Voiceless postalveolar fricative

A voiceless postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The International Phonetic Association uses the term voiceless postalveolar fricative only for the sound {{#invoke:IPA|main}},<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> but it also describes the voiceless postalveolar non-sibilant fricative {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, for which there are significant perceptual differences.

Voiceless palato-alveolar fricative

A voiceless palato-alveolar fricative or voiceless domed postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in many languages, including English. In English, it is usually spelled Template:Angbr, as in ship.

File:Palatoalveolar fricative.svg

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The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is Template:Angbr IPA, the letter esh introduced by Isaac Pitman (not to be confused with the integral symbol Template:Angbr).

An alternative symbol is Template:Angbr, an s with a caron or háček, which is used in the Americanist phonetic notation and the Uralic Phonetic Alphabet, as well as in the scientific and ISO 9 transliterations of Cyrillic. It originated with the Czech orthography of Jan Hus and was adopted in Gaj's Latin alphabet and other Latin alphabets of Slavic languages. It also features in the orthographies of many Baltic, Finno-Samic, North American and African languages.

Features

Features of the voiceless palato-alveolar fricative: Template:Sibilant Template:Palato-alveolar Template:Voiceless Template:Oral Template:Central articulation Template:Pulmonic

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Adyghe		lang}}	main}}	'donkey'
Albanian		lang}}	main}}	'house'
Arabic	Modern StandardTemplate:Sfnp	lang}}	Template:Audio-IPA	'sun'	See Arabic phonology
Armenian	EasternTemplate:Sfnp	lang}}	Template:Audio-IPA	'dog'
Aromanian		shi	main}}	'and'
Asturian		lang}}	Template:Audio-IPA	('the') 'task'	May be realised as [ʃj], [ɕj], [ɕ] or [ʃ], depending on context and speaker.
Azerbaijani		lang}}	main}}	'poem'
Assyrian		ܫܒܬܐ šebta	main}}	'saturday'
Bengali		দেশ	main}}	'country'	See Bengali phonology
Bashkir		lang}}	Template:Audio-IPA	'five'
Basque		lang}}	main}}	'hello'	Apical.
Breton		lang}}	main}}	'chain'
Bulgarian		lang}}	main}}	'heroically'	See Bulgarian phonology
Catalan		peix	main}}	'fish'	Its pronunciation varies between an alveolo-palatal [ɕ] and postalveolar [ʃ] fricative. See Catalan phonology.
Chechen		шура / şura	['ʃurə]	'milk'
Chuvash		шурă	['ʃurə]	'white'
Czech		lang}}	main}}	'mash'	See Czech phonology
DutchTemplate:Sfnp		lang}}	Template:Audio-IPA	'template'	main}} or Template:IPAblink instead. See Dutch phonology
English		sheep	Template:Audio-IPA	'sheep'	See English phonology
Esperanto		lang}}	main}}	'suspenders'	See Esperanto phonology
Faroese		lang}}	main}}	'hospital'	See Faroese phonology
FrenchTemplate:Sfnp		lang}}	Template:Audio-IPA	'expensive'	See French phonology
Finnish		lang}}	main}}	'check'	See Finnish phonology
Galician		lang}}	main}}	'trip'	See Galician phonology
GeorgianTemplate:Sfnp		lang}}	main}}	'quibbling'
German	Standard<ref name=MangoldPA>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>	lang}}	main}}	'beautiful'	Laminal or apico-laminal and strongly labialized.<ref name=MangoldPA/> See Standard German phonology
Greek	Cypriot	lang}}	main}}	'ugliness'	main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}}
	Pontic	ςςον	main}}	'snow'
Hebrew		lang}}	Template:Audio-IPA	'peace'	See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hindi		lang}}	main}}	'doubt'	See Hindustani phonology
Hungarian		lang}}	main}}	'salt'	See Hungarian phonology
Ilocano		lang}}	main}}	'I'
Irish		lang}}	main}}	'she'	See Irish phonology
Italian	Marked accents of Emilia-RomagnaTemplate:Sfnp	lang}}	main}}	'you go up'	Apical non-labialized; may be Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink instead.Template:Sfnp It corresponds to Template:IPAblink in standard Italian. See Italian phonology
	StandardTemplate:Sfnp	lang}}	main}}	'bands'	See Italian phonology
Kabardian		lang}}	main}}	'donkey'	Contrasts with a labialized form
Kabyle		lang}}	main}}	'to consult'
Kashubian<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>	lang}}	main}}	'our'	See Kashubian language
Kazakh		шаш / şaş	[ʃаʃ]	'hair'
