Voiceless velar fricative
In today's article we are going to delve into the topic of Voiceless velar fricative, a topic that has gained great relevance in recent times. Voiceless velar fricative is a topic of general interest that covers a wide range of aspects that impact people's daily lives. Throughout this article, we will explore different aspects related to Voiceless velar fricative, from its origin and evolution, to its influence in different areas of society. In addition, we will analyze how Voiceless velar fricative has impacted people's lives and what the possible consequences are at an individual and collective level. Stay tuned, as this article promises to provide an in-depth and enriching look at Voiceless velar fricative.
| Voiceless velar fricative | |
|---|---|
| x | |
| IPA Number | 140 |
| Audio sample | |
| Encoding | |
| Entity (decimal) | x |
| Unicode (hex) | U+0078 |
| X-SAMPA | x |
| Braille |  |
| Voiceless velar approximant | |
|---|---|
| ɰ̊ | |
| IPA Number | 154 402A |
| Audio sample | |
| Encoding | |
| Entity (decimal) | ɰ̊ |
| Unicode (hex) | U+0270 U+030A |
| X-SAMPA | M\_0 |
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).
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, which can be transcribed as or . For voiceless pre-velar fricative (also called post-palatal), see voiceless palatal fricative.
Some scholars also posit the voiceless velar approximant distinct from the fricative, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɰ̊⟩, but this symbol is not suitable in case of the voiceless velar approximant that is unspecified for rounding (the sound represented by the symbol ⟨ɰ̊⟩ is specified as unrounded), which is best transcribed as ⟨x̞⟩, ⟨ɣ̞̊⟩ or ⟨ɣ̊˕⟩ - see voiced velar approximant.
The velar approximant can in many cases be considered the semivocalic equivalent of the voiceless variant of the close back unrounded vowel ⟨ɯ̊⟩.
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 intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, 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 and . 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 / kh'zy | 'name' | |||
| Adyghe | хы / khy | ⓘ | 'six' | ||
| Afrikaans | groot | 'big' | |||
| Albanian | gjuha | 'language' | Allophone of /h/. See Albanian phonology | ||
| Aleut | Atkan dialect | alax | 'two' | ||
| Arabic | Modern Standard | ﺧﻀراء | 'green' (f.) | May be velar, post-velar or uvular, depending on dialect. See Arabic phonology | |
| Armenian | խրոխտ | 'brave' | |||
| Assamese | অসমীয়া | 'Assamese' | |||
| Assyrian | ܚܡܫܐ ḳemša | 'five' | |||
| Avar | чeхь / ҫeẋ | 'belly' | |||
| Azerbaijani | xoş / хош/ﺧﻮش | 'pleasant' | |||
| Basque | Some speakers | jan | 'to eat' | Either velar or post-velar. For other speakers it's . | |
| Brahui | ﺧﻦ | 'eye' | Corresponds to /x/ in Kurukh and /q/ in Malto. | ||
| Breton | hor c'hi | 'our dog' | |||
| Bulgarian | тихо / tiho | ⓘ | 'quietly' | Described as having "only slight friction" (). | |
| Catalan | kharja | 'kharjah' | Found in loanwords and interjections. See Catalan phonology | ||
| Chechen | хан / xan | 'time' | |||
| Chinese | Mandarin | 河 / hé | 'river' | See Standard Chinese phonology | |
| Czech | chlap | 'guy' | See Czech phonology | ||
| Danish | Southern Jutlandic | kage | 'cake' | See Sønderjysk dialect | |
| Dutch | Standard Belgian | acht | '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˖]. See Dutch phonology and Hard and soft G in Dutch | |
| Southern Netherlands accents | |||||
| English | Scottish | loch | 'loch' | Younger speakers may merge this sound with /k/. See Scottish English phonology | |
