Voiced postalveolar fricative

IPA Number	135
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X-SAMPA	Z
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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 <ʒ>, 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 ([ʒʷ]), 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: azhurnoj [aʒuɾnɔj], "update"
  • Armenian: ժամ [ʒam], "hour"
  • Belarusian: жaбa [ʒaba], "toad"
  • Bosnian: svjež [svjɛʒ], "fresh"
  • Bulgarian: мъжът [mɤˈʒɤt], "the man"
  • Catalan: gel [ʒɛɫ], "ice"
  • Croatian: žut [ʒut], "yellow"
  • Czech: muži [muʒi], "men"
  • English: Asia [ˈeɪʒə]
  • French: aliage [aljaʒ], "alloy"
  • Gascon: argent [arʒen], "money"
  • Ladino: mujer [muʒɛʀ], "woman"
  • Latvian: žāvēt [ʒaːveːt], "smoke"
  • Lithuanian: žmona [ʒmoːna], "wife"
  • Macedonian: жaбa [ʒaba], "toad"
  • Pashto: žowul [ʒowul], "chew"
  • Persian: مژه [moʒ:e], "eyelash"
  • Portuguese: jogar [ʒoˈɡaɾ], "to play"
  • Rioplatense Spanish: lluvia [ˈʒuβ̞ja], "rain"
  • Romanian: jar [ʒar], "embers"
  • Serbian: жут [ʒut], "yellow"
  • Slovak: muži [muʒi], "men"
  • Slovenian: žito [ʒito], "cereal"
  • Southern Auvergnat Occitan: argent [aʀʒẽ], "money"
  • Tuscan Italian: pigiare [piʒare], "press"
  • Ukrainian: жaбa [ʒaba], "frog"
  • Yiddish: oranzh [ɔʀanʒ], "orange"
• Uralic
  • Hungarian: rózsa [r̪oːʒɒ], "rose"
  • Livonian: kūž [kuːʒ], "six"
  • Veps: vīž [viːʒ], "five"
• Northeast Caucasian
  • Avar: жакъа [ˈʒaqʼːa], "today"
  • Chechen: ƶiy [ʒiː], "sheep"
  • Ingush: žii [ʒiː], "sheep"
• Northwest Caucasian
  • Kabardian: жыг [ʒɪɣʲ], "tree"
• Kartvelian
  • Georgian: ჟურნალი [ʒuɾnali], "magazine"
  • Megrelian: ჟირი [ʒiɾi], "two"
• Afro-Asiatic
  • Angas: zhaam [ʒaːm], "chin"
  • Moroccan Arabic: zhuzh [ʒuʒ], "two"
  • Goemai: zhiem [ʒiem], "sickle"
  • Kabyle: jeddi [ʒəddi], "my grandfather"
  • Welayta: [aʒa], "bush"
• Nilo-Saharan
  • Berta: [ŋɔ̀nʒɔ̀ʔ], "honey"
  • Tadaksahak Songhay [ˈʒɐwɐb], "to answer"
• Niger-Congo
  • Mmockngie Ngwe: [ʒíá], "to split"
• Khoisan
  • Juǀʼhoan: žu [ʒu], "person"
• Turkic
  • Kazakh jettі [ʒet̪t̪i], "seven"
  • Turkish jale [ʒɑ̟le], "dew"
  • Turkmen žiraf [ʒirɑ̟f], "giraffe"
• Na-Dene
  • Gwich'in: zhòh [ʒôh], "wolf"
  • Hän: zhùr [ʒûr], "wolf"
  • Navajo: łizh [ɬiʒ], "urine"
  • Tagish: zhē [ʒé], "what"
  • Northern Tutchone: zhi [ʒi], "what"
  • Southern Tutchone: zhǜr [ʒɨ̂r], "berry"
• Siouan
  • Lakota: waŋži [wãˈʒi], "one"
• Constructed
  • Esperanto: manĝaĵo [maɳdʒaʒo], "food"
  • Ido: joyo [ʒojo], "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