophone of /j/.[33] See French phonology | |
| Icelandic | hérna | [ˈj̊ɛ(ɾ)tnä] | 'here' | Dialectal, or in free variation with [ç][34][35][36][37][38] | |
| Jalapa Mazatec[39] | [example needed] | Contrasts voiceless /j̊/, plain voiced /j/ and glottalized voiced /ȷ̃/ approximants.[39] | |||
| Japanese | 日 / hi | [j̊i] | 'day' | Colloquial, Allophone of /j/[40][41][42] | |
| Scottish Gaelic[43] | a-muigh | [əˈmuj̊] | 'outside' (directional) | Allophone of /j/ and /ʝ/. See Scottish Gaelic phonology | |
| Thai | [example needed] | Allophone of /j/.[44] | |||
| Tibetan | Khams | Phonemic[45] | |||
| Washo | t'á:Yaŋi | [ˈtʼaːj̊aŋi] | 'he's hunting' | Contrasts voiceless /j̊/ and voiced /j/ approximants. | |
| Koyukon (Denaakk'e) | [example needed] | Contrasts voiceless /j̊/ and voiced /j/ approximants. | |||