Features of the voiceless palato-alveolar fricative:

Its manner of articulation is sibilant fricative, which means it is generally produced by

channeling air flow along a groove in the back of the tongue up to the place of articulation, at
which point it is focused against the sharp edge of the nearly clenched teeth, causing
high-frequency turbulence.
Its place of articulation is palato-alveolar, that is, domed (partially palatalized) postalveolar,
which means it is articulated with the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, and the
front of the tongue bunched up (domed) at the 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 la", so that it may take on the voicing of ad#acent 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.
$he airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with
the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.
Occurrence
Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
%dyghe &' ( d) *donkey*
%lbanian shtpi ( t pi) *house*
%rabic +tandard(,)
( -ms) (hel
p.info)
*sun* +ee %rabic phonology
%rmenian /astern(0)
( un) (help.i
nfo)
*dog*
%sturian xera ( e. a) *work*
%zerbai#ani eir ( ei ) *poem*
%ssyrian 1eo-%ramaic ( kla)
*picture* or
*photo*
2asque kaixo (ka# o) *hello*
2erber 3abyle ciwer ( iw r) *to consult*
2reton chadenn ( a.d n) *chain*
2ulgarian 45678 (#o na ki) *heroically*
9zech kae ( ka ) *mash* +ee 9zech phonology
:utch(;) sjabloon
( < blo n) (
help.info)
*template*
=ay be (s ) or ( )
instead. +ee :utch
phonology
/nglish sheep
( i p) (help.i
nfo)
*sheep* +ee /nglish phonology
/speranto elko ( elko) *suspenders*
+ee /speranto
phonology
>aroese sjkrahs ( ukrah us) *hospital*
>rench(?) cher
( ) (help.i
nfo)
*e"pensive* +ee >rench phonology
>innish ekki ( ek i) *check* +ee >innish phonology
@alician viaxe ( b#a e) *trip*
@eorgian(A) ( i) *quibbling*
@erman +tandard(B) schn ( n) *beautiful*
Caminal or
apico-laminal(B) and
strongly labialized.(B)
+ee @erman phonology
@reek 9ypriot ( im ) *ugliness*
9ontrasts with D D and
D D
Eebrew
( a lom) (he
lp.info)
*peace*
+ee =odern Eebrew
phonology
Eindi ( k) *doubt*
+ee Eindustani
phonology
Eungarian segtsg ( i e ) tt *help*
+ee Eungarian
phonology
Ilokano sik ( ak) *I*
Irish s ( i ) *she* +ee Irish phonology
Italian
=arked accents of
/milia-Fomagna(G
)
sali ( < li) *you go up*
%pical!(G) not
labialized!(G) may be
( ) or ( ) instead.(G) It s
corresponds to (s) in
standard Italian. +ee
Italian phonology
+tandard(H) fasce ( fa e) *bands* +ee Italian phonology
3abardian &' ( d) *donkey*
9ontrasts with a
labialized form
3ashubian(I) (example needed)
Catvian alle ( al e) *scarf*
Cingala shak ( akJ)
*%frikan
gray parrot*
Cithuanian arvas ( r v s) *armor*
=acedonian KL ( t ) *what*
+ee =acedonian
phonology
=alay syarikat ( arikat) *company*
=altese x'!ismek ( ismek)
*what is
your nameM*
=arathi ( b ) dd *word* +ee =arathi phonology
=opan =aya kax (k ) *chicken*
1orwegian
("itation
needed)
2okmNl sk# ( y ) *cloud* +ee 1orwegian
phonology
1ynorsk sj$keh$s ( ke h s) *hospital*
Occitan
%uvergnat maissant (me )
*bad*
+ee Occitan phonology @ascon maishant (ma an)
Cimousin son ( P) *his*
Qersian ( h) *king* +ee Qersian phonology
Qolish
@mina Istebna
siano ( < ) !d *hay*
D D and D D merge into
( ) in these dialects. In
standard Qolish, D D is
commonly used to
transcribe what actually
is a laminal voiceless
retrofle" sibilant
Cubawa dialect(,R)
=albork
dialect(,R)
OstrSda dialect(,R)
Tarmia dialect(,R)
Qortuguese
/uropean(,,) "aixa ( ka# ) *bo"*
+ee Qortuguese
phonology
2razilian cho%$e ( ki)
*(one is) in
shock*
Qun#abi ( e ) *lion*
Fomani Ula" de (de ) *ten*
Fomanian efi ( ef ) *bosses*
+ee Fomanian
phonology
+ahaptin ( i ) *mush*
+cottish @aelic seinn ( ei ) *sing*
+ee +cottish @aelic
phonology
