VOICELESS VELAR FRICATIVE

The 'voiceless velar 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 x. The sound is present in some dialects of English.

Contents

Features

Varieties of

Hints on pronunciation

Occurrence

See also

References

Features

Features of the voiceless velar 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 velar which means it is articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the velum).

★ Its phonation type is voiceless, which means the vocal cords are not vibrating during the articulation.

★ 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.

Varieties of

IPA	Description
	plain velar fricative
	labialized
	ejective
	ejective labialized
	semi-labialized
	strongly labialized

Hints on pronunciation

Prepare to say "cat." Now, without moving your mouth or tongue, instead of making the "c" sound, expel a light burst of air, and open your mouth wide without losing the friction—this is the voiceless velar fricative^[1].

Occurrence

★ Afrikaans: '''g'oed'' , "well"

★ Atkan Aleut: ''ala'x''' , "two"

★ Angor: '''h'ombo'' , "to walk"

★ Arabic: خضرة , "green (f)"

★ Assamese: অসমীয়া , "Assamese (language)"

★ Avar: чe'хь' , "belly"

★ Azeri: 'x'oş , "pleasant"

★ Bulgarian: ти'х'ом , "quietly"

★ Coptic: 'ϧ'ⲉⲗⲗⲟ , "elder"

★ Croatian: '''H'rvatski'' , "Croatian"

★ Czech: '''ch'lap'' , "guy"

★ Dutch: ''a'ch't'' , "eight"

★ Esperanto: ''mona'ĥ'o'' , "monk"

★ Eyak: ''du'x'ł'' , "traps"

★ Finnish: ''la'h'ti'' , "bay"

★ Georgian: ჯო'ხ'ი , "stick"

★ German: ''Da'ch''' , "roof"

★ Greek: 'χ'αρά , "joy"

★ Hungarian: ''mé'hh'el'' , "with a bee"

★ Irish: ''deo'ch''' , "drink"

★ Mandarin: 河/'''h'é'' , "river"

★ Polish: ''brzu'ch''' , "belly"

★ Portuguese (Brazilian): '''r'abo'' , "tail"

★ Russian: 'х'вост , "tail"

★ Vedic Sanskrit: देवः करोति , "The god makes."

★ Scots and Scottish English: ''lo'ch''' , "lake"

★ Scottish Gaelic, ''lo'ch''' , "lake"

★ Serbian: 'х'раст , "oak"

★ Somali: 'kh'ad , "ink"

★ Spanish: ''o'j'o'' , "eye"

★ Xhosa: '''rh'oxisa'' , "to cancel"

★ Vietnamese: '''kh'ác'' , "different"

★ Yaghan: '''x'an'' , "here"

See also

★ List of phonetics topics

References

1.
The Joys of Yiddish, , Leo, Rosten, McGraw-Hill, 1968,