Voiceless palatal fricative

Voiceless palatal fricative
ç
IPA number	138
Audio sample
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ç
Unicode (hex)	U+00E7
X-SAMPA	C
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A voiceless palatal fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ç⟩. It is the non-sibilant equivalent of the voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative.

Palatal fricatives are relatively rare phonemes, and only 5% of the world's languages have /ç/ as a phoneme.^[1] The sound further occurs as an allophone of /x/ (e.g. in German or Greek), or, in other languages, of /h/ in the vicinity of front vowels.

Features

Voiceless palatal fricative (ç)

Features of a voiceless palatal 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 palatal, which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised to the hard 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 that air is exclusively allowed to escape through the mouth.
• 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.
• Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Palatal

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Assamese		সীমা / xima	[ç̠ima]	'limit/border'	Pre Palatal^[citation needed]
Blackfoot		ᖱᑊᖽᒧᐧᖿ / ihkitsíkaa	[ɪçkit͡síkaː]	'Seven'	Allophone of /x/.
Chinese	Taizhou dialect	嬉	[çi]	'to play'	Corresponds to alveolo-palatal /ɕ/ in other Wu dialects.
	Meixian dialect	香	[çʲɔŋ˦]	'fragrant'	Corresponds to palatalized fricative /hj/ in romanised as "hi-" or "hy-" Hakka dialect writing.
Danish	Standard[2]	pjaske	[ˈpçæskə]	'splash'	May be alveolo-palatal [ɕ] instead.[2] Before /j/, aspiration of /p, t, k/ is realized as devoicing and fortition of /j/.[2] Note, however, that the sequence /tj/ is normally realized as an affricate [t͡ɕ].[3] See Danish phonology
Dutch	Standard Northern[4]	wiegje	[ˈʋiçjə]	'crib'	Allophone of /x/ before /j/ for some speakers.[4] See Dutch phonology
English	Australian[5]	hue	[çʉː]	'hue'	Phonetic realization of the sequence /hj/.[5][6][7] See Australian English phonology and English phonology
	British[6][7]
	Scouse[8]	like	[laɪ̯ç]	'like'	Allophone of /k/; ranges from palatal to uvular, depending on the preceding vowel.[8] See English phonology
Estonian		vihm	[viçm]	'rain'	Allophone of /h/. See Estonian phonology
Finnish		vihko	[ʋiçko̞]	'notebook'	Allophone of /h/. See Finnish phonology
French	Parisian[9]	merci	[mɛʁ̥ˈsi̥ç]^ⓘ	'thank you'	The close vowels /i, y, u/ and the mid front /e, ɛ/ at the end of utterances can be devoiced.[9] See French phonology
