Voiceless palatal fricative

Voiceless palatal fricative
ç
IPA number138
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ç
Unicode (hex)U+00E7
X-SAMPAC
Braille

A voiceless palatal fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ç⟩. It is the non-sibilant equivalent of the voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative. Palatal fricatives are relatively rare phonemes, and only 5% of the world's languages have /ç/ as a phoneme.[1] The sound further occurs as an allophone of /x/ (e.g. in German or Greek), or, in other languages, of /h/ in the vicinity of front vowels.

Features

Features of a voiceless palatal 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 palatal, which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised to the hard palate.
  • 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

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Blackfoot ᖱᑊᖽᒧᐧᖿ / ihkitsíkaa [ɪçkit͡síkaː] 'Seven' Allophone of /x/.
Chinese Taizhou dialect 嬉 [çi] 'to play' Corresponds to alveolo-palatal /ɕ/ in other Wu dialects.
Meixian dialect 香 [çʲɔŋ˦] 'fragrant' Corresponds to palatalized fricative /hj/ in romanised as "hi-" or "hy-" Hakka dialect writing.
Danish Standard[2] pjaske [ˈpçæskə] 'splash' May be alveolo-palatal [ɕ] instead.[2] Before /j/, aspiration of /p, t, k/ is realized as devoicing and fortition of /j/.[2] Note, however, that the sequence /tj/ is normally realized as an affricate [t͡ɕ].[3] See Danish phonology
Dutch Standard Northern[4] wiegje [ˈʋiçjə] 'crib' Allophone of /x/ before /j/ for some speakers.[4] See Dutch phonology
English Australian[5] hue [çʉː] 'hue' Phonetic realization of the sequence /hj/.[5][6][7] See Australian English phonology and English phonology
British[6][7]
Scouse[8] like [laɪ̯ç] 'like' Allophone of /k/; ranges from palatal to uvular, depending on the preceding vowel.[8] See English phonology
Estonian vihm [viçm] 'rain' Allophone of /h/. See Estonian phonology
Finnish vihko [ʋiçko̞] 'notebook' Allophone of /h/. See Finnish phonology
French Parisian[9] merci [mɛʁ̥ˈsi̥ç]ⓘ 'thank you' The close vowels /i, y, u/ and the mid front /e, ɛ/ at the end of utterances can be devoiced.[9] See French phonology
German nicht [nɪçt]ⓘ 'not' Traditionally allophone of /x/, or vice versa, but phonemic for some speakers who have both /aːx/ and /aːç/ (< /aʁç/). See Standard German phonology.
Haida xíl [çɪ́l] 'leaf'
Hmong White (Dawb) 𖬗𖬰𖬧𖬰 / xya [ça˧] 'seven' Corresponds to alveolo-palatal /ɕ/ in Dananshan dialect
Green (Njua)
Hungarian[10] kapj [ˈkɒpç] 'get' (imperative) Allophone of /j/ between a voiceless obstruent and a word boundary. See Hungarian phonology
Icelandic hérna [ˈçɛ(ɾ)tnä] 'here' Allophone of /h/ near /j/ and /i/.[11] See Icelandic phonology
Irish a Sheáin [ə çaːnʲ] 'John' (voc.) See Irish phonology
Japanese[12] 日 / hi [çi]ⓘ 'day' Allophone of /h/ before /i/ and /j/. See Japanese phonology
Kabyle ḵtil [çtil] 'to measure'
Korean 힘 / him [çim]ⓘ 'strength' Allophone of /h/ word-initially before /i/ and /j/. See Korean phonology
Minangkabau Mukomuko loyh [lojç] 'loose' Allophone of /h/ after /i/, /oj/, and /uj/ in coda.
Moksha шалхка [ʃalçka] 'nose'
Muniche [tʃaçu] 'plant stalk' [13]
Norwegian Urban East[14] kjerne [ˈçæ̂ːɳə̌]ⓘ 'core' Often alveolo-palatal [ɕ] instead; younger speakers in Bergen, Stavanger and Oslo merge it with /ʂ/.[14] See Norwegian phonology
Pashto Ghilji dialect[15] پښه‎ [pça] 'foot' See Pashto phonology
Wardak dialect
Romanian Standard Rohia [r̠̊o̞ˈçijä]ⓘ 'Rohia' Allophone of /h/ before /i/. Typically transcribed with [hʲ]. See Romanian phonology
Russian Standard[16] твёрдый / tvjordyj [ˈt̪ʋʲɵrd̪ɨ̞ç]ⓘ 'hard' Possible realization of /j/.[16] See Russian phonology
Scottish Gaelic[17] eich [eç] 'horses' Slender allophone of /x/. See Scottish Gaelic phonology and orthography
Sicilian ciumi [ˈçuːmɪ] 'river' Evolved from the Latin /fl/ nexus. Realized as [t͡ʃ] when preceded by a consonant. See Sicilian phonology
Spanish Chilean[18] mujer [muˈçe̞ɾ] 'woman' Allophone of /x/ before front vowels. See Spanish phonology
Turkish[19] zihin [ziˈçin]ⓘ 'intellect' Allophone of /h/.[19] See Turkish phonology
Uzbek maktab [mɑçtɑb] 'school' Occurs when /k/ comes before /t/ and /b/ sounds.
Walloon texhe [tɛç]ⓘ 'to knit' ⟨xh⟩ spelling proper in Common Walloon, in the Feller system it would be written ⟨hy⟩
Welsh hiaith [çaɪ̯θ]ⓘ 'language' Occurs in words where /h/ comes before /j/ due to h-prothesis of the original word, i.e. /jaɪ̯θ/ iaith 'language' becomes ei hiaith 'her language', resulting in /j/ i → /ç/ hi.[20] See Welsh phonology

