Voiceless velar fricative

Voiceless velar fricative
x
Image
IPA number	140
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	x
Unicode (hex)	U+0078
X-SAMPA	x
Kirshenbaum	x
Sound

The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English loch.

The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨x⟩.

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 of the tongue at the soft 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 air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Varieties of [x]

IPA	Description
x	plain velar fricative
xʷ	labialised
xʼ	ejective
xʷʼ	ejective labialised
x̜ʷ	semi-labialised
x̹ʷ	strongly labialised
xʲ	palatalised
xʲʼ	ejective palatalised

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans		goed	[xuˑt]	'well'
Aleut	Atkan dialect	alax	[ɑlɑx]	'two'
Arabic		خضراء	[xadˤraːʔ]	'green (f)'	See Arabic phonology
Assamese		অসমীয়া	[ɔxɔmija]	'Assamese'
Avar		чeхь	[tʃex]	'belly'
Azerbaijani		xoş	[xoʃ]	'pleasant'
Breton		hor c'hi	[or xiː]	'our dog'
Bulgarian		тихо/tiho	['tixo]	'quietly'
Chinese	Mandarin	河/hé	[xɤ˧˥]	'river'	See Standard Chinese
Czech		chlap	[xlap]	'guy'	See Czech phonology
Dutch	Belgian Dutch	acht	[ˈɑxt]	'eight'	More common in northern dialects. See Dutch phonology
	Northern dialects
English	Scottish	loch	[lɔx]	'loch'	See English phonology
Esperanto		monaĥo	[monaxo]	'monk'	See Esperanto phonology
Eyak		duxł	[tʊxɬ]	'traps'
Finnish		tuhka	[tuxkɑ]	'ash'	Allophone of /h/. See Finnish phonology
Georgian		ჯოხი	[ˈdʒɔxi]	'stick'
German		Kuchen	[kuːxən]	'cake'	See German phonology
Greek		χαρά/chará	[xaˈra]	'joy'	See Modern Greek phonology
Hindi		ख़ुशी	[xʊʃiː]	'happiness'	See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Hungarian		sahhal	[ʃɒxːɒl]	'with a shah'	See Hungarian phonology
Irish		deoch	[dʲɔ̝̈x]	'drink'	See Irish phonology
Korean		흠집/heumjip	[xɯmd͡ʑip̚]	'flaw'	Occurs only before /ɯ/. See Korean phonology
Lithuanian		choras	[xoras]	'chorus'
Lojban		xatra	[xatra]	'letter'
Persian		خواهر	[xɒːhær]	'sister'	See Persian phonology
Macedonian		Охрид/Ohrid	[ˈɔxrit]	'Ohrid'	See Macedonian phonology
Manx		aashagh	[ˈɛːʒax]	'easy'
Old English		wealh	[wæɑlx]	'foreigner', 'slave'	See Old English phonology
Polish		chleb	[xlɛp]	'bread'	Also (in great majority of dialects) represented by <h>. See Polish phonology
Portuguese	Brazilian	rabo	[ˈxabʊ]	'tail'	(some dialects) See Portuguese phonology
Russian		хороший/khoroshiy	[xɐˈroʂɨj]	'good'	See Russian phonology
Scottish Gaelic		drochaid	[ˈt̪ɾɔxɪtʲ]	'bridge'	See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Serbo-Croatian		храст/hrast	[xrast]	'oak'	See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovak		chlap	[xlap]	'guy'
Somali		khad	[xad]	'ink'	See Somali phonology
Spanish		ojo	[ˈo̞xo̞]	'eye'	See Spanish phonology
Xhosa		rhoxisa	[xɔkǁiːsa]	'to cancel'
Ukrainian		хата	[ˈxɑ.t̪ɑ]	'house'	See Ukrainian phonology
Urdu		خوشی	[xʊʃiː]	'happiness'	See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Vietnamese		không	[xəwŋ]	'not'	See Vietnamese phonology
Welsh		carchar	[kaɾxaɾ]	'jail'	See Welsh phonology
West Frisian		túch	[tyx]	'dust'	Allophone of /χ/, only occurring after close vowels ([i], [y] and [u]).
Yaghan		xan	[xan]	'here'
Yi		ꉾ/he	[xɤ˧]	'good'
Yiddish		איך/ikh	[ix]	'I'	See Yiddish phonology
Zapotec	Tilquiapan	mejor	[mɘxoɾ]	'better'	Used primarily in loanwords from Spanish

See also

• List of phonetics topics

Bibliography

• Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (1): 103–107, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001191 
• Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (2): 255–259, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001373 
• Merrill, Elizabeth (2008), "Tilquiapan Zapotec", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 38 (1): 107–114 
• Padgett, Jaye (2003), "Contrast and Post-Velar Fronting in Russian", Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 21 (1): 39–87, doi:10.1023/A:1021879906505 
• van Reenen, Pieter; Huijs, Nanette (2000), "De harde en de zachte g, de spelling gh versus g voor voorklinker in het veertiende-eeuwse Middelnederlands" (in Dutch), Taal en Tongval 52: 159–181, http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/taalentongval/artikelen/Reenen_Huijs.pdf 
• Shosted, Ryan K.; Vakhtang, Chikovani (2006), "Standard Georgian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 36 (2): 255–264, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659 
• Thompson, Laurence (1959), "Saigon phonemics", Language 35 (3): 454–476, doi:10.2307/411232, JSTOR 411232 
• Verhoeven, Jo (2005), "Belgian Standard Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 25 (2): 243–247