German		nicht	[nɪçt]^ⓘ	'not'	Traditionally allophone of /x/, or vice versa, but phonemic for some speakers who have both /aːx/ and /aːç/ (< /aʁç/). See Standard German phonology.
Haida		xíl	[çɪ́l]	'leaf'
Hmong	White (Dawb)	𖬗𖬰𖬧𖬰 / xya	[ça˧]	'seven'	Corresponds to alveolo-palatal /ɕ/ in Dananshan dialect
	Green (Njua)
Hungarian[10]		kapj	[ˈkɒpç]	'get' (imperative)	Allophone of /j/ between a voiceless obstruent and a word boundary. See Hungarian phonology
Icelandic		hérna	[ˈçɛ(ɾ)tnä]	'here'	Allophone of /h/ near /j/ and /i/.[11] See Icelandic phonology
Irish		a Sheáin	[ə çaːnʲ]	'John' (voc.)	See Irish phonology
Jalapa Mazatec[12]		^[example needed]			Described as an approximant. Contrasts with plain voiced /j/ and glottalized voiced /ȷ̃/.[12]
Japanese[13]		日 / hi	[çi]^ⓘ	'day'	Allophone of /h/ before /i/ and /j/. See Japanese phonology
Kabyle		ḵtil	[çtil]	'to measure'
Korean		힘 / him	[çim]^ⓘ	'strength'	Allophone of /h/ word-initially before /i/ and /j/. See Korean phonology
Minangkabau	Mukomuko	tangih	[taŋiç]	'cry'	Allophone of /h/ after /i/ and /j/ in coda.
Moksha		шалхка	[ʃalçka]	'nose'
Muniche		[tʃaçu]		'plant stalk'	[14]
Norwegian	Urban East[15]	kjerne	[ˈçæ̂ːɳə̌]^ⓘ	'core'	Often alveolo-palatal [ɕ] instead; younger speakers in Bergen, Stavanger and Oslo merge it with /ʂ/.[15] See Norwegian phonology
Pashto	Ghilji dialect[16]	پښه‎	[pça]	'foot'	See Pashto phonology
	Wardak dialect
Romanian	Standard	Rohia	[r̠̊o̞ˈçijä]^ⓘ	'Rohia'	Allophone of /h/ before /i/. Typically transcribed with [hʲ]. See Romanian phonology
Russian	Standard[17]	твёрдый / tvjordyj	[ˈt̪ʋʲɵrd̪ɨ̞ç]^ⓘ	'hard'	Possible realization of /j/.[17] See Russian phonology
Scottish Gaelic[18]		eich	[eç]	'horses'	Slender allophone of /x/. See Scottish Gaelic phonology and orthography
Sicilian		ciumi	[ˈçuːmɪ]	'river'	Evolved from the Latin /fl/ nexus. Realized as [t͡ʃ] when preceded by a consonant. See Sicilian phonology
Spanish	Chilean[19]	mujer	[muˈçe̞ɾ]	'woman'	Allophone of /x/ before front vowels. See Spanish phonology
Turkish[20]		zihin	[ziˈçin]^ⓘ	'intellect'	Allophone of /h/.[20] See Turkish phonology
Uzbek		maktab	[mɑçtɑb]	'school'	Occurs when /k/ comes before /t/ and /b/ sounds.
Walloon		texhe	[tɛç]^ⓘ	'to knit'	⟨xh⟩ spelling proper in Common Walloon, in the Feller system it would be written ⟨hy⟩
Welsh		hiaith	[çaɪ̯θ]^ⓘ	'language'	Occurs in words where /h/ comes before /j/ due to h-prothesis of the original word, i.e. /jaɪ̯θ/ iaith 'language' becomes ei hiaith 'her language', resulting in /j/ i → /ç/ hi.[21] See Welsh phonology