+erbo-9roatian VW6 D $ma ( Xm<) *forest*
=ay be laminal
retrofle" instead,
depending on the
dialect. +ee
+erbo-9roatian
phonology
+ilesian
@mina Istebna(,0)
(example needed)
$hese dialects merge D D
and D D into ( )
Yablunkov(,0)
+lovene &la ( ola) *school*
+omali shan ( an) *five* +ee +omali phonology
+panish
1orthern
=e"ico(,;)
echador ( a Z r) "# $# *boastful*
9orresponds to ( ) in tt
other dialects. +ee
+panish phonology
+outhern
%ndalusia
+wahili k$shoto (ku oto) *trees*
+wedish vars (v ) *whose*
%llophone of ( ),
mainly in northern
dialects. +ee +wedish
phonology
$agalog siya ( a) *he D she* +ee $agalog phonology
$oda(,?) (p ) *language*
$unica hkali ( ihkali) *stone*
$urkish g'ne ( y n ) % "# *sun* +ee $urkish phonology
[krainian ()* (* " ) & *chess*
+ee [krainian
phonology
[rdu ( k ri a ) ' *thank you*
+ee Eindustani
phonology
[yghur ( -h-r) *city*
Talloon tehou (t u) *knit fabric*
Telsh
+tandard siarad ( rad) *speak*
+ee Telsh phonology
+outhern dialects mis (mi ) *month*
Test >risian sjippe ( p ) & ( *soap*
Testern
Combard
9anz\s fescia (fe a) *nuisance*
]iddish (v s aftl " ) & !) *scientific* +ee ]iddish phonology
]or^b_ i ( i) *open*
`apotec $ilquiapan(,A) xana ( ana) *howM*
`huang cib ( p) * *ten*
In various languages, including /nglish and >rench, it may have simultaneous lip rounding, i.e. ( ),
although this is usually not transcribed.
9lassical Catin did not have ( ), though it does occur in most of today*s Catinadescended languages. >or
e"ample, ch in >rench + , "hante$r singer is pronounced D D. chanteur is descended from Catin
"antare, where c was pronounced DkD. sc in Catin + , + , s"ientia science was pronounced DskD, but has
shifted to D D in Italian s"ien+a.
+imilarly, Qroto-@ermanic had neither ( ) nor ( ), yet a good number of its descendants do. In most
cases, this ( ) or ( ) descends from a Qroto-@ermanic DskD. >or instance, Qroto-@ermanic bskipc
(hollow ob#ect, water-borne vessel larger than a boat) was pronounced D ski.p D. $he /nglish word
ship D pD has been pronounced without the DskD the longest, the word being descended from Old &
/nglish scip D ipD which had also already had the ( ), though the Old /nglish spelling etymologically
indicated that the old DskD had once been present. $his change took a good bit longer to catch on in
other Test @ermanic languages outside of Old /nglish, but it eventually did do so. $he twoth Test
@ermanic language to undergo this sound shift was most definitely Old Eigh @erman. In fact, it has
been argued that Old Eigh @erman*s DskD was actually already D kD, as (when alone) (s) had already
shifted to ( ). >urthermore, by =iddle Eigh @erman, that D kD had shifted to ( ). %fter Eigh @erman,
the shift most likely then occurred in Cow +a"on. %fter Cow +a"on, =iddle :utch e"perienced the
shift, though it stopped shifting once it reached Ds"D, and has been frozen in that phonological state ever
since. $hen, most likely through influence from @erman and Cow +a"on, 1orth >risian then
e"perienced the shift. $hen, unsurprisingly since it is a phonetically non-conservative language like
@erman, +wedish quite swiftly e"perienced the shift, which rather than the logical outcomes
aforelisted, instead resulted in the very unnatural ( ) phoneme that is notorious for not having -
developed in any other human language aside from +wedish (though it does occur in the 3dlsch dialect
of Eigh @erman, but not as a replacement for the standard Eigh @erman D D). >inally, the last to
undergo the shift was 1orwegian, which was originally a very conservative language, though it had
stopped being one long ago. $he result of 1orwegian*s shift was ( ).
$he sound in Fussian denoted by e is commonly transcribed as a palato-alveolar fricative but is + ,
actually a laminal retrofle" fricative.