Voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative

The voiceless alveolo-palatal sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some oral languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɕ⟩ ("c", plus the curl also found in its voiced counterpart ⟨ʑ⟩). It is the sibilant equivalent of the voiceless palatal fricative, and as such it can be transcribed in IPA with ⟨ç˖⟩.

Voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative
ɕ
ç˖
IPA Number182
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ɕ
Unicode (hex)U+0255
X-SAMPAs\
Braille
Audio sample
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In British Received Pronunciation, /j/ after syllable-initial /p, t, k/ (as in Tuesday) 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 an affricate because the preceding plosive remains alveolar, rather than becoming alveolo-palatal, as in Dutch.[1]

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 normally apical (although somewhat palatalized in that sequence), whereas alveolo-palatal consonants are laminal by definition.[2][3]

An increasing number of British speakers merge this sequence with the voiceless palato-alveolar affricate /tʃ/: [ˈtʃuːzdeɪ] (see yod-coalescence), mirroring Cockney, Australian English and New Zealand English. On the other hand, there is an opposite tendency in Canadian accents that have preserved /tj/, where the sequence tends to merge with the plain /t/ instead: [ˈt̺ʰuːzdeɪ] (see yod-dropping), mirroring General American which does not allow /j/ to follow alveolar consonants in stressed syllables.[4][5][6]

Features
alveolo-palatal sibilant fricatives [ɕ, ʑ]

Features of the voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative:

  • Its manner of articulation is sibilant fricative, which means it is generally produced by channeling air flow along a groove 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-frequency turbulence.
  • 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.

Occurrence
LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
Adygheщы[ɕə]'three'
Assameseব্ৰিটিছ[bɹitiɕ]'British'
CatalanEastern[7]caixa[ˈkäɕə]'box'See Catalan phonology
Majorcan[7][ˈkaɕə]
ChineseSome Hokkien dialects心 sim[ɕím]'heart'Allophone of /s/ before /i/.
Mandarin西安 / Xī'ān[ɕí.án]'Xi'an'Contrasts with /ʂ/ and /s/. See Mandarin phonology
Chuvashçиçĕм[ˈɕiɕ̬əm]'lightning'Contrasts with /ʂ/ and /s/.
Danishsjæl[ˈɕeːˀl]'soul'See Danish phonology
DutchSome speakerssjabloon[ɕäˈbloːn]'template'May be [ʃ] or [sʲ] instead. See Dutch phonology
EnglishCardiff English[8]human[ˈɕumːən]'human'Phonetic realization of /hj/. More front and more strongly fricated than RP [ç]. Broad varieties drop the /h/: [ˈjumːən].[8] See English phonology
Conservative Received Pronunciation[1]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 in General American: [ˈt̺ʰuːzdeɪ].[4][5][6] Typically transcribed with ⟨j⟩ in broad IPA. See English phonology, yod-coalescence and yod-dropping
Some Canadian English[1][6]
Ghanaian[9]ship[ɕip]'ship'Educated speakers may use [ʃ], to which this phone corresponds in other dialects.[9]
GuaraniParaguayanche[ɕɛ]'I'
Japanese[10]塩 / shio[ɕi.o]'salt'See Japanese phonology
Kabardianщэ[ɕa]'hundred'
Korean시 / si[ɕi]'poem'See Korean phonology
Lower Sorbian[11]pśijaśel[ˈpɕijäɕɛl]'friend'
Luxembourgish[12]liicht[liːɕt]'light'Allophone of /χ/ after phonologically front vowels; some speakers merge it with [ʃ].[12] See Luxembourgish phonology
Nepaliशब्द[ɕʌbd̪ʌ]'word'See Nepali phonology
NorwegianUrban East[13]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/.[13] See Norwegian phonology
PashtoWazirwola dialectلښکي‎[ˈləɕki]'little, slight'
Polish[14]śruba[ˈɕrubä]'screw'Contrasts with /ʂ/ and /s/. See Polish phonology
Portuguese[15][16][17]mexendo[meˈɕẽd̪u]'moving'Also described as palato-alveolar [ʃ].[18][19] See Portuguese phonology
RomanianTransylvanian dialects[20]ce[ɕɛ]'what'Realized as [tʃ] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Russianсчастье[ˈɕːæsʲtʲjə]'happiness'Also represented by ⟨щ⟩. Contrasts with /ʂ/, /s/, and /sʲ/. See Russian phonology
Sema[21]ashi[à̠ɕì]'meat'Possible allophone of /ʃ/ before /i, e/.[21]
Serbo-CroatianCroatian[22]miš će[mîɕ t͡ɕe̞]'the mouse will'Allophone of /ʃ/ before /t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ/.[22] See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Some speakers of Montenegrinс́утра / śutra[ɕût̪ra̠]'tomorrow'Phonemically /sj/ or, in some cases, /s/.
SwedishFinlandsjok[ɕuːk]'chunk'Allophone of /ɧ/.
Swedenkjol[ɕuːl]'skirt'See Swedish phonology
TibetanLhasa dialectབཞི་[ɕi˨˧]'four'Contrasts with /ʂ/.
Tatarөчпочмак[ˌøɕpoɕˈmɑq]'triangle'
Uzbek[23]
XumiLower[24][RPd͡ʑi ɕɐ]'one hundred'
Upper[25][RPd͡ʑi ɕɜ]
YámanaŠúša[ɕúɕa]'penguin'
Yiꑟ/xi[ɕi˧]'thread'
Zhuang cib [ɕǐp] 'ten'

