| Voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ɕ | |||
| IPA number | 182 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity(decimal) | ɕ | ||
| Unicode(hex) | U+0255 | ||
| X-SAMPA | s\ | ||
| Braille |   | ||
| |||
Avoiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant fricative is a type ofconsonantal sound, used in somespoken languages. The symbol in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɕ⟩ ("c", plus the curl also found in itsvoiced counterpart ⟨ʑ⟩). SomeAmericanists may distinguish ⟨ɕ⟩ as anaffricate, typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨t͡ɕ⟩, and instead use the symbol ⟨𝼞⟩ to represent the fricative that is referenced on this page.[1] There is also a superscript ⟨ᶝ⟩ / ⟨𐞺⟩. It is thesibilant equivalent of thevoiceless palatal fricative.
Features of a voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative:
In BritishReceived Pronunciation,/j/ after syllable-initial/p,t,k/ (as inTuesday) is realized as a devoiced palatal fricative. The amount of devoicing is variable, but the fully voiceless variant tends to be alveolo-palatal[ɕ] in the/tj/ sequence:[ˈt̺ʲɕuːzdeɪ]ⓘ. It is a fricative, rather than a fricative element of anaffricate because the preceding plosive remains alveolar, rather than becoming alveolo-palatal, as inDutch.[2]
The corresponding affricate can be written with ⟨t̠ʲ͡ɕ⟩ or ⟨c̟͡ɕ⟩ in narrow IPA, though ⟨tɕ⟩ is normally used in both cases. In the case of English, the sequence can be specified as ⟨t̺ɕ⟩ as/t/ is normallyapical (although somewhat palatalized in that sequence), whereas alveolo-palatal consonants arelaminal by definition.[3]
An increasing number of British speakers merge this sequence with thevoiceless palato-alveolar affricate/tʃ/:[ˈtʃʉːzdeɪ] (seeyod-coalescence), mirroringCockney,Australian English andNew Zealand English. On the other hand, there is an opposite tendency inCanadian accents that have preserved/tj/, where the sequence tends to merge with the plain/t/ instead:[ˈt̺ʰʉːzdeɪ]ⓘ (seeyod-dropping), mirroringGeneral American which does not allow/j/ to follow alveolar consonants in stressed syllables.[4][5]
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adyghe | щы/šə/شہ | [ɕə]ⓘ | 'three' | ||
| Assamese | ব্ৰিটিছ/British | [bɹitiɕ] | 'British' | ||
| Asturian | caxa | [ˈkaɕ(j)a] | 'box' | May be realised as [ʃj], [ɕj], [ɕ] or [ʃ], depending on context and speaker. | |
| Bengali | শকুন | [ɕokun] | 'Vulture' | May be transliterated asʃ | |
| Burmese | ရှ | [ɕa̰] | 'cut superficially' | ||
| Catalan[6] | caixa | [ˈkä(j)ɕə] | 'box' | SeeCatalan phonology | |
| Chinese | SomeHokkien dialects | 心/sim | [ɕím] | 'heart' | Allophone of/s/ before/i/. |
| Mandarin | 西安/Xī'ān | [ɕí.án]ⓘ | 'Xi'an' | Complementary distribution allophone of/ʂ/ in front of high front vowels and palatal glides. SeeMandarin phonology. | |
| Chuvash | çиçĕм/şişĕm | [ˈɕiɕ̬əm] | 'lightning' | Contrasts with/ʂ/ and/s/.Lenis when intervocalic. | |
| Damin | j2iwu | [ɕiwu] | 'small' | Varies with a doubledVoiceless alveolo-palatal plosive [t̠ʲ\t̠ʲ] | |
| Danish | sjæl | [ˈɕeːˀl] | 'soul' | SeeDanish phonology | |
| Dutch | Some speakers | sjabloon | [ɕäˈbloːn] | 'template' | May be [ʃ] or[sʲ] instead. SeeDutch phonology |
