Voiceless velar fricative
The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English, e.g. in loch, broch or saugh (willow).
Voiceless velar fricative | |
---|---|
x | |
IPA Number | 140 |
Encoding | |
Entity (decimal) | x |
Unicode (hex) | U+0078 |
X-SAMPA | x |
Braille | |
Audio sample | |
source · help |
The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨x⟩, the Latin letter x. It is also used in broad transcription instead of the symbol ⟨χ⟩, the Greek chi, for the voiceless uvular fricative.
There is also a voiceless post-velar fricative (also called pre-uvular) in some languages. For voiceless pre-velar fricative (also called post-palatal), see voiceless palatal fricative.
Features
Features of the voiceless velar 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 velar, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) at the soft palate.
- 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 lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.
Varieties
IPA | Description |
---|---|
x | plain velar fricative |
xʷ | labialised |
xʼ | ejective |
xʷʼ | ejective labialised |
x̜ʷ | semi-labialised |
x̹ʷ | strongly labialised |
xʲ | palatalised |
xʲʼ | ejective palatalised |
Occurrence
The voiceless velar fricative and its labialized variety are postulated to have occurred in Proto-Germanic, the ancestor of the Germanic languages, as the reflex of the Proto-Indo-European voiceless palatal and velar stops and the labialized voiceless velar stop. Thus Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥nom "horn" and *kʷód "what" became Proto-Germanic *hurnan and *hwat, where *h and *hw were likely [x] and [xʷ]. This sound change is part of Grimm's law.
In Modern Greek, the voiceless velar fricative (with its allophone the voiceless palatal fricative [ç], occurring before front vowels) originated from the Ancient Greek voiceless aspirated stop /kʰ/ in a sound change that lenited Greek aspirated stops into fricatives.
Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Abaza | хьзы | [xʲzə] | 'name' | ||
Adyghe | хы | [xəː] | 'six' | ||
Albanian | gjuha | [ɟuxɑ] | 'language' | Allophone of /h/. See Albanian phonology | |
Aleut | Atkan dialect | alax | [ɑlɑx] | 'two' | |
Arabic | Modern Standard | خضراء | [xadˤraːʔ] | 'green' (f.) | May be velar, post-velar or uvular, depending on dialect.[1] See Arabic phonology |
Assamese | অসমীয়া | [ɔxɔmia] | 'Assamese' | ||
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic | kha | [xaː] | 'one' | ||
Avar | чeхь / ҫeẋ | [tʃex] | 'belly' | ||
Azerbaijani | xoş / хош/خوش | [xoʃ] | 'pleasant' | ||
Basque | Some speakers[2] | jan | [xän] | 'to eat' | Either velar or post-velar.[2] For other speakers it's [j ~ ʝ ~ ɟ].[3] |
Breton | hor c'hi | [or xiː] | 'our dog' | ||
Bulgarian | тихо / tiho | [ˈt̪ixo] | 'quietly' | Described as having "only slight friction" ([x̞]).[4] | |
Chinese | Mandarin | 河 / hé | [xɤ˧˥] | 'river' | See Standard Chinese phonology |
Czech | chlap | [xlap] | 'guy' | See Czech phonology | |
Danish | Southern Jutlandic | kage | [ˈkʰæːx] | 'cake' | See Sønderjysk dialect |
Dutch | Standard Belgian[5][6] | acht | [ɑxt] | 'eight' | May be post-palatal [ç̠] instead. In dialects spoken above the rivers Rhine, Meuse and Waal the corresponding sound is a postvelar-uvular fricative trill [ʀ̝̊˖].[6] See Dutch phonology |
Southern Netherlands accents[6][7] | |||||
English | Scottish | loch | [ɫɔx] | 'loch' | Younger speakers may merge this sound with /k/.[8][9] See Scottish English phonology |
Scouse[10] | book | [bʉːx] | 'book' | A syllable-final allophone of /k/ (lenition). | |
Esperanto | monaĥo | [monaxo] | 'monk' | See Esperanto phonology | |
Eyak | duxł | [tʊxɬ] | 'traps' | ||
Finnish | kahvi | [ˈkɑxʋi] | 'coffee' | Allophone of /h/. See Finnish phonology | |
French | jota | [xɔta] | 'jota' | Occurs only in loanwords (from Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, etc.). See French phonology | |
Georgian[11] | ჯოხი / joxi | [ˈdʒɔxi] | 'stick' | ||