Post-palatal

Voiceless post-palatal fricative
ç˗
x̟
Audio sample
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There is also a voiceless post-palatal fricative in some languages, which is articulated slightly farther back compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical voiceless palatal fricative, though not as back as the prototypical voiceless velar fricative. The International Phonetic Alphabet does not have a separate symbol for that sound, though it can be transcribed as ⟨ç̠⟩, ⟨ç˗⟩ (both symbols denote a retracted ⟨ç⟩) or ⟨x̟⟩ (advanced ⟨x⟩).

Features

• 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 post-palatal, also called retracted palatal, backed palatal, palato-velar, pre-velar, advanced velar or front(ed-)velar, which means it is articulated between the position of palatal consonants and velar consonants.
• 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 that air is exclusively allowed to escape through the mouth.
• 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.
• Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Belarusian		глухі / hluchí	[ɣuɫˈx̟i]^ⓘ	'deaf'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨xʲ⟩. See Belarusian phonology
Dutch	Standard Belgian[4]	acht	[ˈax̟t]^ⓘ	'eight'	May be velar [x] instead.[4] See Dutch phonology
	Southern accents[4]
Greek[22]		ψυχή / psychí	[ps̠iˈç̠i]^ⓘ	'soul'	See Modern Greek phonology
Limburgish	Weert dialect[23]	ich	[ɪ̞x̟]	'I'	Allophone of /x/ before and after front vowels.[23] See Weert dialect phonology
Lithuanian[24][25]		chemija	[ˈx̟ɛmija]	'chemistry'	Very rare;[26] typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨xʲ⟩. See Lithuanian phonology
Russian	Standard[17]	хинди / chindi	[ˈx̟inʲdʲɪ]^ⓘ	'Hindi'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨xʲ⟩. See Russian phonology
Spanish		mujer	[muˈx̟e̞ɾ]	'woman'	Allophone of /x/ before front vowels.[27] See Spanish phonology
Ukrainian^[citation needed]		алхімія / alchimija	[ɐl̞ʲˈx̟imʲijɐ]^ⓘ	'alchemy'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨xʲ⟩. See Ukrainian phonology
Uzbek[28]		xurmo	[x̟urmɒ]	'date palm'	Weakly fricated; occurs word-initially and pre-consonantally, otherwise it is post-velar [x̠].[28]

See also

• Index of phonetics articles

Notes

1. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), pp. 167–168.
2. Basbøll (2005), pp. 65–66.
3. Grønnum (2005), p. 148.
4. Collins & Mees (2003), p. 191.
5. Cox & Fletcher (2017), p. 159.
6. Roach (2009), p. 43.
7. Wells, John C (2009-01-29), "A huge query", John Wells's phonetic blog, retrieved 2016-03-13
8. Watson (2007), p. 353.
9. Fagyal & Moisset (1999).
10. Siptár & Törkenczy (2007), p. 205.
11. Rögnvaldsson (2017), p. 33, 37. sfnp error: no target: CITEREFRögnvaldsson2017 (help)
12. Silverman et al. (1995), p. 83.
13. Okada (1999), p. 118.
14. Michael, Lev; Farmer, Stephanie; Finley, Gregory; Acosta, Karina Sullón; Beier, Christine; Icahuate, Alexandra Chanchari; Baneo, Donalia Icahuate; Saita, Melchor Sinti (2023-01-16), Epps, Patience; Michael, Lev (eds.), "18 Muniche", Language Isolates II: Kanoé to Yurakaré, De Gruyter, pp. 851–892, doi:10.1515/9783110432732-005, ISBN 978-3-11-043273-2, retrieved 2025-09-17
15. Kristoffersen (2000), p. 23.
16. Henderson (1983), p. 595.
17. Yanushevskaya & Bunčić (2015), p. 223.
18. Oftedal (1956), pp. 113–4.
19. Palatal phenomena in Spanish phonology Archived 2021-11-23 at the Wayback Machine Page 113
20. Göksel & Kerslake (2005:6)
21. Ball & Watkins (1993), pp. 300–301.
22. Arvaniti (2007), p. 20.
23. Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998), p. 108.
24. Mathiassen (1996), pp. 22–23).
25. Ambrazas et al. (1997), p. 36.
26. Ambrazas et al. (1997), p. 35.
27. Canellada & Madsen (1987), p. 21.
28. Sjoberg (1963), p. 11.

