Voiceless palatal plosive
Consonantal sound represented by ⟨c⟩ in IPA
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A voiceless palatal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨c⟩.
| Voiceless palatal plosive | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| c | |||
| IPA number | 107 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | c | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+0063 | ||
| X-SAMPA | c | ||
| Braille |  | ||
| |||
If distinction is necessary, a voiceless alveolo-palatal plosive may be transcribed ⟨t̠ʲ⟩ (retracted and palatalized [t]) or ⟨c̟⟩ (advanced [c], depending on the linguistic analysis of that sound. There is also a para-IPA letter ⟨ȶ⟩ that is used primarily in Sinological phonetic notation.
It is common for the symbol ⟨c⟩ to be used to transcribe a palatalized voiced velar plosive [kʲ] or, as often in the Indo-Aryan languages, a postalveolar affricate [tʃ] – especially in phonemic notation. The latter may be appropriate when the place of articulation needs to be specified but the distinction between plosive and affricate is not contrastive, or simply for a cleaner transcription.
Features
Features of a voiceless palatal stop:
- Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no nasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is a plosive.
- 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.
- The otherwise identical post-palatal variant is articulated slightly behind the hard palate, making it sound closer to the velar [k].
- Alveolo-palatal variant is articulated also with the blade of the tongue at or behind the alveolar ridge.
- 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 or alveolo-palatal
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Albanian[1] | shqip | ⓘ | 'Albanian' | Merged with [t͡ʃ] in Gheg Albanian and some speakers of Tosk Albanian.[2] | |
| Asturian | Western dialects[3] | muyyer | [muˈceɾ] | 'woman' | Alternate evolution of -lj-, -c'l-, pl-, cl- and fl- in the Brañas Vaqueiras area of Western Asturias. May be also realized as [c͡ç] or [ɟ͡ʝ] |
| Amuzgo | Xochistlahuaca variety[4] | tyaáⁿ | [cã́] | 'clumsy; a clumsy person' | |
| Assyrian | Urmi dialect | ܟܘܿܡܵܐ | [cuma] | 'black' | |
| Azerbaijani | کئچی/keçi | ⓘ | 'goat' | Can realize as [t͡ʃ̟] in Tabriz accent[citation needed] | |
| Basque | ttantta | [cäɲcä] | 'droplet' | ||
| Blackfoot | ᖳᖽᖾᖳᐡ / akikoan | [aˈkicoan] | 'girl' | Allophone of /k/ after front vowels. | |
| Breton | Gwenedeg | kenn | [cɛ̃n] | 'dandruff' | Realization of /k/ before front vowels. |
| Bulgarian | Banat dialect | kaćétu (каќету or какьету) | [kacetu] | 'as' | See Bulgarian phonology |
| Catalan | Majorcan[5] | qui | [ˈci̞] | 'who' | Alveolo-palatal or palatal.[6] Corresponds to /k/ in other varieties. See Catalan phonology |
| Corsican | chjodu | [ˈcoːdu] | 'nail' | Also present in the Gallurese dialect | |
| Croatian | Littoral dialect | već | [vec] | 'already' | |
| Czech | čeština | ⓘ | 'Czech' (language) | Alveolo-palatal or alveolar.[7] See Czech phonology | |
| Damin | dunji-kan | [t̺un̺t̠ʲi kan̺] | 'go' | ||
| Dawsahak | [cɛːˈnɐ] | 'small' | |||
| Dinka | car | [car] | 'black' | ||
| Ega[8] | [cá] | 'understand' | |||
| French[7] | sac | ⓘ | 'bag' | Ranges from alveolar to palatal. See French phonology | |
| Friulian | cjase | [caze] | 'house' | ||
| Ganda | caayi | [caːji] | 'tea' | ||
| Gweno | [ca] | 'to come' | |||
| Hakka | Meixian | 飛機 / fi1 gi1 | [fi˦ ci˦] | 'plane' | Allophone of /k/ before /i/. |
| Hausa | kyauta | [caːuta] | 'gift' | ||
| Hokkien | Taiwanese | 機車 / ki-tshia | [ciː˧ t͡ɕʰia˥] | 'motorcycle' | |
| Hungarian[9] | kutya | ⓘ | 'dog' | Alveolo-palatal.[7] See Hungarian phonology | |
| Icelandic | Eldgjá | ⓘ | 'Eldgjá' | Alveolo-palatal.[10] See Icelandic phonology | |
| Irish | ceist | [cɛʃtʲ] | 'question' | Alveolo-palatal or palatal.[7] See Irish phonology | |
| Khasi | boit | [bɔc] | 'dwarf' | ||
| Khmer | ចាប / chab | [caːp] | 'bird' | Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms. | |
| Kinyarwanda | ikintu | [iciːnɦuʰ] | 'thing' | ||
| Kurdish | Northern | kîso | [cʰiːsoː] | 'tortoise' | Allophone of /kʰ/ before /ɨ/, /ɛ/, /iː/, and /eː/. See Kurdish phonology |
| Central | کیسەڵ | [cʰiːsæɫ] | |||
| Southern | [cʰiːsaɫ] | ||||
| Latvian | ķirbis | ⓘ | 'pumpkin' | See Latvian phonology | |
| Low German | Plautdietsch | kjoakj | [coac] | 'church' | Corresponds to [kʲ] in all other dialects.[clarification needed] |