German | Buch | [buːx] | 'book' | See Standard German phonology | |
Greek | τέχνη / téchnî | [ˈte̞xni] | 'art' | See Modern Greek phonology | |
Hebrew | מִיכָאֵל/micha'el | [mixaʔel] | 'Michael' | See Ancient Hebrew phonology | |
Hindustani | Hindi | ख़ुशी/khushii/khushī | [xuʃiː] | 'happiness' | See Hindustani phonology |
Urdu | خوشی/khushii/khushī | ||||
Hungarian | sahhal | [ʃɒxːɒl] | 'with a shah' | See Hungarian phonology | |
Icelandic | október | [ˈɔxtoːupɛr̥] | 'October' | See Icelandic phonology | |
Indonesian | khas | [xas] | 'typical' | Occurs in Arabic loanwords. Often pronounced as [h] or [k] by some Indonesians. See Indonesian phonology | |
Irish | deoch | [dʲɔ̝̈x] | 'drink' | See Irish phonology | |
Japanese | 発表 / happyō | [xa̠p̚ʲpʲo̞ː] | 'announcement' | Allophone of /h/. See Japanese phonology | |
Kabardian | хы | [xəː] | 'sea' | ||
Korean | 흥정 / heungjeong | [xɯŋd͡ʑʌŋ] | 'bargaining' | Allophone of /h/ before /ɯ/. See Korean phonology | |
Kurdish | xanî | [xɑːˈniː] | 'house' | See Kurdish phonology | |
Limburgish[12][13] | loch | [lɔx] | 'air' | The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect. | |
Lithuanian | choras | [ˈxɔrɐs̪] | 'choir' | Occurs only in loanwords (usually international words) | |
Lojban | xatra | [xatra] | 'letter' | ||
Macedonian | Охрид / Ohrid | [ˈɔxrit] | 'Ohrid' | See Macedonian phonology | |
Malay | akhir | [a:xir] | 'last', 'end' | Occurs in Arabic loanwords. Often pronounced as [h] or [k] by some Malays. | |
Manx | aashagh | [ˈɛːʒax] | 'easy' | ||
Nepali | आँखा | [ä̃xä] | 'eye' | Allophone of /kʰ/. See Nepali phonology | |
Norwegian | Urban East[14] | hat | [xɑːt] | 'hate' | Possible allophone of /h/ near back vowels; can be voiced [ɣ] between two voiced sounds.[14] See Norwegian phonology |
Persian | دُختَر/dokhtar | [dox'tær] | 'daughter' | See Persian phonology | |
Polish[15] | chleb | [xlɛp] | 'bread' | Also (in great majority of dialects) represented orthographically by ⟨h⟩. See Polish phonology | |
Portuguese | Fluminense | arte | [ˈaxtɕi] | 'art' | In free variation with [χ], [ʁ], [ħ] and [h] before voiceless consonants |
General Brazilian[16] | arrasto | [ɐ̞ˈxastu] | 'I drag' | Some dialects, corresponds to rhotic consonant /ʁ/. See Portuguese phonology | |
Punjabi | Gurmukhi | ਖ਼ਬਰ/khabar | [xəbəɾ] | 'news' | |
Shahmukhi | خبر/khabar | ||||
Romanian | hram | [xräm] | 'patronal feast of a church' | Allophone of /h/. See Romanian phonology | |
Russian[17] | хороший / chorošij | [xɐˈr̠ʷo̞ʂɨ̞j] | 'good' | See Russian phonology | |
Scottish Gaelic[18] | drochaid | [ˈt̪ɾɔxɪtʲ] | 'bridge' | See Scottish Gaelic phonology | |
Serbo-Croatian | храст / hrast | [xrâːst] | 'oak' | See Serbo-Croatian phonology | |
Slovak | chlap | [xɫäp] | 'guy' | ||
Somali | khad | [xad] | 'ink' | See Somali phonology | |
Spanish[19] | Latin American[20] | ojo | [ˈo̞xo̞] | 'eye' | May be glottal instead;[20] in northern and central Spain it is often post-velar[20][21][22] or uvular /χ/ /h/.[22][23] See Spanish phonology |
Southern Spain[20] | |||||
Sylheti | ꠈꠛꠞ/khabar | [xɔ́bɔɾ] | 'news' | ||
Tagalog | bakit | [baxit] | 'why' | Allophone of /k/ in intervocalic positions. See Tagalog phonology | |
Turkish[24] | ıhlamur | [ɯxlamuɾ] | 'linden' | Allophone of /h/.[24] See Turkish phonology | |
Tyap | kham | [xam] | 1. 'calabash'; 2. 'prostitute' | ||
Xhosa | rhoxisa | [xɔkǁiːsa] | 'to cancel' | ||
Ukrainian | хлопець / chlopeć | [ˈxɫɔ̝pɛt͡sʲ] | 'boy' | See Ukrainian phonology | |
Uzbek[25] | xurma | [xurma] | 'date palm' | Post-velar.[25] Occurs in environments different than word-initially and pre-consonantally, otherwise it's pre-velar.[25] | |
Vietnamese[26] | không | [xəwŋ͡m˧] | 'no', 'not', 'zero' | See Vietnamese phonology | |
Yaghan | xan | [xan] | 'here' | ||
Yi | ꉾ / he | [xɤ˧] | 'good' | ||
Zapotec | Tilquiapan[27] | mejor | [mɘxoɾ] | 'better' | Used primarily in loanwords from Spanish |
See also
Notes
- Watson (2002), pp. 17, 19–20, 35–36 and 38.