| Irish | lough | 'lough' | Occurs only in Gaelic borrowings. See Irish English phonology | ||
| Scouse | book | 'book' | A syllable-final allophone of /k/ (lenition). | ||
| Esperanto | monaĥo | 'monk' | See Esperanto phonology | ||
| Estonian | jah | 'yes' | Allophone of /h/. See Estonian phonology | ||
| Eyak | duxł | 'traps' | |||
| Finnish | kahvi | 'coffee' | Allophone of /h/. See Finnish phonology | ||
| French | jota | 'jota' | Occurs only in loanwords (from Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, etc.). See French phonology | ||
| Georgian | ჯოხი / joxi | 'stick' | |||
| German | Buch | ⓘ | 'book' | See Standard German phonology | |
| Greek | τέχνη / téchnî | 'art' | See Modern Greek phonology | ||
| Hebrew | Biblical | מִיכָאֵל/micha'el | 'Michael' | See Biblical Hebrew phonology | |
| Hindustani | Hindi | ख़ुशी/khushii/k͟hushī | 'happiness' | Occurs only in loanwords. May be replaced in Hindi with /kʰ/. See Hindustani phonology | |
| Urdu | ﺧﻮشی/khushii/k͟hushī | ||||
| Hungarian | sahhal | 'with a shah' | See Hungarian phonology | ||
| Icelandic | október | 'October' | See Icelandic phonology | ||
| Indonesian | khas | 'typical' | Occurs in Arabic loanwords. Often pronounced as or by some Indonesians. See Indonesian phonology | ||
| Irish | deoch | 'drink' | See Irish phonology | ||
| Japanese | マッハ / mahha | 'Mach' | Allophone of /h/. See Japanese phonology | ||
| Kabardian | хы / khy | ⓘ | 'sea' | ||
| Kazakh | ханзада / hanzada | 'prince' | |||
| Korean | 흥정 / heungjeong | 'bargaining' | Allophone of /h/ before /ɯ/. See Korean phonology | ||
| Kurdish | xanî | 'house' | See Kurdish phonology | ||
| Kurukh | कुड़ुख़ | 'Kurukh' | Corresponds to /x/ in Brahui and /q/ in Malto. | ||
| Limburgish | loch | 'air' | The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect. See Maastrichtian dialect phonology and Hard and soft G in Dutch | ||
| Lishan Didan | Urmi Dialect | חלבא / xalwa | 'milk' | Generally post-velar | |
| Lithuanian | choras | 'choir' | Occurs only in loanwords (usually international words) | ||
| Lojban | xatra | 'letter' | |||
| Macedonian | Охрид / Ohrid | ⓘ | 'Ohrid' | See Macedonian phonology | |
| Malay | اﺧير / akhir | 'last', 'end' | Occurs in Arabic loanwords. Often pronounced as or . See Malay phonology | ||
| Manx | aashagh | 'easy' | |||
| Nepali | आँखा | 'eye' | Allophone of /kʰ/. See Nepali phonology | ||
| Norwegian | Urban East | hat | 'hate' | Possible allophone of /h/ near back vowels; can be voiced [ɣ] between two voiced sounds. See Norwegian phonology | |
| Pashto | اخته / axta | 'occupied' | See Pashto phonology | ||
| Persian | دُخـتَر / dokhtar | 'daughter' | See Persian phonology | ||
| Polish | chleb | 'bread' | Also (in great majority of dialects) represented orthographically by ⟨h⟩. See Polish phonology | ||
| Portuguese | Fluminense | arte | 'art' | In free variation with [χ], [ʁ], [ħ] and [h] before voiceless consonants | |
| General Brazilian | rosa | 'rose' | Some dialects. An allophone of /ʁ/. See Portuguese phonology | ||
| Punjabi | Gurmukhi | ਖ਼ਬਰ/khabar | 'news' | ||
| Shahmukhi | ﺧﺒر/khabar | ||||
| Romanian | hram | 'patronal feast of a church' | Allophone of /h/. See Romanian phonology | ||
| Russian | хороший / khoroshiy | ⓘ | 'good' | See Russian phonology | |
| Scottish Gaelic | drochaid | 'bridge' | See Scottish Gaelic phonology | ||
| Serbo-Croatian | храст / hrast | 'oak' | See Serbo-Croatian phonology | ||
| Slovak | chlap | 'guy' | |||
| Slovene | Standard | pohlep | 'greed' | See Slovene phonology | |