Kurdish		lang}}	main}}	'night'	See Kurdish phonology
Latvian		lang}}	main}}	'scarf'	See Latvian phonology
Lillooet		lang}}	main}}	'creek'
Limburgish	MaastrichtianTemplate:Sfnp	lang}}	main}}	'darling'	Laminal post-alveolar with an unclear amount of palatalization.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt. The authors state that {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is "pre-palatal, articulated with the blade of the tongue against the post-alveolar place of articulation". This makes it unclear whether this sound is palato-alveolar (somewhat palatalized post-alveolar) or alveolo-palatal (strongly palatalized post-alveolar).</ref>
Lingala		lang}}	main}}	'grey parrot'
Lithuanian		lang}}	main}}	'armor'	See Lithuanian phonology
Macedonian		lang}}	main}}	'what'	See Macedonian phonology
Malay		lang}}	main}}	'company'
Maltese		lang}}	main}}	'what is your name?'
Marathi		lang}}	main}}	'word'	See Marathi phonology
Mayan	Yucatec	ko'ox	[koʔoʃ]	'let's go'
Mopan		lang}}	main}}	'chicken'
Mpade		lang}}	main}}	'cow'
Mutsun		lang}}	main}}	'having acne'
Neapolitan		lang}}	main}}	'urchin'
Occitan	Auvergnat	lang}}	main}}	'bad'	See Occitan phonology
	Gascon	lang}}	main}}
	Limousin	lang}}	main}}	'his'
Persian		lang}}	main}}	'king'	See Persian phonology
Polish	Gmina Istebna	{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	'hay'	{{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} merge into {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in these dialects. In standard Polish, {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is commonly used to transcribe what actually is a laminal voiceless retroflex sibilant
	Lubawa dialectTemplate:Sfnp
	Malbork dialectTemplate:Sfnp
	Ostróda dialectTemplate:Sfnp
	Warmia dialectTemplate:Sfnp
PortugueseTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp		lang}}	main}}	'shaman'	Also described as alveolo-palatal Template:IPAblink.Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi		lang}}	main}}	'lion'
Romani		lang}}	main}}	'ten'
Romanian		lang}}	main}}	'bosses'	See Romanian phonology
Sahaptin		šíš	main}}	'mush'
Scottish Gaelic		lang}}	main}}	'sing'	See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Serbo-Croatian		lang}}	main}}	'school'	See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Silesian	Gmina Istebna<ref name="Dąbrowska">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>	Template:Example needed			These dialects merge {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} into {{#invoke:IPA|main}}
	Jablunkov<ref name="Dąbrowska"/>	Template:Example needed
Slovak		škola	main}}	'school'	See Slovak phonology
Slovene		lang}}	main}}	'school'	See Slovene phonology
Somali		lang}}	main}}	'five'	See Somali phonology
Spanish	New Mexican	{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	Template:Audio-IPA	'boastful'	Corresponds to {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in other dialects. See Spanish phonology
	Northern Mexico<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
	Cuban
	Panamanian	{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	'chocolate'
	Southern Andalusia
	Chilean
	Rioplatense	lang}}	main}}	'yesterday'	May be voiced Template:IPAblink instead. See Spanish phonology and yeísmo
Sranantongo		syène	[ˈʃɛne]	'blunder, disappointment'
Swahili		shule	[ʃule]	'school'
Swedish	Västerbotten dialectTemplate:Sfnp	svår	[ˈʃwoːr]	'difficult'
Tagalog		lang}}	main}}	'he/she'	See Tagalog phonology
Toda<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>		{{#invoke:IPA|main}}		'language'	Contrasts /θ s̪ s̠ ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ/.Template:Sfnp
Tunica		lang}}	main}}	'stone'
Turkish		lang}}	main}}	'sun'	See Turkish phonology
UkrainianTemplate:Sfnp		lang}}	main}}	'chess'	See Ukrainian phonology
Urdu		lang}}	main}}	'thank you'	See Hindustani phonology
Uyghur		lang}}	main}}	'city'
Uzbek		lang}}	main}}	'head'
Walloon		lang}}	main}}	'knit fabric'
Welsh	Standard	lang}}	main}}	'speak'	See Welsh phonology
	Southern dialects	lang}}	main}}	'month'
West Frisian		lang}}	main}}	'soap'	See West Frisian phonology
Western Lombard	Canzés	lang}}	main}}	'nuisance'
Wu Chinese	Northern Wu (Shengpu locality)	lang}}	main}}	'poem'
Yiddish		lang}}	main}}	'scientific'	See Yiddish phonology
Yorùbá		lang}}	main}}	'open'
Zapotec	TilquiapanTemplate:Sfnp	lang}}	main}}	'how?'

