Voiced alveolar fricative

Voiced alveolar fricatives are consonantal sounds. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents these sounds depends on whether a sibilant or non-sibilant fricative is being described.

  • The symbol for an alveolar sibilant is ⟨z⟩. The IPA letter ⟨z⟩ is not normally used for dental or postalveolar sibilants in narrow transcription unless modified by a diacritic (⟨⟩ and ⟨⟩ respectively).[citation needed]
  • The IPA symbol for an alveolar non-sibilant fricative is derived by means of diacritics; it can be ⟨ð̠⟩ or ⟨ɹ̝⟩.
Voiced alveolar fricative
z
IPA number133
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)z
Unicode (hex)U+007A
X-SAMPAz
Braille
Voiced coronal fricatives
Dental Denti-
alveolar
Alveolar Post-alveolar
Retracted Retroflex Palato-
alveolar
Alveolo-
palatal
Sibilant plain ʐ ʒ ʑ
Non-sibilant ð ð͇ ɻ̝
tapped ɾ̞
Coronal sibilants
IPA
symbol
meaning
place
of articulation
passive
(mouth)
dental
advanced
(denti-alveolar)
alveolar
retracted
(postalveolar)
active
(tongue)
apical
laminal
ʐ retroflex
secondary palatalized coronal
ʑ alveolo-palatal
ʒ palato-alveolar
labialized coronal
velarized coronal
pharyngealized coronal
voice-onset time breathy coronal

Voiced alveolar sibilant

A voiced alveolar sibilant is common across European languages, but is relatively uncommon cross-linguistically compared to its voiceless variant. Only about 28% of the world's languages contain a voiced dental or alveolar sibilant. Moreover, 85% of the languages with some form of [z] are languages of Europe, Africa, or Western Asia.[citation needed]

Features

  • 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.
  • There are at least three specific variants of [z]:
    • Dentalized laminal alveolar (commonly called "dental"), which means it is articulated with the tongue blade very close to the upper front teeth, with the tongue tip resting behind lower front teeth. The hissing effect in this variety of [z] is very strong.
    • Non-retracted alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal. According to Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996) about half of English speakers use a non-retracted apical articulation.
    • Retracted alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue slightly behind the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal. Acoustically, it is close to [ʒ] or laminal [ʐ].
  • Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
  • It is an oral consonant, which means that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
  • It is a median consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream down the midline of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
  • Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air only with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Dentalized laminal alveolar

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Armenian Eastern զարդ / zart 'decoration'
Azerbaijani z [z̪ɔʁ] 'sprout'
Belarusian база / baza [ˈbäz̪ä] 'base' Contrasts with palatalized form. See Belarusian phonology
Bulgarian езеро / ezero [ˈɛz̪ɛro] 'lake' Contrasts with palatalized form.
Czech zima [ˈz̪ɪmä] 'winter' See Czech phonology
English Multicultural London zoo [z̪ʏˑy̯] 'zoo' See English phonology
French zèbre 'zebra' See French phonology
Hungarian zálog [ˈz̪äːl̪oɡ] 'pledge' See Hungarian phonology
Kashubian [example needed]
Kazakh заң / z [z̪ɑŋ] 'law'
Kyrgyz заң / z
Latvian zars [z̪ärs̪] 'branch' See Latvian phonology
Macedonian зошто / zošto [ˈz̪ɔʃt̪ɔ] 'why' See Macedonian phonology
Mirandese daprendizaige [d̪əpɾẽd̪iˈz̪ajʒ(ɯ̽)] 'learning' Contrasts seven sibilants altogether, preserving medieval Ibero-Romance contrasts.
Polish zero 'zero' See Polish phonology
Portuguese Most speakers Estados Unidos [isˈt̪ad̪uz̪‿ʉˈnid͡zᶶ(ˢ)] 'United States' See Portuguese phonology
Romanian zar [z̪är] 'dice' See Romanian phonology
Russian заезжать / zaězžať 'to pick up' Contrasts with palatalized form. See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatian зајам / zajam [z̪ǎːjäm] 'loan' See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovak zima [ˈz̪imä] 'winter'
Slovene zima [ˈz̪ìːmá] 'winter'
Turkish z [ɟø̞̈z̪] 'eye' See Turkish phonology
Ukrainian зуб / zub [z̪ub] 'tooth' Contrasts with palatalized form. See Ukrainian phonology
Upper Sorbian koza [ˈkɔz̪ä] 'goat'
Uzbek zafar [z̪äˈfäɾ] 'victory'
Vietnamese Hanoi da [z̪äː] 'skin' See Vietnamese phonology