- Hualde & Ortiz de Urbina (2003), pp. 16 and 26.
- Hualde & Ortiz de Urbina (2003), p. 16.
- Ternes, Elmer; Vladimirova-Buhtz, Tatjana (1999). "Bulgarian". Handbook of the International Phonetic Association. Cambridge University Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-521-63751-0.
- Verhoeven (2005:243)
- Collins & Mees (2003:191)
- Gussenhoven (1999:74)
- Annexe 4: Linguistic Variables
- "University of Essex :: Department of Language and Linguistics :: Welcome". Essex.ac.uk. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
- Wells (1982:373)
- Shosted & Chikovani (2006), p. 255.
- Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999:159)
- Peters (2006:119)
- Vanvik (1979), p. 40.
- Jassem (2003), p. 103.
- Barbosa & Albano (2004), pp. 5–6.
- Padgett (2003), p. 42.
- Oftedal, M. (1956) The Gaelic of Leurbost. Oslo. Norsk Tidskrift for Sprogvidenskap.
- Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003), p. 255.
- Chen (2007), p. 13.
- Hamond (2001:?), cited in Scipione & Sayahi (2005:128)
- Lyons (1981), p. 76.
- Harris & Vincent (1988), p. 83.
- Göksel & Kerslake (2005:6)
- Sjoberg (1963), pp. 11–12.
- Thompson (1959), pp. 458–461.
- Merrill (2008), p. 109.
References
- 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
- Barbosa, Plínio A.; Albano, Eleonora C. (2004), "Brazilian Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 227–232, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001756
- Chen, Yudong (2007), A Comparison of Spanish Produced by Chinese L2 Learners and Native Speakers---an Acoustic Phonetics Approach, ISBN 9780549464037
- Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003) [First published 1981], The Phonetics of English and Dutch (5th ed.), Leiden: Brill Publishers, ISBN 978-9004103405
- Göksel, Asli; Kerslake, Celia (2005), Turkish: a comprehensive grammar, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415114943
- Gussenhoven, Carlos (1999), "Dutch", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 74–77, ISBN 978-0-521-65236-0
- Gussenhoven, Carlos; Aarts, Flor (1999), "The dialect of Maastricht" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 29 (2): 155–166, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006526
- Hamond, Robert M. (2001), The Sounds of Spanish: Analysis and Application, Cascadilla Press, ISBN 978-1-57473-018-0
- Harris, Martin; Vincent, Nigel (1988), "Spanish", The Romance Languages, pp. 79–130, ISBN 978-0-415-16417-7
- Hualde, José Ignacio; Ortiz de Urbina, Jon (2003), A Grammar of Basque, Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-017683-4
- Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (1): 103–107, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001191
- Lyons, John (1981), Language and Linguistics: An Introduction, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-54088-9
- Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (2): 255–259, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001373
- Merrill, Elizabeth (2008), "Tilquiapan Zapotec" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 38 (1): 107–114, doi:10.1017/S0025100308003344
- Padgett, Jaye (2003), "Contrast and Post-Velar Fronting in Russian", Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 21 (1): 39–87, doi:10.1023/A:1021879906505, S2CID 13470826
- Peters, Jörg (2006), "The dialect of Hasselt", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (1): 117–124, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002428
- Scipione, Ruth; Sayahi, Lotfi (2005), "Consonantal Variation of Spanish in Northern Morocco" (PDF), in Sayahi, Lotfi; Westmoreland, Maurice (eds.), Selected Proceedings of the Second Workshop on Spanish Sociolinguistics, Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project
- Shosted, Ryan K.; Chikovani, Vakhtang (2006), "Standard Georgian" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (2): 255–264, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659
- Sjoberg, Andrée F. (1963), Uzbek Structural Grammar, Uralic and Altaic Series, 18, Bloomington: Indiana University
- Thompson, Laurence (1959), "Saigon phonemics", Language, 35 (3): 454–476, doi:10.2307/411232, JSTOR 411232
- Vanvik, Arne (1979), Norsk fonetikk, Oslo: Universitetet i Oslo, ISBN 978-82-990584-0-7
- Verhoeven, Jo (2005), "Belgian Standard Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 35 (2): 243–247, doi:10.1017/S0025100305002173
- Watson, Kevin (2007), "Liverpool English" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37 (3): 351–360, doi:10.1017/s0025100307003180
- Watson, Janet C. E. (2002), The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic, New York: Oxford University Press
- Wells, J.C. (1982), Accents of English 2: The British Isles, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
External links
- List of languages with [x] on PHOIBLE