| English | Cardiff[7] | human | [ˈɕumːən] | 'human' | Phonetic realization of/hj/. More front and more strongly fricated than RP[ç]. Broad varieties drop the/h/:[ˈjumːən].[7] SeeEnglish phonology |
| ConservativeReceived Pronunciation[2] | tuesday | [ˈt̺ʲɕuːzdeɪ] | 'Tuesday' | Allophone of/j/ after syllable-initial/t/ (which is alveolar in this sequence), may be only partially devoiced./tj/ is often realized as an affricate[tʃ] in British English. Mute inGeneral American:[ˈt̺ʰuːzdeɪ]ⓘ.[4][5] Typically transcribed with ⟨j⟩ in broad IPA. SeeEnglish phonology,yod-coalescence andyod-dropping | |
| SomeCanadian English[2][5] | |||||
| Ghanaian[8] | ship | [ɕip] | 'ship' | Educated speakers may use[ʃ], to which this phone corresponds in other dialects.[8] | |
| Some Speakers | sure | [ɕɔː] | 'sure' | ||
| Guarani | Paraguayan | che | [ɕɛ] | 'I' | |
| Hindi | शनिवार | [ɕəniʋaːr] | Saturday | Sometimes may be transliterated as 'ʃ'. SeeHindi Phonology. | |
| Japanese[9] | 塩/shio | [ɕi.o] | 'salt' | SeeJapanese phonology | |
| Karen | Eastern Pwo | ယှး | [ɕá] | 'star' | |
| Western Pwo | ၡၪ | [ɕà] | 'star' | ||
| Korean | South | 시/詩/si | [ɕʰi] | 'poem' | SeeKorean phonology. |
| Kabardian | щэ/ščè/صە | [ɕa]ⓘ | 'hundred' | ||
| Lower Sorbian[10] | pśijaśel | [ˈpɕijäɕɛl] | 'friend' | ||
| Luxembourgish[11] | liicht | [liːɕt] | 'light' | Allophone of/χ/ after phonologically front vowels; some speakers merge it with[ʃ].[11] SeeLuxembourgish phonology | |
| Marathi | शेतकरी/shetkari | [ɕeːt̪kəɾiː] | 'farmer' | Contrasts with[ʂ]. Allophone of[ʃ]. SeeMarathi phonology. | |
| Malayalam | കുരിശ്/kuriś | [kuɾɪɕ] | 'Cross' | SeeMalayalam phonology | |
| Norwegian | Urban East[12] | kjekk | [ɕe̞kː] | 'handsome' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ç⟩; less often realized as palatal[ç]. Younger speakers in Bergen, Stavanger and Oslo merge it with/ʂ/.[12] SeeNorwegian phonology |
| Polish[13] | śruba | [ˈɕrubä]ⓘ | 'screw' | Contrasts with/ʂ/ and/s/. SeePolish phonology | |
| Romani | Kalderash[14] | ćhavo | [ɕaˈvo] | 'Romani boy; son' | Realized as[t͡ʃʰ] in conservative dialects. |
| Romanian | Transylvanian dialects[15] | ce | [ɕɛ] | 'what' | Realized as[t͡ʃ] in standard Romanian. SeeRomanian phonology |
| Russian | счастье/schast'e | [ˈɕːæsʲtʲjə]ⓘ | 'happiness' | Also represented by⟨щ⟩. Contrasts with/ʂ/,/s/, and/sʲ/. SeeRussian phonology | |
| Sema[16] | ashi | [à̠ɕì] | 'meat' | Possible allophone of/ʃ/ before/i,e/.[16] | |
| Serbo-Croatian | Croatian[17] | miš će | [mîɕt͡ɕe̞] | 'the mouse will' | Allophone of/ʃ/ before/t͡ɕ,d͡ʑ/.[17] SeeSerbo-Croatian phonology |
| Some speakers ofMontenegrin | с́утра/śutra | [ɕût̪ra̠] | 'tomorrow' | Phonemically/sj/ or, in some cases,/s/. | |
| Swedish | Finland | sjok | [ɕuːk] | 'chunk' | Allophone of/ɧ/. |
| Sweden | kjol | [ɕuːl]ⓘ | 'skirt' | SeeSwedish phonology | |
| Tibetan | Lhasa dialect | བཞི་/bzhi | [ɕi˨˧] | 'four' | Contrasts with/ʂ/. |
| Tatar | өчпочмак/өçpoçmaq | [ˌø̆ɕpɤ̆ɕˈmɑq] | 'triangle' | ||
| Uzbek[18] | [example needed] | ||||
| Xumi | Lower[19] | [d͡ʑiɕɐ˦] | 'one hundred' | ||
| Upper[20] | |||||
| Yámana (Yahgan) | Šúša | [ɕúɕa] | 'penguin' | ||
| Yi | ꑟ/xi | [ɕi˧] | 'thread' | ||
| Zhuang | cib | [ɕǐp] | 'ten' | ||
