Voiceless velar fricative

The voiceless velar fricative, informally known as the hard ch, is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is x, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is x. The [x] sound was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English.

Features

Features of the voiceless velar 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 velar which means it is articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the velum).
• Its phonation type is voiceless, which means the vocal cords are not vibrating during the articulation.
• 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.

Varieties of [x]

IPA	Description
x	plain velar fricative
xʷ	labialized
x’	ejective
xʷ’	ejective labialized
x̜ʷ	semi-labialized
x̹ʷ	strongly labialized

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans		goed	[xuˑt]	'well'
Aleut	Atkan dialect	alax	[ɑlɑx]	'two'
Angor		hombo	[xombo]	'to walk'
Arabic		خضراء	[xadˤræːʔ]	'green (f)'	See Arabic phonology
Assamese		অসমীয়া	[ɔxɔmija]	'Assamese'
Avar		чeхь	[tʃex]	'belly'
Azerbaijani		xoş	[xoʃ]	'pleasant'
Bulgarian		тихо	[tixɔ]	'quietly'
Chinese	Mandarin	河/hé	[xɤ˧˥]	'river'	See Standard Mandarin
Croatian		Hrvatski		'Croatian'
Czech		chlap		'guy'	See Czech phonology
Dutch	Belgian Dutch	acht		'eight'	See Dutch phonology
English	Scottish	loch		'loch'	See English phonology
Esperanto		monaĥo	[monaxo]	'monk'	See Esperanto phonology
Eyak		duxł		'traps'
Georgian		ჯოხი	[ˈdʒɔxi]	'stick'
German		Kuchen		'cake'	See German phonology
Greek		χαρά		'joy'	See Modern Greek phonology
Hungarian		sahhal		'with a shah'	See Hungarian phonology
Hebrew		אוכל	[oxel]	'eat'	See Hebrew phonology
Irish		deoch		'drink'	See Irish phonology
Lithuanian		choras		'chorus'	See Lithuanian phonology
Persian		خواهر	[xa:hær]	'sister'	See Persian phonology
Polish		chleb	[xlɛp]	'bread'	Also (in great majority of dialects) represented by . See Polish phonology
Portuguese	Brazilian	rabo	[ˈxabʊ]	'tail'	See Portuguese phonology
Russian		хвост		'tail'	See Russian phonology
Scottish Gaelic		loch		'lake'
Serbian		храст /hrast		'oak'
Somali		khad	[xad]	'ink'	See Somali phonology
Spanish		ojo	[ˈo̞xo̞]	'eye'	See Spanish phonology
Xhosa		rhoxisa		'to cancel'
Vietnamese		khê		'to be burnt'	See Vietnamese phonology
Welsh		carchar		'jail'	See Welsh phonology
Yaghan		xan		'here'

See also

• List of phonetics topics

References

Bibliography