Voiced palatal fricative

The voiced palatal fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) that represents this sound is ⟨ʝ⟩ (crossed-tail j), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j\. It is the non-sibilant equivalent of the voiced alveolo-palatal sibilant.

Voiced palatal fricative
ʝ
IPA Number	139
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ʝ
Unicode (hex)	U+029D
X-SAMPA	j\
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In broad transcription, the symbol for the palatal approximant, ⟨j⟩, may be used for the sake of simplicity.

The voiced palatal fricative is a very rare sound, occurring in only 7 of the 317 languages surveyed by the original UCLA Phonological Segment Inventory Database. In Kabyle, Margi, Modern Greek, and Scottish Gaelic, the sound occurs phonemically, along with its voiceless counterpart, and in several more, the sound occurs a result of phonological processes.

There is also the voiced post-palatal fricative[1] in some languages, which is articulated slightly more back compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical voiced palatal fricative but not as back as the prototypical voiced velar fricative. The International Phonetic Alphabet does not have a separate symbol for that sound, but it can be transcribed as ⟨ʝ̠⟩, ⟨ʝ˗⟩ (both symbols denote a retracted ⟨ʝ⟩), ⟨ɣ̟⟩ or ⟨ɣ˖⟩ (both symbols denote an advanced ⟨ɣ⟩). The equivalent X-SAMPA symbols are j\_- and G_+, respectively.

Especially in broad transcription, the voiced post-palatal fricative may be transcribed as a palatalized voiced velar fricative (⟨ɣʲ⟩ in the IPA, G' or G_j in X-SAMPA).

Features

Features of the voiced 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. The otherwise identical post-palatal variant is articulated slightly behind the hard palate, making it sound slightly closer to the velar [ɣ].

• Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.

• 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 lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Palatal

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Asturian		frayar	[fɾäˈʝär]	'to destroy'
Catalan	Majorcan[2]	figuera	[fiˈʝeɾə]	'fig tree'	Occurs in complementary distribution with [ɟ]. Corresponds to [ɣ] in other varieties. See Catalan phonology
Danish	Standard[3]	talg	[ˈtsʰælˀʝ]	'tallow'	Possible word-final allophone of /j/ when it occurs after /l/.[3] See Danish phonology
Dutch	Standard[4]	ja	[ʝaː]	'yes'	Frequent allophone of /j/, especially in emphatic speech.[4] See Dutch phonology
German	Standard[5][6]	Jacke	[ˈʝäkə]	'jacket'	Most often transcribed in IPA with ⟨j⟩; also described as an approximant [j][7][8] and a sound variable between a fricative and an approximant.[9] See Standard German phonology
Greek	Standard	γεια	[ʝɐ]	'hi'
	Cypriot[10]	ελιά	[e̞ˈʝːɐ]	'olive'	Allophone of /ʎ/
Hungarian[11]		dobj be	[dobʝ bɛ]	'throw in'	An allophone of /j/. See Hungarian phonology
Irish[12]		an ghrian	[ənʲ ˈʝɾʲiən̪ˠ]	'the sun'	See Irish phonology
Italian	Southern dialects	figlio	[ˈfiʝːo]	'son'	Corresponds to /ʎ/ in standard Italian. See Italian phonology
Kabyle		cceǥ	[ʃʃəʝ]	'to slip'
Korean		사향노루 / sahyangnoru	[sɐʝɐŋnoɾu]	'Siberian musk deer'	The sound is sometimes heard by people when voiceless glottal fricative is between voiced and combined with close front unrounded vowel, close front rounded vowel and palatal approximant. See Korean phonology
Lithuanian[13][14]		ji	[ʝɪ]	'she'	Most often transcribed in IPA with ⟨j⟩; also described as an approximant [j].[15] See Lithuanian phonology
Mapudungun[16]		kayu	[kɜˈʝʊ]	'six'	May be an approximant [j] instead.[16]
Myanmar			[ʝ]		Allophone of /j/, particularly word initially.
Norwegian	Urban East[17][18]	gi	[ʝiː]	'to give'	Allophone of /j/, especially before and after close vowels and in energetic speech.[18] See Norwegian phonology
Pashto	Ghilji dialect[19]	موږ	[muʝ]	'we'
	Wardak dialect[19]
Ripuarian		zeije	[ˈt͡sɛʝə]	'to show'
Russian[20]		яма	[ˈʝämə]	'pit'	Allophone of /j/ in emphatic speech.[20] See Russian phonology
Scottish Gaelic[21]		dhiubh	[ʝu]	'of them'	See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Slovak[22]		prijímať	[ˈpɾɪʝɪːmäc̟]	'to receive'	Possible allophone of /j/ between close front vowels.[22] See Slovak phonology
Spanish[23]		sayo	[ˈsäʝo̞]	'smock'	More often an approximant; may also be represented by ⟨ll⟩ in many dialects. See Spanish phonology and Yeísmo
Swedish[24]		jord	[ʝɯᵝːɖ]	'soil'	Allophone of /j/. See Swedish phonology