See also

Notes
  1. Collins & Mees (2003:172–173), Gimson (2014:229–231). The first source specifies the place of articulation of /j/ after /t/ as more front than the main allophone of /j/.
  2. Gimson (2014), p. 177.
  3. Esling (2010), p. 693.
  4. Collins & Mees (2003), pp. 173, 306.
  5. Gimson (2014), pp. 230–231.
  6. Changes in Progress in Canadian English: Yod-dropping, Excerpts from J.K. Chambers, "Social embedding of changes in progress." Journal of English Linguistics 26 (1998), accessed May 11, 2020.
  7. Recasens & Espinosa (2007:145, 167)
  8. Collins & Mees (1990), p. 90.
  9. Huber (2004:859)
  10. Okada (1999:117)
  11. Zygis (2003), pp. 180–181.
  12. Gilles & Trouvain (2013), pp. 67–68.
  13. Kristoffersen (2000), p. 23.
  14. Jassem (2003:103)
  15. Mateus & d'Andrade (2000)
  16. Silva (2003:32)
  17. Guimarães (2004)
  18. Cruz-Ferreira (1995:91)
  19. Medina (2010)
  20. Pop (1938), p. 29.
  21. Teo (2012:368)
  22. Landau et al. (1999:68)
  23. Sjoberg (1963:11)
  24. Chirkova & Chen (2013), p. 365.
  25. Chirkova, Chen & Kocjančič Antolík (2013), p. 382.

References
  • Chirkova, Katia; Chen, Yiya (2013), "Xumi, Part 1: Lower Xumi, the Variety of the Lower and Middle Reaches of the Shuiluo River" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (3): 363–379, doi:10.1017/S0025100313000157
  • Chirkova, Katia; Chen, Yiya; Kocjančič Antolík, Tanja (2013), "Xumi, Part 2: Upper Xumi, the Variety of the Upper Reaches of the Shuiluo River" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (3): 381–396, doi:10.1017/S0025100313000169
  • Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (1990), "The Phonetics of Cardiff English", in Coupland, Nikolas; Thomas, Alan Richard (eds.), English in Wales: Diversity, Conflict, and Change, Multilingual Matters Ltd., pp. 87–103, ISBN 1-85359-032-0
  • Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003) [First published 1981], The Phonetics of English and Dutch (PDF) (5th ed.), Leiden: Brill Publishers, ISBN 9004103406
  • Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223
  • Esling, John (2010), "Phonetic Notation", in Hardcastle, William J.; Laver, John; Gibbon, Fiona E. (eds.), The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences (2nd ed.), ISBN 9781405145909
  • Gilles, Peter; Trouvain, Jürgen (2013), "Luxembourgish" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 67–74, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000278
  • Gimson, Alfred Charles (2014), Cruttenden, Alan (ed.), Gimson's Pronunciation of English (8th ed.), Routledge, ISBN 9781444183092
  • Guimarães, Daniela (2004), Seqüências de (Sibilante + Africada Alveopalatal) no Português Falado em Belo Horizonte (PDF), Belo Horizonte: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-04-07, retrieved 2015-08-21
  • Huber, Magnus (2004), "Ghanaian English: phonology", in Schneider, Edgar W.; Burridge, Kate; Kortmann, Bernd; Mesthrie, Rajend; Upton, Clive (eds.), A handbook of varieties of English, 1: Phonology, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 842–865, ISBN 3-11-017532-0
  • Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (1): 103–107, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001191
  • Kristoffersen, Gjert (2000), The Phonology of Norwegian, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-823765-5
  • Landau, Ernestina; Lončarić, Mijo; Horga, Damir; Škarić, Ivo (1999), "Croatian", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 66–69, ISBN 0-521-65236-7
  • Mateus, Maria Helena; d'Andrade, Ernesto (2000), The Phonology of Portuguese, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-823581-X
  • Medina, Flávio (2010), Análise Acústica de Sequências de Fricativas Seguidas de [i] Produzidas por Japoneses Aprendizes de Português Brasileiro (PDF), Anais do IX Encontro do CELSUL Palhoça, SC, Palhoça: Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina, archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-23, retrieved 2014-12-06
  • Okada, Hideo (1999), "Japanese", in International Phonetic Association (ed.), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge University Press, pp. 117–119, ISBN 978-0-52163751-0
  • Pop, Sever (1938), Micul Atlas Linguistic Român, Muzeul Limbii Române Cluj
  • Recasens, Daniel; Espinosa, Aina (2007), "An electropalatographic and acoustic study of affricates and fricatives in two Catalan dialects" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37 (2): 143–172, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002829
  • Silva, Thaïs Cristófaro (2003), Fonética e Fonologia do Português: Roteiro de Estudos e Guia de Exercícios (7th ed.), São Paulo: Contexto, ISBN 85-7244-102-6
  • Sjoberg, Andrée F. (1963), Uzbek Structural Grammar, Uralic and Altaic Series, 18, Bloomington: Indiana University
  • Teo, Amos B. (2012), "Sumi (Sema)", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 42 (03): 365–373, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000254
  • Zygis, Marzena (2003), "Phonetic and Phonological Aspects of Slavic Sibilant Fricatives" (PDF), ZAS Papers in Linguistics, 3: 175–213
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