Non-retracted alveolar

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Adyghe зы[romanization needed] 'one'
Albanian zjarr [zjar] 'fire'
Arabic Standard زائِر[romanization needed] [ˈzaːʔir] 'visitor' See Arabic phonology
Assamese লকীয়া[romanization needed] [zɔlɔkija] 'chili'
Assyrian ܙܢ̱ܓܐ / zìga [ziɡa] 'bell'
Bengali নামা[romanization needed] [namaz] 'Salah' Mostly in loanwords and often replaced by [].
See Bengali phonology
Breton iliz [iliz] 'church'
Chechen зурма / zurma [zuɾma] 'music'
Emilian Bolognese raån [raːz̺ʌŋ] 'reason' Palatalized apical; may be [ʐ] or [ʒ] instead.
English zoo 'zoo' Absent from some Scottish and Asian dialects. See English phonology
Esperanto kuzo [ˈkuzo] 'cousin' See Esperanto phonology
Georgian არი[romanization needed] [ˈzɑɾi] 'bell'
Greek Athens dialect ζάλη / záli [ˈz̻ali] 'dizziness' See Modern Greek phonology
Hebrew זאב[romanization needed] [zeˈʔev] 'wolf' See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hindustani Hindi ज़मीन[romanization needed] [zəmiːn] 'land' May be replaced in Hindi by []. See Hindustani phonology
Urdu زمین
Japanese 全部 / zenbu [zembɯ] 'everything' Might be replaced with [dz]. See Japanese phonology
Kabardian зы[romanization needed] 'one'
Kalaw Lagaw Ya zilamiz [zilʌmiz] 'go'
Kashmiri ज़ानुन / زانُن[romanization needed] [zaːnun] 'to know'
Khmer បែលហ្ស៊ិក / bêlhsĭk [ɓaelzɨk] noun: 'Belgium', 'Belgian(s)'
adjective: 'Belgian'
See Khmer phonology
Konda sunz [sunz] 'to sleep'
Malay beza [bezə] 'difference'
Maltese żelu [zelu] 'zeal'
Marathi [romanization needed] [zər] 'if' See Marathi phonology.
Nepali जा[romanization needed] [ɦʌzäɾ] 'thousand' Coda and intervocalic allophone of /d͡z/ and /d͡zʱ/.
काग​[romanization needed] [käɣʌz] 'paper'
बुझाउनु[romanization needed] [buzäu̯nu] 'to explain'
मा[romanization needed] [mäz] 'middle'
Occitan Limousin jòune [ˈzɒwne] 'young' See Occitan phonology
Persian روز [ɾuːz] 'day'
Portuguese casa [ˈkazɐ] 'house' See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi Gurmukhi ਜ਼ਾ[romanization needed] [həˈzaːr] 'thousand' May be replaced by [] in Gurmukhi (Indian) varieties.
Shahmukhi ہزار[romanization needed]
Spanish Andalusian comunismo [ko̞muˈnizmo̞] 'communism' Allophone of /s/ before voiced consonants, when it is not debuccalized to [h ~ ɦ]. Present in dialects which realize /s/ as a non-retracted alveolar fricative. Before /d/ it is dental [z̪].
Latin American
Filipino
Swahili lazima [lɑzimɑ] 'must'
Tamil Jaffna Tamil கடுதாசி[romanization needed] [kɐɖuðaːzi] 'letter' Was only reported for 1 speaker in the sample but he pronounced it regularly.
West Frisian sizze [ˈsɪzə] 'to say' It never occurs in word-initial positions. See West Frisian phonology
Yi / ssy [zɹ̩˧] 'generation'
Yiddish זון / zien [zin] 'son'
Zapotec Tilquiapan guanaz [ɡʷanaz] 'went to grab'

Retracted alveolar

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Catalan zel [ˈz̺ɛɫ] 'zeal' Apical. See Catalan phonology
Galician mesmo [ˈme̞z̺mo̞] 'same' Apical. Allophone of /s/ before voiced consonants. Before /d/ it is pronounced dentally [z̪].
Greek μάζα / za [ˈmɐz̠ɐ] 'mass' See Modern Greek phonology
Italian Central Italy caso [ˈkäːz̠o] 'case' Present in Lazio north of Cape Linaro, most of Umbria (save Perugia and the extreme south) and Le Marche south of the Potenza.
Northern Italy Apical. Present in many areas north of the La Spezia–Rimini Line. See Italian phonology
Sicily Present south and west of a line drawn from Syracuse to Cefalù.
Low German [example needed]
Maldivian zaraafaa [z̺aˈraːfaː] 'giraffe'
Mirandese eisistir [e̞jz̺is̺ˈtiɾ] 'to exist' Apical. Mirandese and neighboring Portuguese dialects were the only surviving oral tradition to preserve all seven mediaeval Ibero-Romance sibilants: ⟨ch⟩ //, ⟨x⟩ /ʃ/, ⟨g⟩/⟨j⟩ /ʒ/, ⟨c⟩/⟨ç⟩ //, ⟨z⟩ /z̪/, ⟨s⟩/-⟨ss⟩- /s̺/, -⟨s⟩- /z̺/
Occitan Gascon casèrna [kaz̺ɛrno] 'barracks' See Occitan phonology
Languedocien ser [bez̺e] 'to see'
Piedmontese amis [aˈmiz̠] 'friend' Apical. See Piemontese phonology
Portuguese Coastal Northern European [example needed] Merges with non-retracted /z/. See Portuguese phonology
Inland Northern European [example needed] Apical. Contrasts with non-retracted /z/. See Portuguese phonology
Spanish Andean mismo [ˈmiz̺mo̞] 'same' Apical. Allophone of /s/ before voiced consonants. Before /d/ it is pronounced dentally [z̪]. See Spanish phonology
Castilian
Paisa Region

