The 'voiced palato-alveolar fricative' or 'domed postalveolar fricative' is a type of
consonantal sound, used in some
spoken languages. The symbol in the
International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is <>, and the equivalent
X-SAMPA symbol is
Z. An alternative symbol used in some older and American linguistic literature is <ž>, a ''z'' with a
háček. The sound occurs in many languages and, as in
English and
French, may have simultaneous
lip rounding (), although this is rarely indicated in transcription.
Features
Features of the voiced postalveolar fricative:
★ Its
manner of articulation is
sibilant fricative, which means it is produced by directing air flow through a groove in the tongue at the place of articulation and directing it over the sharp edge of the teeth, causing high-frequency
turbulence.
★ Its
place of articulation is ''palato-alveolar'', that is, domed (partially
palatalized)
postalveolar, which means it is articulated with the front of the
tongue behind the
alveolar ridge, and the body of the tongue bunched up ("domed") at the
palate.
★ It is an
oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
★ It is a
central consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the middle of the tongue, rather than the sides.
★ The
airstream mechanism is
pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the
lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the
glottis or the mouth.
Occurrence
★
Indo-European
★
★
Albanian: ''a'zh'urnoj'' , "update"
★
★
Armenian: 'ժ'ամ , "hour"
★
★
Belarusian: 'ж'aбa , "toad"
★
★
Bosnian: ''svje'ž''' , "fresh"
★
★
Bulgarian: мъ'ж'ът , "the man"
★
★
Catalan: '''g'el'' , "ice"
★
★
Croatian: '''ž'ut'' , "yellow"
★
★
Czech: ''mu'ž'i'' , "men"
★
★
English: ''A'si'a''
★
★
French: ''alia'g'e'' , "alloy"
★
★
Gascon: ''ar'g'ent'' , "money"
★
★
Ladino: ''mu'j'er'' , "woman"
★
★
Latvian: '''ž'āvēt'' , "smoke"
★
★
Lithuanian: '''ž'mona'' , "wife"
★
★
Macedonian: 'ж'aбa , "toad"
★
★
Pashto: '''ž'owul'' , "chew"
★
★
Persian: مژه , "eyelash"
★
★
Portuguese: '''j'ogar'' , "to play"
★
★
Rioplatense Spanish: '''ll'uvia'' , "rain"
★
★
Romanian: '''j'ar'' , "embers"
★
★
Serbian: 'ж'ут , "yellow"
★
★
Slovak: ''mu'ž'i'' , "men"
★
★
Slovenian: '''ž'ito'' , "cereal"
★
★
Southern Auvergnat Occitan: ''ar'g'ent'' , "money"
★
★
Tuscan Italian: ''pi'g'iare'' , "press"
★
★
Ukrainian: 'ж'aбa , "toad"
★
★
Yiddish: ''oran'zh''' , "orange"
★
Uralic
★
★
Hungarian: ''ró'zs'a'' , "rose"
★
★
Livonian: ''kū'ž''' , "six"
★
★
Veps: ''vī'ž''' , "five"
★
Northeast Caucasian
★
★
Avar: 'ж'акъа , "today"
★
★
Chechen: '''ƶ'iy'' , "sheep"
★
★
Ingush: '''ž'ii'' , "sheep"
★
Northwest Caucasian
★
★
Kabardian: 'ж'ыг , "tree"
★
Kartvelian
★
★
Georgian: 'ჟ'ურნალი , "magazine"
★
★
Megrelian: 'ჟ'ირი , "two"
★
Afro-Asiatic
★
★
Angas: '''zh'aam'' , "chin"
★
★
Moroccan Arabic: '''zh'u'zh''' , "two"
★
★
Goemai: '''zh'iem'' , "sickle"
★
★
Kabyle: '''j'eddi'' , "my grandfather"
★
★
Welayta: , "bush"
★
Nilo-Saharan
★
★
Berta: , "honey"
★
★
Tadaksahak Songhay , "to answer"
★
Niger-Congo
★
★
Mmockngie Ngwe: , "to split"
★
Khoisan
★
★
Juǀʼhoan: '''ž'u'' , "person"
★
Turkic
★
★
Kazakh '''j'ettі'' , "seven"
★
★
Turkish '''j'ale'' , "dew"
★
★
Turkmen '''ž'iraf'' , "giraffe"
★
Na-Dene
★
★
Gwich'in: '''zh'òh'' , "wolf"
★
★
Hän: '''zh'ùr'' , "wolf"
★
★
Navajo: ''łi'zh''' , "urine"
★
★
Tagish: '''zh'ē'' , "what"
★
★
Northern Tutchone: '''zh'i'' , "what"
★
★
Southern Tutchone: '''zh'ǜr'' , "berry"
★
Siouan
★
★
Lakota: ''waŋ'ž'i'' , "one"
★
Constructed
★
★
Esperanto: ''manĝa'ĵ'o'' , "food"
★
★
Ido: '''j'oyo'' , "happiness"
The sound in
Russian denoted by <ж> is commonly transcribed as a postalveolar fricative but is actually a
laminal retroflex fricative.
See also
★
Ezh
★
List of phonetics topics