# Voiced postalveolar fricative

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This article is about the palato-alveolar consonant. For the retroflex consonant, see [Voiced retroflex fricative](/source/Voiced_retroflex_fricative). For the alveolo-palatal consonant, see [Voiced alveolo-palatal fricative](/source/Voiced_alveolo-palatal_fricative).

A **voiced postalveolar** or **palato-alveolar fricative** is a type of [consonantal](/source/Consonant) sound used in some [spoken](/source/Speech) [languages](/source/Language). It is familiar to many if not most English-speakers as the "s" sound in "fusion".

The [International Phonetic Association](/source/International_Phonetic_Association) uses the phrase *voiced postalveolar fricative* for the [sibilant](/source/Sibilant) sound [\[ʒ\]](#Voiced_palato-alveolar_fricative),[1] though technically it also describes the [voiced postalveolar non-sibilant fricative](#Voiced_postalveolar_non-sibilant_fricative) [ɹ̠˔], for which there are significant perceptual differences.

## Voiced palato-alveolar fricative

A **voiced palato-alveolar fricative** or **voiced domed postalveolar fricative** is a type of [consonantal](/source/Consonant) sound, used in some [spoken](/source/Speech_communication) [languages](/source/Language).

### Transcription

The symbol in the [International Phonetic Alphabet](/source/International_Phonetic_Alphabet) that represents this sound is the lower case form of the letter [Ezh](/source/Ezh) (/ɛʒ/). An alternative symbol used in some older and American linguistic literature is , a *z* with a [caron](/source/Caron). In some [transcriptions](/source/Transcription_(linguistics)) of alphabets such as the [Cyrillic](/source/Cyrillic_alphabet), the sound is represented by the digraph .

Although present in English, the sound is not represented by a specific letter or digraph, but is formed by [yod-coalescence](/source/Phonological_history_of_English_consonant_clusters#Yod-coalescence) of [z] and [j] in words such as mea**su**re. It also appears in some loanwords, mainly from French (thus written with and ).

[ʒ] occurs as a borrowed phoneme in a number of languages under the influence of French, Persian or Slavic languages, as in the Germanic languages (Dutch, English, German and [Luxembourgish](/source/Luxembourgish)), the Romance languages (Italian and Romanian), the Turkic languages (Azerbaijani, [Bashkir](/source/Bashkir_language), Turkish, and [Uyghur](/source/Uyghur_language)), and the Uralic languages [(Estonian](/source/Estonian_language) and Hungarian), [Breton](/source/Breton_language) and [Maltese](/source/Maltese_language).[2] The phoneme has the lowest consonant frequency in both English and Persian.[3]

In [English](/source/English_language) and [French](/source/French_language), /ʒ/ may have simultaneous [lip rounding](/source/Labialization) ([ʒʷ]), although this is rarely indicated in transcription.

### Features

Features of a voiced palato-alveolar fricative:

### Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes Adyghe жакӀэ/žač'a [ʒaːtʃʼa] 'beard' Albanian zhurmë [ʒuɾm] 'noise' Arabic Levantine مجنون / majnūn [maʒˈnuːn] 'crazy' Maghrebi[4] زوج / zūj [zuːʒ] 'husband' Hejazi جاهِز / jāhiz [ʒaːhɪz] 'ready' An allophone of /d͡ʒ/ used by a number of speakers. Armenian Eastern[5] ժամ/žam [ʒɑm] 'hour' Assyrian ܐܘܪܡܓ̰ܢܝܐ Urmižnaiya [urmɪʒnaɪja] 'Assyrian from Urmia' Avar жакъа/žaq'a [ˈʒaqʼːa] 'today' Azerbaijani jalüz [ʒalyz] 'blinds' Only occurs in loanwords. Berta [ŋɔ̀nʒɔ̀ʔ] 'honey' Breton jod [ʒod] 'play' Bulgarian мъжът/myžyt [mɐˈʒɤ̞t̪] 'the man' See Bulgarian phonology Bengali ভ়ারশন [vɐɹʒn] 'version' Only occurs in loanwords. See Bengali phonology Catalan Eastern gel [ˈʒɛɫ] 'ice' Its pronunciation varies between an alveolo-palatal ʑ and a postalveolar [ʒ] fricative. See Catalan phonology. Chechen жий / žiy [ʒiː] 'sheep' Chinese Quzhou dialect 床 [ʒɑ̃] 'bed' Fuzhou dialect 只隻 [tsi˥˥ ʒieʔ˨˦] 'this one' Corsican ghjesgia [ˈɟeːʒa] 'church' Also in Gallurese Czech muži [ˈmuʒɪ] 'men' See Czech phonology Dutch garage [ɣäˈräːʒə] 'garage' Only occurs in loanwords. See Dutch phonology. Emilian Bolognese chèṡ [ˈkɛːð̠] 'case' Apical; not labialized; may be z̺ or ʐ instead. English vision [ˈvɪʒən] 'vision' See English phonology Esperanto manĝaĵo [mänˈd͡ʒäʒo̞] 'food' See Esperanto phonology French[6] jour [ʒuʁ] 'day' See French phonology German Standard[7] Garage [ɡaˈʁaːʒʷə] 'garage' Laminal or apico-laminal and strongly labialized.[7] Some speakers may merge it with /ʃ/. Only occurs in loanwords. See Standard German phonology Georgian[8] ჟურნალი/žurnali [ʒuɾnali] 'magazine' Goemai zhiem [ʒiem] 'sickle' Greek Cypriot γαλάζ̌ο/galažo [ɣ̞ɐˈlɐʒːo̞] 'sky blue' Gwich’in zhòh [ʒôh] 'wolf' Hän zhùr [ʒûr] 'wolf' Hebrew ז׳אנר/žaner [ʒaneʁ] 'genre' Phoneme present in loanwords only. See Modern Hebrew phonology Hindustani Hindi अझ़दहा/aždahá [əʒd̪əhaː] 'dragon' Only occurs in loanwords. See Hindustani phonology Urdu اژدہا/aždahá Hungarian rózsa [ˈr̪oːʒɒ] 'rose' See Hungarian phonology Ingush жий/žiy [ʒiː] 'sheep' Italian Tuscan pigiare [piˈʒäːre] 'press' See Italian phonology Judaeo-Spanish mujer [muˈʒɛr] 'woman' Juǀʼhoan ju [ʒu] 'person' Kabardian жыг/žëğ [ʒəɣʲ] 'tree' Kabyle jeddi [ʒəddi] 'my grandfather' Kashubian[9] kòżdi rôz [kʷʒdi rɞz] 'constantly' Kazakh жеті/jeti [ʒeti] 'seven' Latvian žāvēt [ˈʒäːveːt̪] 'to dry' See Latvian phonology Ligurian lüxe ['ly:ʒe] 'light' Limburgish Maastrichtian[10] zjuweleer [ʒy̠β̞əˈleːʀ̝̊] 'jeweller' Laminal post-alveolar with an unclear amount of palatalization.[11] Lithuanian žmona [ʒmoːˈn̪ɐ] 'wife' See Lithuanian phonology Livonian kūž [kuːʒ] 'six' Lombard Western resgiôra [reˈʒu(ː)ra] 'matriarch' Macedonian жaбa/žaba [ˈʒaba] 'toad' See Macedonian phonology Megrelian ჟირი/žiri [ʒiɾi] 'two' Navajo łizh [ɬiʒ] 'urine' Neapolitan sbattere [ˈʒbɑttərə] 'to slam' Ngas zhaam [ʒaːm] 'chin' Ngwe Mmockngie dialect [ʒíá] 'to split' Occitan Auvergnat argent [aʀʒẽ] 'money' Southern dialects Gascon [arʒen] Pashto ژوول/žowul [ʒowul] 'chew' Persian مژه/može [moʒe] 'eyelash' See Persian phonology Polish Gmina Istebna zielony [ʒɛˈlɔn̪ɘ] 'green' /ʐ/ and /ʑ/ merge into [ʒ] in these dialects. In standard Polish, /ʒ/ is commonly used to transcribe what actually is a laminal voiced retroflex sibilant. Lubawa dialect[12] Malbork dialect[12] Ostróda dialect[12] Warmia dialect[12] Portuguese[13][14] loja [ˈlɔʒɐ] 'store' Also described as alveolo-palatal ʑ.[15][16][17] See Portuguese phonology Romani žanel [ʒanel] 'to know' Romanian jar [ʒär] 'embers' See Romanian phonology Scottish Gaelic Barra[18] uair [uəʒ] 'hour' Dialectal allophone of /ɾʲ/, now primarily heard among older speakers in the south of the island and Vatersay. Serbo-Croatian жут / žut [ʒûːt̪] 'yellow' May be laminal retroflex instead, depending on the dialect. See Serbo-Croatian phonology Silesian Gmina Istebna[19] [example needed] These dialects merge /ʐ/ and /ʑ/ into [ʒ]. Jablunkov[19] [example needed] Sioux Lakota waŋži [wãˈʒi] 'one' Slovak žena [ʒena] 'woman' See Slovak phonology Slovene žito [ˈʒìːt̪ɔ́] 'cereal' See Slovene phonology Spanish Rioplatense[20] yo [ʒo̞] 'I' Most dialects.[20] See Spanish phonology and yeísmo Ecuadorian Andean[21] ellos [eʒos] 'they' See Spanish phonology and yeísmo Tadaksahak [ˈʒɐwɐb] 'to answer' Tagish [ʒé] 'what' Turkish jale [ʒɑːˈʎ̟ɛ] 'dew' Only occurs in loanwords. See Turkish phonology Turkmen žiraf [ʒiraf] 'giraffe' Only occurs in loanwords. Tutchone Northern zhi [ʒi] 'what' Southern zhǜr [ʒɨ̂r] 'berry' Ukrainian жaбa/žaba [ˈʒɑbɐ] 'frog' See Ukrainian phonology Veps vīž [viːʒ] 'five' Welayta [aʒa] 'bush' West Frisian bagaazje [bɑˈɡaʒə] 'luggage' See West Frisian phonology Yiddish אָראַנזש/oranž [ɔʀanʒ] 'orange' See Yiddish phonology Zapotec Tilquiapan[22] llan [ʒaŋ] 'anger'