In various languages, including English and French, it may have simultaneous labialization, i.e. {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, although this is usually not transcribed.

Classical Latin did not have {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, though it does occur in most Romance languages. For example, Template:Angbr in French {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} "singer" is pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} is descended from Latin {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, where Template:Angbr was pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. The Template:Angbr in Latin {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} "science" was pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, but has shifted to {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in Italian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}.

Similarly, Proto-Germanic had neither {{#invoke:IPA|main}} nor Template:IPAblink, yet many of its descendants do. In most cases, this {{#invoke:IPA|main}} or {{#invoke:IPA|main}} descends from a Proto-Germanic {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. For instance, Proto-Germanic *skipą ("hollow object, water-borne vessel larger than a boat") was pronounced {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. The English word "ship" {{#invoke:IPA|main}} has been pronounced without the {{#invoke:IPA|main}} the longest, the word being descended from Old English "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}" {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, which already also had the {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, though the Old English spelling etymologically indicated that the old {{#invoke:IPA|main}} had once been present.

This change took longer to catch on in West Germanic languages other than Old English, though it eventually did. The second West Germanic language to undergo this sound shift was Old High German. After High German, the shift most likely then occurred in Low Saxon. After Low Saxon, Middle Dutch began the shift, but it stopped shifting once it reached {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, and has kept that pronunciation since. Then, most likely through influence from German and Low Saxon, North Frisian experienced the shift.

Then, Swedish quite swiftly underwent the shift, which resulted in the very uncommon Template:IPAblink phoneme, which, aside from Swedish, is only used in Colognian, a variety of High German, though not as a replacement for the standard High German {{#invoke:IPA|main}} but a coronalized {{#invoke:IPA|main}}. However, the exact realization of Swedish {{#invoke:IPA|main}} varies considerably among dialects; for instance, in Northern dialects it tends to be realized as Template:IPAblink. See sj-sound for more details. Finally, the last to undergo the shift was Norwegian, in which the result of the shift was {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.

The sound in Russian denoted by Template:Angbr is commonly transcribed as a palato-alveolar fricative but is actually an apical retroflex fricative.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Voiceless postalveolar non-sibilant fricative

A voiceless postalveolar non-sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It can be transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as Template:Angbr IPA or Template:Angbr IPA, both of which indicate a Template:IPAblink that is retracted, raised, and voiceless.

Features

Template:Fricative However, it does not have the grooved tongue and directed airflow, or the high frequencies, of a sibilant.

• Its place of articulation is postalveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
English	Received PronunciationTemplate:Sfnp	crew	main}}	'crew'	main}} after the word-initial fortis plosives {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, unless they are preceded by {{#invoke:IPA|main}} within the same syllable.Template:Sfnp See English phonology

Voiceless postalveolar approximant

Template:Infobox IPA Some scholars also posit the voiceless postalveolar approximant distinct from the fricative. The approximant may be represented in the IPA as Template:Angbr IPA.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
BengaliTemplate:Sfnp	Some dialects	lang}}	main}}	'again'	main}} in the syllable coda.Template:Sfnp See Bengali phonology
Spanish	Santiagueño dialect	perro	Template:Audio-IPA	'dog'	Used instead of rolled r (r) in the dialect of Santiago del Estero, Argentina.

See also

• Index of phonetics articles
• Voiced postalveolar fricative
• Cedilla
• Shibboleth

References

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External links

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