Post-palatal

Voiceless post-palatal fricative
ç᫢
x̟
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There is also a voiceless post-palatal fricative in some languages, which is articulated slightly farther back compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical voiceless palatal fricative, though not as back as the prototypical voiceless velar fricative. The International Phonetic Alphabet does not have a separate symbol for that sound, though it can be transcribed as ⟨ç̠⟩, ⟨ç᫢⟩ (both symbols denote a retracted ⟨ç⟩) or ⟨x̟⟩ (advanced ⟨x⟩).

Features

  • 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 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.
  • 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
Belarusian глухі / hluchí [ɣɫuˈx̟i]ⓘ 'deaf' Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨xʲ⟩. See Belarusian phonology
Dutch Standard Belgian[4] acht [ˈax̟t]ⓘ 'eight' May be velar [x] instead.[4] See Dutch phonology
Southern accents[4]
Greek[21] ψυχή / psychí [ps̠iˈç̠i]ⓘ 'soul' See Modern Greek phonology
Limburgish Weert dialect[22] ich [ɪ̞x̟] 'I' Allophone of /x/ before and after front vowels.[22] See Weert dialect phonology
Lithuanian[23][24] chemija [ˈx̟ɛmija] 'chemistry' Very rare;[25] typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨xʲ⟩. See Lithuanian phonology
Russian Standard[16] хинди / chindi [ˈx̟inʲdʲɪ]ⓘ 'Hindi' Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨xʲ⟩. See Russian phonology
Spanish mujer [muˈx̟e̞ɾ] 'woman' Allophone of /x/ before front vowels.[26] See Spanish phonology
Ukrainian алхімія / alchimija [ɐl̞ʲˈx̟imʲijɐ]ⓘ 'alchemy' Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨xʲ⟩. See Ukrainian phonology
Uzbek[27] xurmo [x̟urmɒ] 'date palm' Weakly fricated; occurs word-initially and pre-consonantally, otherwise it is post-velar [x̠].[27]

Voiceless palatal approximant

Voiceless palatal approximant
ȷ̊
ç᫛
IPA number153 402A
Audio sample
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)&#106;​&#778;
Unicode (hex)U+006A U+030A
X-SAMPAj_0

The voiceless palatal approximant is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. Some scholars posit it distinct from the fricative. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ j̊ ⟩, a j with a ring,[28] indicating the voiceless homologue of the voiced palatal approximant, or ⟨ç˕⟩, a c with cedilla with a lowering diacritic after it, which indicates a weaker or lowered version of the voiceless palatal fricative. The IPA also had a dedicated symbol ⟨ꞕ⟩, an h with palatal hook, which also represented a palatalized h sound, but that is now obsolete. In the Finno-Ugric transcription, it is transcribed ⟨ᴊ⟩, a small capital j.

The palatal approximant can in many cases be considered the semivocalic equivalent of the voiceless variant of the close front unrounded vowel [i̥]. The sound is essentially an Australian English ⟨y⟩ (as in year) pronounced strictly without vibration of the vocal cords.

Features

Occurrence

It is found as a phoneme in Jalapa Mazatec and Washo as well as in Kildin Sami.