| Macedonian | шеќер | ⓘ | 'sugar' | Prescribed realisation of the /c/ phoneme, varies greatly across dialects.[11] See Macedonian phonology | |
| Malay | Kelantan-Pattani | cita | [ci.tɔʔ] | 'feeling' | Palatal,[12] allophone of /tʃ/. See Malay phonology |
| Indonesian | cari | [cari] | 'to find' | ||
| Norwegian | Central dialects[13] | fett | [fɛcː] | 'fat' | See Norwegian phonology |
| Northern dialects[13] | |||||
| Occitan | Limousin | tireta | [ciˈʀetɒ] | 'drawer' | |
| Auvergnat | tirador | [ciʀaˈdu] | |||
| Western Gascon | chifra | [ˈcifrə] | 'digit' | Corresponds to [tʃ] and sometimes [dʒ] in eastern dialects | |
| Romanian[14] | Chișinău | ⓘ | 'Chișinău' | Allophone of /k/ before /i/ and /e/. See Romanian phonology. Also in some northern dialects | |
| Romansh | Sursilvan[15] | notg | [nɔc] | 'night' | |
| Sutsilvan[16] | tgàn | [caŋ] | 'dog' | ||
| Surmiran[17] | vatgas | [ˈvɑcɐs] | 'cows' | ||
| Puter[18] | zücher | [ˈtsycər] | 'sugar' | ||
| Vallader[19] | müs-chel | [ˈmyʃcəl] | 'moss' | ||
| Scottish Gaelic[20] | maide | [ˈmãtʲə] | 'stick' | Alveolo-palatal or alveolar. Affricated in some positions, with affrication stronger in certain dialects. | |
| Slovak[7] | ťava | [ˈcava] | 'camel' | Laminal alveolo-palatal. Often africated.[21] See Slovak phonology | |
| Turkish | köy | ⓘ | 'village' | See Turkish phonology | |
| Vietnamese[22] | Central and Southern | Ba Chẽ | ⓘ | 'Ba Chẽ' | May be slightly affricated [tᶝ]. See Vietnamese phonology |
| West Frisian | tjems | [cɛms] | 'strainer' | See West Frisian phonology | |
| Western Desert | kutju | [kucu] | 'one' | ||
Post-palatal
| Voiceless post-palatal or pre-velar plosive | |
|---|---|
| c̠ | |
| k̟ |
There is also a voiceless post-palatal or pre-velar plosive in some languages, which is articulated slightly more back compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical palatal consonant, though not as back as the prototypical velar consonant. The International Phonetic Alphabet does not have a separate symbol for that sound, though it can be transcribed as ⟨c̠⟩ (retracted ⟨c⟩), ⟨k̟⟩ (advanced ⟨k⟩), or ⟨kʲ⟩ (palatalized ⟨k⟩, though this is more ambiguous than the others; see below).
Features
- Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no nasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is a plosive.
- 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 voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
- 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 | кіслы | ⓘ | 'acidic' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʲ⟩. See Belarusian phonology | |
| Catalan[23] | qui | [k̟i] | 'who' | Allophone of /k/ before front vowels.[23] See Catalan phonology | |
| Danish | Standard[24] | gidsel | [ˈk̟isəl] | 'hostage' | Allophone of /ɡ/ before front vowels.[24] See Danish phonology |
| English[25][26] | keen | ⓘ | 'keen' | Allophone of /k/ before front vowels and /j/.[25][26] See English phonology | |
| back | [bæc̠] | back | Mainstream Irish English realisation of /k/ after front vowels.[27] | ||
| German | Standard[28][29] | Kind | ⓘ | 'child' | Allophone of /k/ before and after front vowels.[28][29] See Standard German phonology |
| Greek[30] | Μακεδνός | ⓘ | 'Makedon' | See Modern Greek phonology | |
| Italian | Standard[31] | chi | ⓘ | 'who' | Allophone of /k/ before /i, e, ɛ, j/.[31] See Italian phonology |
| Japanese | 九 / kyū | [k̟ÿː] | 'nine' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʲ⟩, allophone of /kj/. See Japanese phonology | |
| Polish | kiedy | ⓘ | 'when' | See Polish phonology | |
| Portuguese | qui | [k̟i] | 'Chi' | Allophone of /k/ before front vowels. See Portuguese phonology | |
| Romanian[32] | ochi | [o̞k̟] | 'eye' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʲ⟩. See Romanian phonology | |
| Russian | Standard[33] | кит / kit | ⓘ | 'whale' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʲ⟩. See Russian phonology |
| Scottish Gaelic[34] | còig | [kʰoːʲk̟] | 'five (5)' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʲ⟩. Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms. | |
| Spanish[35] | kilo | [ˈk̟ilo̞] | 'kilo(gram)' | Allophone of /k/ before front vowels.[35] See Spanish phonology | |
| Tidore | yaci | [jaci] | 'to rip' | ||
| Ukrainian | кінчик/kinchyk | ⓘ | 'tip' | Can also be transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʲ⟩, but is an allophone of /k/ before front vowels. See Ukrainian phonology | |
| Vietnamese | cách | ⓘ | 'to cut, to harvest' | Final allophone of /c/. See Vietnamese phonology | |