Variable

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
German Standard sauber [ˈzäʊ̯bɐ] 'clean' Varies between dentalized laminal, non-retracted laminal and non-retracted apical. See Standard German phonology
Italian Standard caso [ˈkäːzo] 'case' Varies between dentalized laminal and non-retracted apical. See Italian phonology
Ticino Varies between dentalized laminal and non-retracted apical. Both variants may be labiodentalized. See Italian phonology
Dutch Belgian Standard zeep 'soap' Laminal. See Dutch phonology
Northern Standard Laminal; may have only mid-to-low pitched friction. If not the main allophone, it is often retracted when preconsonantal, after rounded vowels and /r/. See Dutch phonology
zat 'full', 'fed (up)'

Voiced alveolar non-sibilant fricative

Voiced alveolar non-sibilant fricative
ð̠
ð͇
ɹ̝
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ð​̠
Unicode (hex)U+00F0 U+0320

A voiced alveolar non-sibilant fricative is a consonantal sound. As the International Phonetic Alphabet does not have separate symbols for the alveolar consonants (the same symbol is used for all coronal places of articulation that are not palatalized), it can represent the sound as in a number of ways including ⟨ð̠⟩ and ⟨ɹ̝⟩.

A few languages also have a voiced alveolar tapped fricative, which is simply a very brief apical alveolar non-sibilant fricative, with the tongue making the gesture for a tapped stop but not making full contact. It can be indicated in the IPA with the lowering diacritic to show that full occlusion does not occur, such as ⟨ɾ̞⟩. Flapped fricatives are theoretically possible but are not attested.

Features

  • 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. However, it does not have the grooved tongue and directed airflow, or the high frequencies, of a sibilant.
  • Its place of articulation is alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
  • Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
  • It is an oral consonant, which means that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
  • It is a median consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream down the midline of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
  • Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air only with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Aragonese Chistabino aire [ˈäi̯ɾ̞e̞] 'air' Tapped; common realization of /ɾ/.
Czech čtyři [ˈt͡ʃtɪɹ̝ɪ] 'four' May be a fricative trill or a tap fricative instead. It contrasts with /r/ and /ʒ/. See Czech phonology
Dahalo [káð̠i] 'work' Apical; only weakly fricated. It is a common intervocalic allophone of /d̠/, and may dental [ð] or a plosive [d] instead.
Dutch voor [vöːɹ̝] 'for' One of many possible realizations of /r/; distribution unclear. See Dutch phonology
Emilian Bolognese chè [ˈkɛːð̠] 'case' Laminal
English Scouse maid [meɪð̠] 'maid' Allophone of /d/. See English phonology
South African round [ɹ̝æʊ̯nd] 'round' Apical, present in some urban dialects. See South African English phonology
Icelandic ða 'good (inflexion)' Usually apical, may be closer to an approximant. See Icelandic phonology
Italian Sicily terra [ˈt̪ɛɹ̝ä] 'earth' Apical; corresponds to /rr/ in standard Italian. See Italian phonology
Manx mooar [muːɹ̝] 'big' Pre-consonantal and word-final realization of /r/, in free variation with other allophones.
Spanish Aragonese aire [ˈäi̯ɾ̞e̞] 'air' Tapped; possible realization of /ɾ/. See Spanish phonology
Sicilian terrorismo 'terrorism' Apical; corresponds to /rr/ in standard Italian.
Swedish Central Standard vandrare [²vän̪ːd̪ɹ̝äɹɛ] 'wanderer' Allophone of /r/ around the Stockholm area. See Swedish phonology
Tacana [example needed] Tapped.
Turkish rüya [ɾ̞yˈjɑː] 'dream' Tapped; word-initial allophone of /ɾ/. See Turkish phonology

See also

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