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Breton Bothoa dialect Contrasts voiceless /j̊/, plain voiced /j/ and nasal voiced /ȷ̃/ approximants.[29]
Chinese Standard 票 / piào [pj̊äʊ̯˥˩]ⓘ 'ticket' Common allophony of /j/ after aspirated consonants. Normally transcribed as [pʰj]. See Standard Chinese phonology
English Australian huge [j̊ʉːdʒ] 'huge' H-dropping, also allophone of /j/. See Australian English phonology[30][31]
New Zealand [j̊i̠(ːʷ)dʒ] H-dropping, also allophone of /j/, also can be [ç] instead. See New Zealand English phonology[32][31]
French pierre [pj̊ʲɛːʀ̝̊]ⓘ 'stone' Devoice allophone of /j/. See French phonology[33]
Icelandic hérna [ˈj̊ɛ(ɾ)tnä] 'here' Dialectal, or in free variation with [ç][34][35][36][37][38]
Jalapa Mazatec[39] Contrasts voiceless /j̊/, plain voiced /j/ and glottalized voiced /ȷ̃/ approximants.[39]
Japanese 日 / hi [j̊i] 'day' Colloquial, Allophone of /j/[40][41][42]
Scottish Gaelic[43] a-muigh [əˈmuj̊] 'outside' (directional) Allophone of /j/ and /ʝ/. See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Thai Allophone of /j/.[44]
Tibetan Khams Phonemic[45]
Washo t'á:Yaŋi [ˈtʼaːj̊aŋi] 'he's hunting' Contrasts voiceless /j̊/ and voiced /j/ approximants.
Koyukon (Denaakk'e) Contrasts voiceless /j̊/ and voiced /j/ approximants.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), pp. 167–168.
  2. ^ a b c Basbøll (2005), pp. 65–66.
  3. ^ Grønnum (2005), p. 148.
  4. ^ a b c d e Collins & Mees (2003), p. 191.
  5. ^ a b Cox & Fletcher (2017), p. 159.
  6. ^ a b Roach (2009), p. 43.
  7. ^ a b Wells, John C (2009-01-29), "A huge query", John Wells's phonetic blog, retrieved 2016-03-13
  8. ^ a b Watson (2007), p. 353.
  9. ^ a b Fagyal & Moisset (1999).
  10. ^ Siptár & Törkenczy (2007), p. 205.
  11. ^ Rögnvaldsson (2017), p. 33, 37.
  12. ^ Okada (1999), p. 118.
  13. ^ Michael, Lev; Farmer, Stephanie; Finley, Gregory; Acosta, Karina Sullón; Beier, Christine; Icahuate, Alexandra Chanchari; Baneo, Donalia Icahuate; Saita, Melchor Sinti (2023-01-16), Epps, Patience; Michael, Lev (eds.), "18 Muniche", Language Isolates II: Kanoé to Yurakaré, De Gruyter, pp. 851–892, doi:10.1515/9783110432732-005, ISBN 978-3-11-043273-2, retrieved 2025-09-17
  14. ^ a b Kristoffersen (2000), p. 23.
  15. ^ Henderson (1983), p. 595.
  16. ^ a b c Yanushevskaya & Bunčić (2015), p. 223.
  17. ^ Oftedal (1956), pp. 113–4.
  18. ^ Palatal phenomena in Spanish phonology Archived 2021-11-23 at the Wayback Machine Page 113
  19. ^ a b Göksel & Kerslake (2005:6)
  20. ^ Ball & Watkins (1993), pp. 300–301.
  21. ^ Arvaniti (2007), p. 20.
  22. ^ a b Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 108.
  23. ^ Mathiassen (1996), pp. 22–23).
  24. ^ Ambrazas et al. (1997), p. 36.
  25. ^ Ambrazas et al. (1997), p. 35.
  26. ^ Canellada & Madsen (1987), p. 21.
  27. ^ a b Sjoberg (1963), p. 11.
  28. ^ Blankenship, Barbara; Ladefoged, Peter; Bhaskararao, Peri; Chase, Nichumeno (1993). "Phonetic structures of Khonoma Angami". Linguistics of the Tibeto-Burman Area. 16 (2). doi:10.32655/ltba.16.2.03. ISSN 0731-3500.
  29. ^ Iosad, Pavel (2013). Representation and variation in substance-free phonology: A case study in Celtic. Universitetet i Tromso.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  30. ^ Cox, Felicity; Palethorpe, Sallyanne (2007). Illustrations of the IPA: Australian English (Cambridge University Press ed.). Journal of the International Phonetic Association 37. pp. 341–350.
  31. ^ a b Moran, Steven; McCloy, Daniel (2019). English sound inventory (UZ). Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  32. ^ Bauer, Laurie; Warren, Paul (2007). Illustrations of the IPA: New Zealand English (Cambridge University Press ed.). Journal of the International Phonetic Association 37. pp. 97–102.
  33. ^ Sten, H (1963). Manuel de Phonetique Francaise. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.
  34. ^ Einarsson, Stefan (1949). Icelandic. Johns Hopkins Press.
  35. ^ Haugen, Einar (1958). "The Phonemics of Modern Icelandic". Language. 34 1: 55–88. doi:10.2307/411276. JSTOR 411276.
  36. ^ Moran, Steven; McCloy, Daniel, eds. (2019). Icelandic sound inventory (SPA). Stanford Phonology Archive. Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  37. ^ "PHOIBLE 2.0 -". phoible.org. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  38. ^ "PHOIBLE 2.0 - Consonant j̥". phoible.org. Retrieved 2025-07-25.
  39. ^ a b Silverman et al. (1995), p. 83.
  40. ^ Bloch (1950), p. 86–125.
  41. ^ Jorden (1963).
  42. ^ Jorden (1952).
  43. ^ Bauer, Michael. "Final devoicing or Why does naoidh sound like Nɯiç?". Akerbeltz. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  44. ^ Abramson 1962; Kruatrachue 1960; Noss 1954; Noss 1964
  45. ^ Chirkova 2014

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  • Arvaniti, Amalia (2007), "Greek Phonetics: The State of the Art" (PDF), Journal of Greek Linguistics, 8: 97–208, CiteSeerX 10.1.1.692.1365, doi:10.1075/jgl.8.08arv, archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-11, retrieved 2013-12-11
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