Voiceless postalveolar fricative

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sound sample (help·info)
IPA – number	134
IPA – text	ʃ
IPA – image
Entity	ʃ
X-SAMPA	`S`
Kirshenbaum	`S`

The voiceless palato-alveolar fricative or domed postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is <ʃ> (which is different from the integral symbol ∫), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is S. An alternative symbol used in some older and American linguistic literature is š, an s with háček. The sound occurs in many languages and, as in English, Italian and French, may have simultaneous lip rounding ([ʃʷ]), although this is rarely indicated.

[edit] Features

Features of the voiceless postalveolar fricative:

Its manner of articulation is sibilant fricative, which means it is produced by directing air flow through a groove in the tongue at the place of articulation and directing it over the sharp edge of the teeth, causing high-frequency turbulence.
Its place of articulation is palato-alveolar, that is, domed (partially palatalized) postalveolar, which means it is articulated with the front of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, and the body of the tongue bunched up ("domed") at the palate.
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] Occurrence

Albanian: shtëpi [ʃtəpi], "house"
Arabic: [ʃɑrˤʕɪ], "legal"
Auvergnat: maissant [meˈʃɔ̃], "bad"
Basque: kaixo [kaiʃo], "hello"
Bulgarian: юнашки [junaʃki], "heroically"
Catalan: xarel-lo [ʃaˈɾeɫɫo], "muscatel grape"
Coptic: ⲁϣ [aʃ], "who"
Croatian: šuma [ʃûma], "forest"
Czech: kaše [kaʃɛ], "mash"
English: sheep [ʃiːp]
Esperanto: ŝelko [ʃelko], "suspenders"
French: douche [duʃ], "shower"
Galician: viaxe [bjaʃe], "way"
Gascon: maishant [maˈʃan], "bad"
German: schraffieren [ʃʁaˈfiːʁən], "to shade"
Hindi: शिव [ʃiʋ], "Shiva"
Italian: fasce [ˈfaʃʃe], "bands"
Kabardian: шыд [ʃɛd], "donkey"
Kabyle: ciwer [ʃiwər], "to consult"
Latvian: šalle ['ʃalle], "scarf"
Limousin: son [ʃũ], "his"
Lingala: shakú [ʃakú], "Afrikan gray parrot"
Lombard (canzés): fescia [feʃa], "nuisance"
Maltese: x'ismek [ʃismek], "what's your name?"
Norwegian (Nynorsk): sjukehuset [ˈʃʉːkeˈhʉːse], "hospital"
Portuguese: cheirar [ʃejˈɾaɾ], "to smell"
Vlax Romani: deš [deʃ], "ten"
Romanian: şefi [ʃefʲ], "bosses"
Scottish Gaelic: seinn [ʃeiɲ], "sing"
Serbian: двориште [dʋɔriʃtɛ], "garden"
Slovenian: šóla [ʃola], "school"
Somali: shan [ʃan], "five"
Spanish: Xelajú [ʃelah'u] "Xelaju" (a place in Guatemala)
Rioplatense Spanish: calle [ˈkaʃe], "street" (some speakers' dialect)
Swahili: kushoto [kuʃoto], "left"
Turkish: güneş [gyˈneʃ], "sun"
Urdu: شکریہ [ʃʊkriːaː], "thank you"
Welsh:
- Southern dialects: mis [miːʃ], "month"
- Standard Welsh siarad [ˈʃɑrad], "speak"