References

• Ambrazas, Vytautas; Geniušienė, Emma; Girdenis, Aleksas; Sližienė, Nijolė; Valeckienė, Adelė; Valiulytė, Elena; Tekorienė, Dalija; Pažūsis, Lionginas (1997), Ambrazas, Vytautas (ed.), Lithuanian Grammar, Vilnius: Institute of the Lithuanian Language, ISBN 978-9986-813-22-4
• Arvaniti, Amalia (2007), "Greek Phonetics: The State of the Art" (PDF), Journal of Greek Linguistics, 8: 97–208, CiteSeerX 10.1.1.692.1365, doi:10.1075/jgl.8.08arv, archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-11, retrieved 2013-12-11
• Ball, Martin J.; Watkins, T. Arwyn (1993), The Celtic Languages, Routledge Reference Grammars, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-28080-8
• Basbøll, Hans (2005), The Phonology of Danish, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 978-0-203-97876-4
• Canellada, María Josefa; Madsen, John Kuhlmann (1987), Pronunciación del español: lengua hablada y literaria, Madrid: Castalia, ISBN 978-8470394836
• Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003) [First published 1981], The Phonetics of English and Dutch (5th ed.), Leiden: Brill Publishers, ISBN 978-9004103405
• Cox, Felicity; Fletcher, Janet (2017) [First published 2012], Australian English Pronunciation and Transcription (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-316-63926-9
• Damirchizadeh, A (1972), Modern Azerbaijani Language: Phonetics, Orthoepy and Orthography, Maarif Publ
• Fagyal, Zsuzsanna; Moisset, Christine (1999), "Sound Change and Articulatory Release: Where and Why are High Vowels Devoiced in Parisian French?" (PDF), Proceedings of the XIVth International Congress of Phonetic Science, San Francisco, vol. 1, pp. 309–312
• Göksel, Asli; Kerslake, Celia (2005), Turkish: a comprehensive grammar, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415114943
• Grønnum, Nina (2005), Fonetik og fonologi, Almen og Dansk (3rd ed.), Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag, ISBN 978-87-500-3865-8
• Heijmans, Linda; Gussenhoven, Carlos (1998), "The Dutch dialect of Weert" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 28 (1–2): 107–112, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006307, S2CID 145635698, archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-04, retrieved 2014-06-15
• Henderson, Michael M. T. (1983), "Four Varieties of Pashto", Journal of the American Oriental Society, 103 (3): 595–597, doi:10.2307/602038, JSTOR 602038
• Kristoffersen, Gjert (2000), The Phonology of Norwegian, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-823765-5
• Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996), The sounds of the World's Languages, Oxford: Blackwell, ISBN 978-0-631-19815-4
• Mathiassen, Terje (1996), A Short Grammar of Lithuanian, Slavica Publishers, Inc., ISBN 978-0893572679
• Oftedal, Magne (1956), A linguistic survey of the Gaelic dialects of Scotland, Vol. III: The Gaelic of Leurbost, Isle of Lewis, Oslo: Norsk Tidskrift for Sprogvidenskap
• Okada, Hideo (1999), "Japanese", in International Phonetic Association (ed.), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge University Press, pp. 117–119, ISBN 978-0-52163751-0
• Pop, Sever (1938), Micul Atlas Linguistic Român, Muzeul Limbii Române Cluj
• Roach, Peter (2009), English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course, vol. 1 (4th ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-71740-3
• Rögnvaldsson, Eiríkur (2017). "Hljóðkerfi og orðhlutakerfi íslensku" [The phonology and morphology of Icelandic] (PDF) (in Icelandic) (2nd ed.). Reykjavík. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-09-18.
• Silverman, Daniel; Blankenship, Barbara; Kirk, Paul; Ladefoged, Peter (1995), "Phonetic Structures in Jalapa Mazatec", Anthropological Linguistics, 37 (1), The Trustees of Indiana University: 70–88, JSTOR 30028043
• Siptár, Péter; Törkenczy, Miklós (2007), The Phonology of Hungarian, The Phonology of the World's Languages, Oxford University Press
• Sjoberg, Andrée F. (1963), Uzbek Structural Grammar, Uralic and Altaic Series, vol. 18, Bloomington: Indiana University
• Watson, Kevin (2007), "Liverpool English", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 37 (3): 351–360, doi:10.1017/s0025100307003180
• Yanushevskaya, Irena; Bunčić, Daniel (2015), "Russian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 45 (2): 221–228, doi:10.1017/S0025100314000395

External links

• List of languages with [ç] on PHOIBLE
• List of languages with [j̊] on PHOIBLE
• List of languages with [j̥] on PHOIBLE