The sound in [Russian](/source/Russian_language) denoted by is commonly transcribed as a palato-alveolar fricative but is actually a [laminal retroflex fricative](/source/Voiced_retroflex_fricative).

In English, the phoneme [ʒ] is often found as a [hyperforeign](/source/Hyperforeignism) substitute for dʒ in certain borrowings, *Beijing* (Mandarin Chinese tɕ, a voiceless dʒ)*, ra**j**,* *Ta**j** Mahal*, and sometimes even *parmesan* (French paʁmə**z**ɑ̃; Italian parmiˈ**dʒ**aːno).

## Voiced postalveolar non-sibilant fricative

A **voiced postalveolar non-sibilant fricative** is a consonantal sound. As the [International Phonetic Alphabet](/source/International_Phonetic_Alphabet) does not have separate symbols for the post-alveolar consonants (the same symbol is used for all [coronal](/source/Coronal_consonant) places of articulation that are not [palatalized](/source/Palatalization_(phonetics))), this sound is usually transcribed ([retracted](/source/Retraction_(phonetics)) constricted [ɹ]).

### Features

However, it does not have the grooved tongue and directed airflow, or the high frequencies, of a sibilant.

- Its [place of articulation](/source/Place_of_articulation) is [postalveolar](/source/Postalveolar_consonant), which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge.

### Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes Dutch[23] meer [meːɹ̠˔] 'lake' A rare post-vocalic allophone of /r/.[24] Realization of /r/ varies considerably among dialects. See Dutch phonology. Manx[25] mooar [muːɹ̠˔] 'big' Pre-consonantal and word-final realization of /r/, in free variation with other allophones.

## See also

- [Ezh](/source/Ezh_(letter))
- [Voiceless postalveolar fricative](/source/Voiceless_postalveolar_fricative)
- [Index of phonetics articles](/source/Index_of_phonetics_articles)
- [Voiceless retroflex fricative](/source/Voiceless_retroflex_fricative)

## Notes

1. ["IPA i-charts (2018)"](https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/IPAcharts/inter_chart_2018/IPA_2018.html). *International Phonetic Association*. Retrieved 5 June 2020.

1. Stolz, Thomas & Levkovych, Nataliya (2021-08-23). [*Areal Linguistics within the Phonological Atlas of Europe: Loan Phonemes and their Distribution*](https://books.google.com/books?id=ZQVGEAAAQBAJ&dq=english+%5B%CA%92%5D+occurs+in+loanwords&pg=PA274). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. pp. 261–274. ISBN 978-3-11-067260-2.

1. Qaracholloo, Mahmoud & Nejad, Ali (2012). ["Frequency System of Phonemes: Contrastive Analysis of Common Standard Persian and English Consonants in Context-Based Corpora"](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272690831). *Frequency System of Phonemes: Contrastive Analysis of Common Standard Persian and English Consonants in Context-Based Corpora*

1. Watson (2002, p. 16)

1. Dum-Tragut (2009, p. 18)

1. Fougeron & Smith (1993, p. 73)

1. Mangold (2005, p. 51)

1. Shosted & Chikovani (2006, p. 255)

1. ["Projekt Rastko Kaszuby - Fonetyka i fonologia"](https://web.archive.org/web/20141102210548/http://www.rastko.net/rastko-ka/content/view/227/26/). Archived from [the original](http://www.rastko.net/rastko-ka/content/view/227/26/) on 2014-11-02. Retrieved 2013-11-18.

1. Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999), p. 156.

1. Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999, p. 156). The authors state that /ʒ/ is "pre-palatal, articulated with the blade of the tongue against the post-alveolar place of articulation". This makes it unclear whether this sound is palato-alveolar (somewhat palatalized post-alveolar) or alveolo-palatal (strongly palatalized post-alveolar).

1. Dubisz, Karaś & Kolis (1995, p. 62)

1. Cruz-Ferreira (1995, p. 91)

1. Medina (2010)

1. Mateus & d'Andrade (2000)

1. Silva (2003, p. 32)

1. Guimarães (2004)

1. Borgstrøm (1937, p. 118)

1. Dąbrowska (2004, p. ?)

1. Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003, p. 258)

1. Argüello, Fanny M. (1980-03-10). "El rehilamiento en el español hablado en la región andina del Ecuador" (in Spanish). *Lexis*. **4** (2): 151–155. [doi:10.18800/lexis.198002.003](https://doi.org/10.18800/lexis.198002.003). [ISSN 0254-9239](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0254-9239). [S2CID 170724900](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:170724900)

