Voiceless velar fricative
Appearance
IPA Number | 140 | ||
---|---|---|---|
Audio sample | |||
Encoding | |||
X-SAMPA | x | ||
|
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 x, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is x. The [x] sound was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and is still present in some dialects of English.
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 [x]
IPA | Description |
---|---|
x | plain velar fricative |
xʷ | labialized |
x’ | ejective |
xʷ’ | ejective labialized |
x̜ʷ | semi-labialized |
x̹ʷ | strongly labialized |
Occurrence
Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Afrikaans | goed | [xuˑt] | 'well' | ||
Aleut | Atkan dialect | alax | [ɑlɑx] | 'two' | |
Angor | hombo | [xombo] | 'to walk' | ||
Arabic | خضرة | [xadˤra] | 'green (f)' | See Arabic phonology | |
Assamese | অসমীয়া | [ɔxɔmija] | 'Assamese' | ||
Avar | чeхь | [tʃex] | 'belly' | ||
Azerbaijani | xoş | [xoʃ] | 'pleasant' | ||
Bulgarian | тихом | [tixɔm] | 'quietly' | ||
Coptic | ϧⲉⲗⲗⲟ | [xello] | 'elder' | ||
Croatian | Hrvatski | [xrʋatski] | 'Croatian' | ||
Czech | chlap | [xlap] | 'guy' | See Czech phonology | |
Dutch | acht | [ɑxt] | 'eight' | See Dutch phonology | |
English | Scottish | loch | [lɔx] | 'loch' | See English phonology |
Esperanto | monaĥo | [monaxo] | 'monk' | See Esperanto phonology | |
Eyak | duxł | [tʊxɬ] | 'traps' | ||
Finnish | tuhka | [tuxkɑ] | 'ash' | See Finnish phonology | |
Georgian[1] | ჯოხი | [ˈdʒɔxi] | 'stick' | ||
German | Kuchen | [kuːxən] | 'cake' | See German phonology | |
Greek | χαρά | [xaˈra] | 'joy' | See Modern Greek phonology | |
Hungarian | méhhel | [meːxːɛl] | 'with a bee' | Some dialects. See Hungarian phonology | |
Hebrew | אוכל | [oxel] | 'eat' | See Hebrew phonology | |
Irish | deoch | [dʲɔ̝̈x] | 'drink' | See Irish phonology | |
Mandarin | 河/hé | [xɤ˧˥] | 'river' | See Standard Mandarin | |
Polish[2] | hak | 'hook' | Also represented by <ch>. See Polish phonology | ||
Portuguese | Brazilian | rabo | [ˈxabu] | 'tail' | See Portuguese phonology |
Russian[3] | хвост | [xvost] | 'tail' | See Russian phonology | |
Scottish Gaelic | loch | [lɔx] | 'lake' | ||
Serbian | храст /hrast | [xrast] | 'oak' | ||
Somali | khad | [xad] | 'ink' | See Somali phonology | |
Spanish[4] | ojo | [ˈo̞xo̞] | 'eye' | See Spanish phonology | |
Xhosa | rhoxisa | [xɔkǁiːsa] | 'to cancel' | ||
Vietnamese | khê | [xe] | 'to be burnt' | See Vietnamese phonology | |
Yaghan | xan | [xan] | 'here' |
See also
References
- ^ Shosted & Chikovani (2006:255)
- ^ Jassem (2003:103)
- ^ Padgett (2003:42)
- ^ Martínez-Celdrán et al (2003:255)