| Some dialects | bog | 'god' | Allophone of /ɣ/ before voiceless obstruents or pause. See Slovene phonology | ||
| Somali | khad | 'ink' | Also occurs allophone of /q/ in Arabic loan words. See Somali phonology | ||
| Spanish | Latin American | ojo | 'eye' | May be glottal instead; in northern and central Spain it is often post-velar or uvular /χ/. See Spanish phonology | |
| Southern Spain | |||||
| Sylheti | ꠈꠛꠞ/khabar | 'news' | |||
| Tagalog | bakit | 'why' | Allophone of /k/ in intervocalic positions. See Tagalog phonology | ||
| Toda | pax | 'smoke' | |||
| Turkish | ıhlamur | 'linden' | Allophone of /h/. See Turkish phonology | ||
| Turkmen | hile | 'cunning' (noun) | |||
| Tyap | kham | 1. 'calabash'; 2. 'prostitute' | |||
| Xhosa | rhoxisa | 'to cancel' | |||
| Ukrainian | хлопець / khlopets' | 'boy' | See Ukrainian phonology | ||
| Uzbek | oxirgi | 'last' | Post-velar. Occurs in environments different from word-initially and pre-consonantally, otherwise it is pre-velar. | ||
| Vietnamese | không | 'no', 'not', 'zero' | See Vietnamese phonology | ||
| Yaghan | xan | 'here' | |||
| Yi | ꉾ / he | 'good' | |||
| Zapotec | Tilquiapan | mejor | 'better' | Used primarily in loanwords from Spanish | |
Voiceless Approximant
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Norwegian | Brekke dialect | seg | 'oneself' | Coda allophone of /ɡ/; reported to occur only in this word. See Norwegian phonology | |
| Kaldfarnes dialect | |||||
| Sørkjosen dialect | |||||
| Undheim dialect | |||||
| Bryne dialect | sterkaste, sterkeste |
'strongest' | Allophone of /r/ when it is in contact with voiceless consonants. Exact distribution may differ between dialects. In the Hafrsfjord dialect, may also occur in the word seg. See Norwegian phonology | ||
| Hafrsfjord dialect | |||||
| Raundalen dialect | |||||
| Stanghelle dialect | |||||
| Fyllingsdalen dialect | |||||
| Spanish | Standard European | Predrag | 'Predrag' | Allophone of /ɡ/ before a pause. See Spanish phonology | |
See also
Notes
- ^ Watson (2002), pp. 17, 19–20, 35–36 and 38.
- ^ a b Hualde & Ortiz de Urbina (2003), pp. 16 and 26.
- ^ Hualde & Ortiz de Urbina (2003), p. 16.
- ^ Bhadriraju Krishnamurti (2003), p. 100.
- ^ 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)
- ^ a b c Collins & Mees (2003:191)
- ^ Gussenhoven (1999:74)
- ^ "Annexe 4: Linguistic Variables". Archived from the original on 2021-02-25. Retrieved 2014-12-03.
- ^ "University of Essex :: Department of Language and Linguistics :: Welcome". Essex.ac.uk. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
- ^ Wells (1982:373)
- ^ Shosted & Chikovani (2006), p. 255.
- ^ Okada, Hideo (December 1991). "Japanese". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 21 (2): 94–96. doi:10.1017/S002510030000445X. S2CID 242782215. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
- ^ Bhadriraju Krishnamurti (2003), p. 74.
- ^ Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999:159)
- ^ Peters (2006:119)
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ a b c d Chen (2007), p. 13.
- ^ Hamond (2001:?), cited in Scipione & Sayahi (2005:128)
- ^ a b Lyons (1981), p. 76.
- ^ Harris & Vincent (1988), p. 83.
- ^ Bhadriraju Krishnamurti (2003), p. 149.
- ^ a b Göksel & Kerslake (2005:6)
- ^ a b Sjoberg (1963), pp. 11–12.
- ^ Thompson (1959), pp. 458–461.
- ^ Merrill (2008), p. 109.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Nordavinden og sola: Opptak og transkripsjoner av norske dialekter". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
- ^ a b Wetzels & Mascaró (2001), p. 224.
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