Voiceless palatal fricative

The voiceless palatal fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ç⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is C. It is the non-sibilant equivalent of the voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative.

Voiceless palatal fricative
ç
IPA Number138
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ç
Unicode (hex)U+00E7
X-SAMPAC
Braille⠖ (braille pattern dots-235) ⠉ (braille pattern dots-14)
Voiceless palatal approximant
j̊
IPA Number153 402A
Encoding
Entity (decimal)j​̊
Unicode (hex)U+006A U+030A
X-SAMPAj_0

The symbol ç is the letter c with a cedilla (◌̧), as used to spell French and Portuguese words such as façade and ação. However, the sound represented by the symbol ç in French and Portuguese orthography is not a voiceless palatal fricative; the cedilla, instead, changes the usual /k/, the voiceless velar plosive, when ⟨c⟩ is employed before ⟨a⟩ or ⟨o⟩, to /s/, the voiceless alveolar fricative.

Palatal fricatives are relatively rare phonemes, and only 5% of the world's languages have /ç/ as a phoneme.[1] The sound further occurs as an allophone of /x/ (e.g. in German or Greek), or, in other languages, of /h/ in the vicinity of front vowels.

There is also the voiceless post-palatal fricative[2] in some languages, which is articulated slightly farther back compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical voiceless palatal fricative, though not as back as the prototypical voiceless velar fricative. The International Phonetic Alphabet does not have a separate symbol for that sound, though it can be transcribed as ⟨ç̠⟩, ⟨ç˗⟩ (both symbols denote a retracted ⟨ç⟩) or ⟨x̟⟩ (advanced ⟨x⟩). The equivalent X-SAMPA symbols are C_- and x_+, respectively.

Especially in broad transcription, the voiceless post-palatal fricative may be transcribed as a palatalized voiceless velar fricative (⟨xʲ⟩ in the IPA, x' or x_j in X-SAMPA).

Some scholars also posit the voiceless palatal approximant distinct from the fricative, used in a few spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ j̊ ⟩, the voiceless homologue of the voiced palatal approximant.

The palatal approximant can in many cases be considered the semivocalic equivalent of the voiceless variant of the close front unrounded vowel [i̥]. The sound is essentially an English ⟨y⟩ (as in year) pronounced without vibration of the vocal cords.

It is found as a phoneme in Jalapa Mazatec and Washo as well as in Kildin Sami.

Features
Voiceless palatal fricative (ç)

Features of the voiceless palatal 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 palatal, which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised to the hard palate. The otherwise identical post-palatal variant is articulated slightly behind the hard palate, making it sound slightly closer to the velar [x].
  • 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.
  • The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Palatal
LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
Assameseসীমা / xima[ç̠ima]'limit/border'
Azerbaijani[3]Some dialectsçörək[tʃœˈɾæç]'bread'Allophone of /c/.
ChineseTaizhou dialect嬉[çi]'to play'Corresponds to alveolo-palatal /ɕ/ in other Wu dialects.
Meixian dialect 香 [çʲɔŋ˦] 'fragrant' Corresponds to palatatized fricative /hj/ in romanised as "hi-" or "hy-" Hakka dialect writing.
Standard 票 / piào [pj̊äʊ̯˥˩] 'ticket' Common allophony of /j/ after aspirated consonants. Normally transcribed as [pʰj]. See Standard Chinese phonology
DanishStandard[4]pjaske[ˈpçæskə]'splash'May be alveolo-palatal [ɕ] instead.[4] Before /j/, aspiration of /p, t, k/ is realized as devoicing and fortition of /j/.[4] Note, however, that the sequence /tj/ is normally realized as an affricate [t͡ɕ].[5] See Danish phonology
DutchStandard Northern[6]wiegje[ˈʋiçjə]'crib'Allophone of /x/ before /j/ for some speakers.[6] See Dutch phonology
EnglishAustralian[7]hue[çʉː]'hue'Phonetic realization of the sequence /hj/.[7][8][9] See Australian English phonology and English phonology
British[8][9]
Scouse[10]like[laɪ̯ç]'like'Allophone of /k/; ranges from palatal to uvular, depending on the preceding vowel.[10] See English phonology
Estonianvihm[viçm]'rain'Allophone of /h/. See Estonian phonology
Finnishvihko[ʋiçko̞]'notebook'Allophone of /h/. See Finnish phonology
Germannicht[nɪçt]ⓘ'not'Traditionally allophone of /x/, or vice versa, but phonemic for some speakers who have both /aːx/ and /aːç/ (< /aʁç/). See Standard German phonology.
Haidaxíl[çɪ́l]'leaf'
HmongWhite (Dawb)xya[ça]'seven'Corresponds to alveolo-palatal /ɕ/ in Dananshan dialect
Green (Njua)
Hungarian[11]kapj[ˈkɒpç]'get' (imperative)Allophone of /j/ between a voiceless obstruent and a word boundary. See Hungarian phonology
Icelandichérna[ˈçɛrtn̥a]'here'See Icelandic phonology
Irisha Sheáin[ə çaːnʲ]'John' (voc.)See Irish phonology
Jalapa Mazatec[12] Described as an approximant. Contrasts with plain voiced /j/ and glottalized voiced /ȷ̃/.[12]
Japanese[13]人 / hito[çi̥to̞]'person'Allophone of /h/ before /i/ and /j/. See Japanese phonology
Kabyleḵtil[çtil]'to measure'
Korean힘 / him[çim]'strength'Allophone of /h/ word-initially before /i/ and /j/. See Korean phonology
NorwegianUrban East[14]kjekk[çe̞kː]'handsome'Often alveolo-palatal [ɕ] instead; younger speakers in Bergen, Stavanger and Oslo merge it with /ʂ/.[14] See Norwegian phonology
PashtoGhilji dialect[15]پښه‎[pça]'foot'See Pashto phonology
Wardak dialect
RomanianStandardvlahi[vlaç]'valahians'Allophone of /h/ before /i/. Typically transcribed with [hʲ]. See Romanian phonology
RussianStandard[16]твёрдый / tvjordyj[ˈt̪ʋʲɵrd̪ɨ̞ç]ⓘ'hard'Possible realization of /j/.[16] See Russian phonology
Scottish Gaelic[17]eich[eç]'horses'See Scottish Gaelic phonology and orthography
Sicilianciumi[ˈçumɪ]'river'Allophone of /ʃ/ and, before atonic syllables, of /t͡ʃ/. This is the natural Sicilian evolution of any Latin word containing a〈-FL-〉nexus. See Sicilian phonology
SpanishChilean[18]mujer[muˈçe̞ɾ]'woman'Allophone of /x/ before front vowels. See Spanish phonology
Turkish[19]hile[çiːle]'trick'Allophone of /h/.[19] See Turkish phonology
Walloontexhe[tɛç]'to knit'
Welshhiaith[çaɪ̯θ]'language'Occurs in words where /h/ comes before /j/ due to h-prothesis of the original word, i.e. jaɪ̯θ iaith 'language' becomes ei hiaith 'her language', resulting in /j/ i → /ç/ hi.[20] See Welsh phonology