Post-palatal

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Belarusian		геаграфія	[ɣ̟e.äˈɣɾäfʲijä]	'geography'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɣʲ⟩. See Belarusian phonology
Dutch	Standard Belgian[25]	gaan	[ɣ̟aːn]	'to go'	May be velar [ɣ] instead.[25] See Dutch phonology
	Southern accents[25]
German	Standard[26]	Riese	[ˈɣ̟iːzə]	'giant'	Allophone of the fricative /ʁ/ before and after front vowels.[26] See Standard German phonology
Greek	Standard Modern[27][28]	γένος	[ˈʝ̠e̞no̞s̠]	'gender'	See Modern Greek phonology
Limburgish	Weert dialect[29]	gèr	[ɣ̟ɛ̈ːʀ̝̊]	'gladly'	Allophone of /ɣ/ before and after front vowels.[29]
Lithuanian[15][30]		Hiustonas	[ˈɣ̟ʊs̪t̪ɔn̪ɐs̪]	'Houston'	Very rare;[31] typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɣʲ⟩. See Lithuanian phonology
Russian	Standard[20]	других гимнов	[d̪rʊˈɡ̟ɪɣ̟ ˈɡ̟imn̪əf]	'of other anthems'	Allophone of /x/ before voiced soft consonants;[20] typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɣʲ⟩. The example also illustrates [ɡ̟]. See Russian phonology
	Southern	гимн	[ɣ̟imn̪]	'anthem'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɣʲ⟩; corresponds to [ɡʲ] in standard Russian. See Russian phonology

Variable

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Mapudungun[32]					Allophone of /ɣ/ before the front vowels /ɪ, e/.[32]

See also

• Index of phonetics articles

Notes

1. Instead of "post-palatal", it can be called "retracted palatal", "backed palatal", "palato-velar", "pre-velar", "advanced velar", "fronted velar" or "front-velar". For simplicity, this article uses only the term "post-palatal".
2. Wheeler (2005:22–23)
3. Basbøll (2005:212)
4. Collins & Mees (2003:198)
5. Mangold (2005:51)
6. Krech et al. (2009:83)
7. Kohler (1999:86)
8. Moosmüller, Schmid & Brandstätter (2015:340)
9. Hall (2003:48)
10. Arvaniti (2010:116–117)
11. Gósy (2004:77, 130)
12. Ó Sé (2000:17)
13. Augustaitis (1964:23)
14. Ambrazas et al. (1997:46–47)
15. Mathiassen (1996:22–23)
16. Sadowsky et al. (2013:91)
17. Strandskogen (1979:33)
18. Vanvik (1979:41)
19. Henderson (1983:595)
20. Yanushevskaya & Bunčić (2015:223)
21. Oftedal (1956:?)
22. Pavlík (2004:106)
23. Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003:255)
24. Engstrand (1999:140)
25. Collins & Mees (2003:191)
26. Krech et al. (2009:85)
27. Nicolaidis (2003:?)
28. Arvaniti (2007:20)
29. Heijmans & Gussenhoven (1998:108)
30. Ambrazas et al. (1997:36)
31. Ambrazas et al. (1997:35)
32. Sadowsky et al. (2013:89)

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
• Arvaniti, Amalia (2010), "A (brief) review of Cypriot Phonetics and Phonology" (PDF), The Greek Language in Cyprus from Antiquity to the Present Day, University of Athens, pp. 107–124, archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-01-23, retrieved 2015-04-12
• Augustaitis, Daine (1964), Das litauische Phonationssystem, Munich: Sagner
• Basbøll, Hans (2005), The Phonology of Danish, ISBN 978-0-203-97876-4
• Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003) [First published 1981], The Phonetics of English and Dutch (5th ed.), Leiden: Brill Publishers, ISBN 978-9004103405
• Engstrand, Olle (1999), "Swedish", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Usage of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 140–142, ISBN 978-0-521-63751-0
• Gósy, Mária (2004), Fonetika, a beszéd tudománya (in Hungarian), Budapest: Osiris
• Hall, Christopher (2003) [First published 1992], Modern German pronunciation: An introduction for speakers of English (2nd ed.), Manchester: Manchester University Press, ISBN 978-0-7190-6689-4
• 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
• 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
• Kohler, Klaus J. (1999), "German", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge University Press, pp. 86–89, ISBN 978-0-521-65236-0
• Krech, Eva Maria; Stock, Eberhard; Hirschfeld, Ursula; Anders, Lutz-Christian (2009), Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch, Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-018202-6
• Mangold, Max (2005) [First published 1962], Das Aussprachewörterbuch (6th ed.), Mannheim: Dudenverlag, ISBN 978-3-411-04066-7
• Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (2): 255–259, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001373
• Mathiassen, Terje (1996), A Short Grammar of Lithuanian, Slavica Publishers, Inc., ISBN 978-0893572679
• Moosmüller, Sylvia; Schmid, Carolin; Brandstätter, Julia (2015), "Standard Austrian German", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 45 (3): 339–348, doi:10.1017/S0025100315000055
• Nicolaidis, Katerina (2003), "An Electropalatographic Study of Palatals in Greek", in D. Theophanopoulou-Kontou; C. Lascaratou; M. Sifianou; M. Georgiafentis; V. Spyropoulos (eds.), Current trends in Greek Linguistics (in Greek), Athens: Patakis, pp. 108–127
• Ó Sé, Diarmuid (2000), Gaeilge Chorca Dhuibhne (in Irish), Dublin: Institiúid Teangeolaíochta Éireann, ISBN 978-0-946452-97-2
• Oftedal, M. (1956), The Gaelic of Leurbost, Oslo: Norsk Tidskrift for Sprogvidenskap
• Pavlík, Radoslav (2004), "Slovenské hlásky a medzinárodná fonetická abeceda" (PDF), Jazykovedný časopis, 55: 87–109
• Sadowsky, Scott; Painequeo, Héctor; Salamanca, Gastón; Avelino, Heriberto (2013), "Mapudungun", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 87–96, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000369
• Strandskogen, Åse-Berit (1979), Norsk fonetikk for utlendinger, Oslo: Gyldendal, ISBN 978-82-05-10107-4
• Vanvik, Arne (1979), Norsk fonetikk, Oslo: Universitetet i Oslo, ISBN 978-82-990584-0-7
• Wheeler, Max W (2005), The Phonology Of Catalan, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-925814-7
• 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 [ʝ] on PHOIBLE