Voiceless uvular fricative
Consonantal sound represented by ⟨χ⟩ in IPA
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A voiceless uvular fricative is a type of consonantal sound that is used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is either a Latin or Greek-style chi, ⟨χ⟩. The historical IPA symbol for this sound was ⟨ᴚ⟩, a turned small capital R, and was officially changed to ⟨χ⟩ in 1928.[1] In Americanist phonetic notation the sound is represented by ⟨x̣⟩ (ex with underdot), or sometimes by ⟨x̌⟩ (ex with caron). In broad transcription it may be transcribed ⟨x⟩, or ⟨r⟩ if rhotic.
| Voiceless uvular fricative | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| χ | |||
| ꭓ | |||
| IPA number | 142 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | χ | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+03C7 | ||
| X-SAMPA | X | ||
| Braille |   | ||
| |||
Many languages claimed to have a voiceless uvular fricative may actually have a voiceless uvular fricative trill.
Features
Features of a voiceless uvular 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 uvular, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) at the uvula.
- 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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans[2][3] | goed | [χut] | 'good' | Varies between a fricative and a fricative trill when word-initial.[2] See Afrikaans phonology. | |
| Armenian | խաղ / xaġ | [χɑʁ] | 'game' | ||
| Azerbaijani[citation needed] | sancaq | [sɑndʒɑχ] | 'pin' | Colloquial pronunciation of word-final q. | |
| Blackfoot | Some speakers | ᖳᐠᐦᖽ / Aohkíí | [ɔχkíː] | 'water' | Most speakers always pronounced 'h' as /x/ in central and back vowels. |
| Breton | Some speakers | c'hwec'h | [χwɛχ] | 'six' | |
| Chuvash | хăна / hăna | [χəˈna] | 'guest' | ||
| Danish | Standard[4] | pres | [ˈpχæs] | 'pressure' | Before /r/, aspiration of /p, t, k/ is realized as devoicing of /r/.[5] Usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨ʁ⟩. See Danish phonology. |
| English | Scouse[6] | clock | [kl̥ɒχ] | 'clock' | Possible word-final realization of /k/; varies between a fricative and a fricative trill.[6] |
| neck | [nɛχ] | 'neck' | |||
| Welsh[7][8] | Amlwch | [ˈamlʊχ] | 'Amlwch' | Occurs only in loanwords from Welsh;[7] usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨x⟩. See English phonology | |
| White South African[3][9] | gogga | [ˈχɒχə] | 'insect' | Less commonly velar [x], occurs only in loanwords from Afrikaans and Khoisan.[3] Usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨x⟩. See White South African English phonology and English phonology. | |
| French | très | [t̪χɛ] | 'very' | Allophone of /ʁ/ in contact with voiceless consonants. See French phonology | |
| German | Standard[10] | Dach | [daχ] | 'roof' | Appears only after certain back vowels. See Standard German phonology |
| Chemnitz dialect[11] | Rock | [χɔkʰ] | 'skirt' | In free variation with [ʁ̞], [ʁ], [ʀ̥] and [q].[11] Does not occur in coda.[11] | |
| Lower Rhine[12] | Wirte | [ˈvɪχtə] | 'hosts' | In free variation with [ɐ] between a vowel and a voiceless coronal consonant. | |
| Hebrew[13] | מֶלֶךְ / mélekh | [ˈme̞le̞χ] | 'king' | Usually a fricative trill.[13] See Modern Hebrew phonology. | |
| Luxembourgish[14] | Zuch | [t͡suχ] | 'train' | See Luxembourgish phonology. | |
| Portuguese | General Brazilian[15] | rompimento | [χõpiˈmẽtʊ] | 'rupture' (noun) | Some dialects, corresponds to rhotic consonant /ʁ/. See Portuguese phonology. |
| Ripuarian[16][17] | ach | [ɑχ] | 'eight' | Allophone of /x/ after back vowels. Fronted to [ç] or [ʃ] after front vowels and consonants.[16][17] It may be transcribed in IPA with ⟨x⟩. See Colognian phonology, Kerkrade dialect phonology and Hard and soft G in Dutch | |
| Spanish | Ponce dialect[18] | perro | [ˈpe̞χo̞] | 'dog' | This and [ʀ̥] are the primary realizations of /r/ in this dialect.[18] See Spanish phonology. |
| Tlingit | -dáx̱ | [dáχ] | 'from, out of' | Occurs plain, labialised, ejective, and labialised ejective. | |
| Turkmen | gahar | [ɢɑχɑɾ] | 'snow' | ||
| Welsh | chwech | ⓘ | 'six' | See Welsh phonology. | |
| Yiddish[2] | איך / ikh | [iχ] | 'I' | See Yiddish phonology. | |