The voiced palato-alveolar fricative or domed postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is <ʒ>, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is Z. An alternative symbol used in some older and American linguistic literature is <ž>, a z with a háček. The sound occurs in many languages and, as in English and French, may have simultaneous lip rounding ([ʒʷ]), although this is rarely indicated in transcription.

Features

Features of the voiced postalveolar fricative:

• Its manner of articulation is sibilant fricative, which means it is produced by directing air flow through a groove in the tongue at the place of articulation and directing it over the sharp edge of the 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 front of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, and the body of the tongue bunched up ("domed") at the palate.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the middle of the tongue, rather than the sides.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis or the mouth.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Albanian		zhurmë	[ʒuːɾmə]	'noise'
Angas		zhaam	[ʒaːm]	'chin'
Arabic	Maghrebi	زوج	[ʒuʒ]	'two'	See Arabic phonology
Armenian		ժամ	[ʒam]	'hour'
Avar		жакъа	[ˈʒaqʼːa]	'today'
Azerbaijani		pəjmürdə	[pæʒmyrˈdæ]	'sad'
Belarusian		жaбa	[ʒaba]	'toad'	See Belarusian phonology
Berta		[ŋɔ̀nʒɔ̀ʔ]		'honey'
Bosnian		svjež	[svjɛʒ]	'fresh'
Bulgarian		мъжът	[mɤˈʒɤt]	'the man'	See Bulgarian phonology
Chechen		?/ƶiy	[ʒiː]	'sheep'
Croatian		žut	[ʒut]	'yellow'
Czech		muži	[muʒi]	'men'	See Czech phonology
Dutch		garage	[xaraʒə]	'garage'	See Dutch phonology
English		vision	[ˈvɪʒən]	'vision'	See English phonology
Esperanto		manĝaĵo	[maɳdʒaʒo]	'food'	See Esperanto phonology
French		alliage	[aljaʒ]	'alloy'	See French phonology
German		Garage	[ɡaˈʁaːʒə]	'garage'	See German phonology
Georgian		ჟურნალი	[ʒuɾnali]	'magazine'
Goemai		zhiem	[ʒiem]	'sickle'
Gwich’in		zhòh	[ʒôh]	'wolf'
Hän		zhùr	[ʒûr]	'wolf'
Hebrew		ז'קט	[ʒaket]	'jacket '	See Hebrew phonology
Hungarian		rózsa	[r̪oːʒɒ]	'rose'	See Hungarian phonology
Ingush		жий/žii	[ʒiː]	'sheep'
Italian	Tuscan dialect	pigiare	[piʒare]	'press'	See Italian phonology
Juǀʼhoan		[ʒu]		'person'
Kabardian		жыг	[ʒɪɣʲ]	'tree'
Kabyle		jeddi	[ʒəddi]	'my grandfather'
Kazakh		жетті	[ʒet̪t̪i]	'seven'
Ladino		mujer	[muʒɛʀ]	'woman'
Latvian		žāvēt	[ʒaːveːt]	'smoke'
Lithuanian		žmona	[ʒmoːna]	'wife'
Livonian		kūž	[kuːʒ]	'six'
Macedonian		жaбa	[ʒaba]	'toad'
Megrelian		ჟირი		'two'
Navajo		łizh	[ɬiʒ]	'urine'
Ngwe	Mmockngie dialect	[ʒíá]		'to split'
Occitan	Southern Auvergnat	argent	[aʀʒẽ]	'money'
	Gascon	argent	[arʒen]	'money'
Pashto		?	[ʒowul]	'chew'
Persian		مژه	[moʒːe]	'eyelash'	See Persian phonology
Portuguese		jogo	[ˈʒogu]	'game'	See Portuguese phonology
Romanian		jar	[ʒar]	'embers'	See Romanian phonology
Serbian		жут/žut	[ʒut]	'yellow'
Sioux	Lakota	waŋži	[wãˈʒi]	'one'
Slovak		muži	[muʒi]	'men'
Slovenian		žito	[ʒito]	'cereal'
Spanish	Some South American dialects	yo	[ʒo̞]	'I'	See Spanish phonology and yeismo
Tagish		[ʒé]		'what'
Tadaksahak		[ˈʒɐwɐb]		'to answer'
Turkish		jale	[ʒale]	'dew'	See Turkish phonology
Turkmen		žiraf	[ʒiraf]	'giraffe'
Tutchone	Northern	zhi	[ʒi]	'what'
	Southern	zhǜr	[ʒɨ̂r]	'berry'
Ukrainian		жaбa	[ʒaba]	'frog'	See Ukrainian phonology
Veps		vīž	[viːʒ]	'five'
Welayta		[aʒa]		'bush'
Yiddish		אָראַנזש	[ɔʀanʒ]	'orange'	See Yiddish phonology

The sound in Russian denoted by <ж> is commonly transcribed as a postalveolar fricative but is actually a laminal retroflex fricative.

See also

• Ezh
• List of phonetics topics

References

Bibliography