Voiceless uvular fricative

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IPA – number	142
IPA – text	χ
IPA – image
Entity	χ
X-SAMPA	X
Kirshenbaum	X
Sound sample (help·info)

The voiceless uvular fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is χ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is X.

Contents 1 Features 2 In other languages 3 References 4 See also

[edit] Features

Features of the voiceless uvular 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 uvular which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) against or near the uvula.
• Its phonation type is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the middle of the tongue, rather than the sides.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis or the mouth.

[edit] In other languages

Arabic and Hebrew are famous for their [χ] (though not all dialects of Arabic have it – the others use a voiceless velar fricative [x] instead).

In Afrikaans, the letter 'g' is usually pronounced as a [χ]. Even though many textbooks say this letter is pronounced with a voiceless velar fricative [x], the uvular is much more common.

Several languages spoken on the northwest coast of North America have both labialized and non-labialized fricatives, including the Alsean, Salishan (Bella Coola, Klallam), Athabaskan (Chilcotin), and Wakashan languages (Nootka). Oowekyala, a Wakashan language, has labialized and non-labialized voiceless uvular fricatives /χ χʷ/ contrasting with the velar and pharyngeal fricatives /ħ x xʷ/. Tlingit has labial and non-labial ejective uvular fricatives; it may be the only language containing these phonemes.

In northwestern Mexico, Seri contrasts uvular and velar fricatives, both labialized and non-labialized.

The southwestern dialects of German realize the phoneme /x/ (spelled ch) as [χ]; some others use it as an allophone of /x/ after [ɔ].

This sound can also be found in Castilian dialects of Spanish (spelled j, or g before e or i).

The extinct Ubykh language has several phonemic varieties of /χ/: /χʲ χ χʷ χˁ χˁʷ/. Its relative Abkhaz has /χʲ χ χʷ/, and, in the Bzyp dialect, /χˁ χˁʷ/. Abkhaz contrasts these sounds with both plain and labialized voiceless pharyngeal fricatives.

[edit] References

• Hess, Wolfgang (2001). "Funktionale Phonetik und Phonologie." In "Grundlagen der Phonetik." Bonn: Institut für Kommunikationsforschung und Phonetik, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität. [1]

[edit] See also

• List of phonetics topics

Consonants (List, table)	See also: IPA, Vowels
Pulmonics Bilabial Lab'den. Dental Alveolar Postalv. Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn. Epiglottal Glottal Non-pulmonics and other symbols Nasals m ɱ n ɳ ɲ ŋ ɴ Clicks  ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ ǁ Plosives p b • • t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ Implo­­sives  ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ ʛ Fricatives ɸ β f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ ʜ ʢ h ɦ Ejec­­tives  pʼ tʼ kʼ qʼ sʼ Approximants β̞ ʋ ɹ ɻ j ɰ Other laterals  ɺ ɫ Trills ʙ r • ʀ • Co-articulated approximants  ʍ w ɥ Flaps & Taps ѵ̟ ѵ ɾ ɽ • Co-articulated fricatives  ɕ ʑ ɧ Lat. Fricatives ɬ ɮ • • • Affricates  ʦ ʣ ʧ ʤ Lat. Appr'mants l ɭ ʎ ʟ Co-articulated stops  k͡p ɡ͡b ŋ͡m
This page contains phonetic information in IPA, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help] Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant. Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged impossible.