The symbol in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is the lower case form of the letterEzh⟨Ʒ ʒ⟩ (/ɛʒ/ⓘ). An alternative symbol used in some older and American linguistic literature is⟨ž⟩, az with acaron. In sometranscriptions of alphabets such as theCyrillic, the sound is represented by the digraph⟨zh⟩.
palato-alveolar fricative[ʃ,ʒ]
Although present in English, the sound is not represented by a specific letter or digraph, but is formed byyod-coalescence of[z] and[j] in words such as measure. It also appears in some loanwords, mainly from French (thus written with⟨g⟩ and⟨j⟩).
[ʒ] occurs as a borrowed phoneme in a number of languages under the influence of French, Persian or Slavic languages, as in the Germanic languages (Dutch, English, German andLuxembourgish), the Romance languages (Italian, and Romanian), the Turkic languages (Azerbaijani,Bashkir, Turkish, andUyghur), and the Uralic languages(Estonian and Hungarian),Breton andMaltese.[2] The phoneme has the lowest consonant frequency in both English and Persian.[3]
InEnglish andFrench,/ʒ/ may have simultaneouslip rounding ([ʒʷ]), although this is rarely indicated in transcription.
Itsmanner of articulation issibilantfricative, which means it is generally produced by channeling air flow along agroove in the back of the tongue up to the place of articulation, at which point it is focused against the sharp edge of the nearly clenched teeth, causing high-frequencyturbulence.
In English, the phoneme[ʒ] is often found as ahyperforeign substitute for[dʒ] in certain borrowings,Beijing (Mandarin Chinese[tɕ], a voiceless[dʒ]), raj,Taj Mahal, and sometimes evenparmesan (French[paʁməzɑ̃]; Italian[parmiˈdʒaːno]).
Avoiced postalveolar non-sibilant fricative is a consonantal sound. As theInternational Phonetic Alphabet does not have separate symbols for the post-alveolar consonants (the same symbol is used for allcoronal places of articulation that are notpalatalized), this sound is usually transcribed ⟨ɹ̠˔⟩ (retracted constricted[ɹ]).
Itsmanner of articulation isfricative, which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, causingturbulence. However, it does not have the grooved tongue and directed airflow, or the high frequencies, of a sibilant.
Itsplace of articulation ispostalveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge.
Itsphonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
It is anoral consonant, which means that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
It is acentral consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
^Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999:156). The authors state that/ʒ/ is "pre-palatal, articulated with the blade of the tongue against the post-alveolar place of articulation". This makes it unclear whether this sound is palato-alveolar (somewhat palatalized post-alveolar) or alveolo-palatal (strongly palatalized post-alveolar).
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