S͎
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s͎ (an s with an upward-pointing arrow beneath it) is a symbol used in the Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet to represent a whistled version of the voiceless alveolar fricative [s].[1][2]
Few languages include this sound as a linguistic phoneme, and data about the extent of its use is limited. It has been documented primarily in some Southern Bantu languages in Sub-Saharan Africa (specifically the Shona and Tswa-Ronga language groups). Some authors have proposed that the sound also occurs in the Tabasaran language in the Caucasus, and Shehri language in Oman, but this is disputed.[3]
In the Shona language, [s͎] is represented orthographically by sv, as in the name of Morgan Tsvangirai. The key acoustic differences between the whistled [s͎] and the non-whistled [s] are that [s͎] has a secondary spectral peak at approximately 3 kHz, and a narrower spectral peak bandwidth.[3]
