Sj-sound
Template:Short description Template:Multiple issues Template:Infobox IPA
The sj-sound (Template:Langx {{#invoke:IPA|main}}) is a voiceless fricative phoneme found in the sound system of most dialects of Swedish. It has a variety of realisations, whose precise phonetic characterisation is a matter of debate, but which usually feature distinct labialization. The sound is represented in Swedish orthography by a number of spellings, the most common of which are the digraphs and trigraphs Template:Angbr (from which the common Swedish name for the sound is derived), Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, and (before front vowels) Template:Angbr; if considered in complementary distribution with Template:IPAblink, up to 65 different spellings for the phoneme have been identified in native words and loanwords.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The sound should not be confused with the Swedish tj-sound Template:IPAslink, usually spelled Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, or (before front vowels) Template:Angbr.
These sounds are transcribed Template:Angbr IPA in the International Phonetic Alphabet. The International Phonetic Association (IPA) describes them as "simultaneous Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink", but this realization is not attested, and phoneticians doubt that such a realization actually occurs in any language.<ref name=Lad>Template:Harvnb.</ref>Template:Page missing Other descriptive labels include:
- Voiceless postalveolo-velar fricative
- Voiceless palatal-velar fricative
- Voiceless dorso-palatal velar fricative
- Voiceless postalveolar and velar fricative
- Voiceless coarticulated velar and palatoalveolar fricative
The closest sound found in English, as well as many other languages, is the voiceless postalveolar fricative {{#invoke:IPA|main}} (Swedish words with the sound often correspond to English words with "sh", such as "shield", "shoot"), although usually the closest audible approximation is the voiceless labialized velar approximant {{#invoke:IPA|main}} found in some English dialects. Regionally, it varies from being more Template:IPAblink-like in the standard speech, to being more Template:IPAblink-like in northern Sweden and Finland. The tj-sound (which often corresponds to English words with "ch", such as "chicken", "church") remains distinct, varying from more Template:IPAblink-like (i.e., Template:IPAslink) in the standard speech to more Template:IPAblink-like in northern Sweden and Finland.
Features
Features of the sj-sound:
- Its place of articulation varies by dialect, but usually includes a velar component.
Template:Voiceless short Template:Oral Template:Central articulation Template:Pulmonic
Occurrence
Dialects of Swedish
This sound has been reported in certain dialects of Swedish, where it is most often known as the sj-sound.
Its place of articulation varies over Swedish regions and is not agreed upon. It has been variously found to be the following:
- velar and postalveolar, meaning it is articulated simultaneously with the tongue dorsum (i.e. the back part of the tongue) approximating the velum (i.e. the soft palate, like Template:IPAblink) and just behind the teeth (like Template:IPAblink). However, doubly articulated fricatives are very difficult to pronounce or to hear, and many linguists doubt that they exist.<ref name=Lad/>
- Lindblad describes one of two common variants of Swedish {{#invoke:IPA|main}} as labiodental with simultaneous velarization and protrusion of the upper lip, which would be transcribed as {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. (The English sigh of relief phew! is one approximation, as is the voiceless labial-velar approximant that is used in some varieties of English.) He does not use the symbol Template:Angbr IPA for this allophone.
- Lindblad describes the second common variant of Swedish {{#invoke:IPA|main}} as velar. The difference between it and the cardinal velar Template:IPAblink is not clear, but it may have less friction Template:IPAblink, or be further forward Template:IPAblink, or both.
- Riad notes that the basic dorsal place of assimilation can be determined by the place of assimilation of a preceding nasal, with en skjorta 'a shirt', for example, being pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. He notes a labialized allophone {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.<ref>Tomas Riad (2014) The Phonology of Swedish, Oxford University Press, p. 61.</ref>
- A number of intermediate possibilities between these extremes.
- Other articulations have been described as well, with no obvious standard emerging.
Consider the following comments by Peter Ladefoged and Ian Maddieson:
Kölsch
A sound transcribed with Template:Angbr IPA is also reported to occur in the Kölsch variety of Ripuarian in Germany,<ref name="heike">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="bhatt_herrwegen">Template:Cite book</ref> being articulated in positions in words that enveloping Standard German has Template:IPAblink.
The acoustic difference between {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and the Kölsch {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is difficult to perceive but the articulation is clearly distinct.<ref name="heike"/> Whether or not there is a relation between Swedish {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and the Kölsch {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is not known. While none seems to have been established, comments suggest that the choice of Template:Angbr IPA might well have been based upon a misunderstanding.<ref name="bhatt_herrwegen"/> Certainly, the Kölsch {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is not doubly articulated and even contrasts with a slightly velarized {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.
Some phoneticians, such as Template:Ill of the University of Cologne in his lessons on IPA transcription, suggest that Template:Angbr IPA might be a better symbol for the sound.
Himalayan languages
A sound transcribed with Template:Angbr IPA is also reported word-initially and word-medially in the Wutun language, where it is described simply as a "velar glide", which would be {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref> The symbol is also used in describing a sound in the Bahing language of Nepal.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>