Post-palatal
LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
Belarusianглухі / hluchí[ɣɫuˈxʲi]'deaf'Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨xʲ⟩. See Belarusian phonology
DutchStandard Belgian[6]acht[ɑx̟t]'eight'May be velar [x] instead.[6] See Dutch phonology
Southern accents[6]
Greek[21]ψυχή / psychí[ps̠iˈç̠i]ⓘ'soul'See Modern Greek phonology
LimburgishWeert dialect[22]ich[ɪ̞x̟]'I'Allophone of /x/ before and after front vowels.[22] See Weert dialect phonology
Lithuanian[23][24]chemijaVery rare;[25] typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨xʲ⟩. See Lithuanian phonology
RussianStandard[16]хинди / xindi[ˈx̟indʲɪ]'Hindi'Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨xʲ⟩. See Russian phonology
Spanish[26]mujer[muˈx̟e̞ɾ]'woman'Allophone of /x/ before front vowels.[26] See Spanish phonology
Ukrainianхід / xid[x̟id̪]'course'Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨xʲ⟩. See Ukrainian phonology
Uzbek[27]xurma[x̟urma]'date palm'Weakly fricated; occurs word-initially and pre-consonantally, otherwise it is post-velar [x̠].[27]

Voiceless Approximant
Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Jalapa Mazatec[12] Contrasts voiceless /j̊/, plain voiced /j/ and glottalized voiced /ȷ̃/ approximants.[12]
Scottish Gaelic[28] a-muigh [əˈmuj̊] 'outside' (directional) Allophone of /j/ and /ʝ/. See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Washo t'á:Yaŋi [ˈťaːj̊aŋi] 'he's hunting' Contrasts voiceless /j̊/ and voiced /j/ approximants.
Koyukon (Denaakk'e) Contrasts voiceless /j̊/ and voiced /j/ approximants.

See also

Notes
  1. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), pp. 167–168.
  2. Instead of "post-palatal", it can be called "retracted palatal", "backed palatal", "palato-velar", "pre-velar", "advanced velar", "fronted velar" or "front-velar". For simplicity, this article uses only the term "post-palatal".
  3. Damirchizadeh (1972), p. 96.
  4. Basbøll (2005), pp. 65–66.
  5. Grønnum (2005), p. 148.
  6. Collins & Mees (2003), p. 191.
  7. Cox & Fletcher (2017), p. 159.
  8. Roach (2009), p. 43.
  9. Wells, John C (2009-01-29), "A huge query", John Wells's phonetic blog, retrieved 2016-03-13
  10. Watson (2007), p. 353.
  11. Siptár & Törkenczy (2007), p. 205.
  12. Silverman et al. (1995), p. 83.
  13. Okada (1999), p. 118.
  14. Kristoffersen (2000), p. 23.
  15. Henderson (1983), p. 595.
  16. Yanushevskaya & Bunčić (2015), p. 223.
  17. Oftedal (1956), p. ?.
  18. Palatal phenomena in Spanish phonology Archived 2021-11-23 at the Wayback Machine Page 113
  19. Göksel & Kerslake (2005:6)
  20. Ball & Watkins (1993), pp. 300–301.
  21. Arvaniti (2007), p. 20.
  22. Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 108.
  23. Mathiassen (1996), pp. 22–23).
  24. Ambrazas et al. (1997), p. 36.
  25. Ambrazas et al. (1997), p. 35.
  26. Canellada & Madsen (1987), p. 21.
  27. Sjoberg (1963), p. 11.
  28. Bauer, Michael. "Final devoicing or Why does naoidh sound like Nɯiç?". Akerbeltz. Retrieved 11 December 2016.

References
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  • Arvaniti, Amalia (2007), "Greek Phonetics: The State of the Art" (PDF), Journal of Greek Linguistics, 8: 97–208, CiteSeerX 10.1.1.692.1365, doi:10.1075/jgl.8.08arv, archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-11, retrieved 2013-12-11
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  • Heijmans, Linda; Gussenhoven, Carlos (1998), "The Dutch dialect of Weert" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 28 (1–2): 107–112, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006307, S2CID 145635698
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