1. Merrill (2008, p. 108)

1. Goeman & van de Velde (2001, pp. 94–98, 101–102)

1. Goeman & van de Velde (2001, pp. 95–97, 102)

1. Broderick (1986, pp. 17–18)

## References

- Borgstrøm, Carl Hj. (1937), "The dialect of Barra in the Outer Hebrides", Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap
- Broderick, George (1986), *A Handbook of Late Spoken Manx*, Vol. 3, Tübingen: Niemeyer, ISBN 3-484-42903-8
- Canepari, Luciano (1992), *Il MªPi – Manuale di pronuncia italiana* [Handbook of Italian Pronunciation] (in Italian), Bologna: Zanichelli, ISBN 88-08-24624-8
- Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", *Journal of the International Phonetic Association*. **25** (2): 90–94, [doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223](https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100300005223). [S2CID 249414876](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:249414876)
- Dąbrowska, Anna (2004), *Język polski*, Wrocław: wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie, ISBN 83-7384-063-X
- Dubisz, Stanisław; Karaś, Halina; Kolis, Nijola (1995), *Dialekty i gwary polskie*, Warsaw: Wiedza Powszechna, ISBN 83-2140989-X
- Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009), "Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian", Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
- Fougeron, Cecile & Smith, Caroline L (1993), "French", *Journal of the International Phonetic Association*. **23** (2): 73–76, [doi:10.1017/S0025100300004874](https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100300004874). [S2CID 249404451](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:249404451)
- Goeman, Ton & van de Velde, Hans (December 2001), ["Co-occurrence constraints on /r/ and /ɣ/ in Dutch dialects"](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/254818745), "'r-atics: Sociolinguistics, phonetic and phonological characteristics of /r/", Vol. 4, Rapport d'Activités de l'Institut des Langues Vivantes et de Phonétique, van de Velde, Hans & van Hout, Roeland (eds.), Brussels: Etudes & Travaux, pp. 91–112, [ISSN 0777-3692](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0777-3692)
- Guimarães, Daniela (2004), ["Seqüências de (Sibilante + Africada Alveopalatal) no Português Falado em Belo Horizonte"](https://web.archive.org/web/20140407084011/http://www.projetoaspa.org/cristofaro/orientacao/ma/concluida/guimaraes_ma_2004.pdf), Belo Horizonte: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, archived from [the original](http://www.projetoaspa.org/cristofaro/orientacao/ma/concluida/guimaraes_ma_2004.pdf) on 2014-04-07, retrieved 2014-12-06
- Gussenhoven, Carlos & Aarts, Flor (1999), ["The dialect of Maastricht"](https://web.archive.org/web/20171011044945/http://gep.ruhosting.nl/carlos/gussenhoven_aarts.pdf), *Journal of the International Phonetic Association*. **29** (2): 155–166, University of Nijmegen, Centre for Language Studies, [doi:10.1017/S0025100300006526](https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100300006526). [S2CID 145782045](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:145782045), archived from [the original](http://gep.ruhosting.nl/carlos/gussenhoven_aarts.pdf) on 2017-10-11, retrieved 2015-09-18
- 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](https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100303001373)
- Mateus, Maria Helena & d'Andrade, Ernesto (2000), *The Phonology of Portuguese*, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-823581-X
- Medina, Flávio (2010), ["Análise Acústica de Sequências de Fricativas Seguidas de \[i\] Produzidas por Japoneses Aprendizes de Português Brasileiro"](https://web.archive.org/web/20150923201642/http://www.celsul.org.br/Encontros/09/artigos/Flavio%20Medina.pdf), Anais do IX Encontro do CELSUL Palhoça, SC, Palhoça: Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina, archived from [the original](http://www.celsul.org.br/Encontros/09/artigos/Flavio%20Medina.pdf) on 2015-09-23, retrieved 2014-12-06
- Merrill, Elizabeth (2008), "Tilquiapan Zapotec", *Journal of the International Phonetic Association*. **38** (1): 107–114, [doi:10.1017/S0025100308003344](https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100308003344)
- Shosted, Ryan K. & Chikovani, Vakhtang (2006), "Standard Georgian", *Journal of the International Phonetic Association*. **36** (2): 255–264, [doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659](https://doi.org/10.1017/S0025100306002659)
- Silva, Thaïs Cristófaro (2003), [*Fonética e Fonologia do Português: Roteiro de Estudos e Guia de Exercícios*](https://archive.org/details/foneticaefonolog0000silv), 7th ed., São Paulo: Contexto, ISBN 85-7244-102-6
- Watson, Janet (2002), "The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic", New York: Oxford University Press

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Voiced postalveolar fricative](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_postalveolar_fricative) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_postalveolar_fricative?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.