Voiced palatal stop

Voiced palatal stop
ɟ
IPA Number	108
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɟ
Unicode (hex)	U+025F
X-SAMPA	J\
Braille
Image

The voiced palatal stop or voiced palatal plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some vocal languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɟ⟩, a barred dotless ⟨j⟩ which was initially created by turning the type for a lowercase letter ⟨f⟩. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is J\.

If distinction is necessary, the voiced alveolo-palatal stop may be transcribed ⟨ɟ̟⟩ or ⟨d̠ʲ⟩; these are essentially equivalent, because the contact includes both the blade and body (but not the tip) of the tongue. There is also a non-IPA letter ⟨ȡ⟩, used especially in Sinological circles.

The sound does not exist as a phoneme in English, but is perhaps most similar to a voiced postalveolar affricate [dʒ], as in English jump (although it is a stop, not an affricate; the most similar stop phoneme to this sound in English is [ɡ], as in argue), and because it is difficult to get the tongue to touch just the hard palate without also touching the back part of the alveolar ridge, [ɟ] is a less common sound worldwide than [dʒ]. It is also common for the symbol /ɟ/ to be used to represent a palatalized voiced velar stop or palato-alveolar/alveolo-palatal affricates, for example in the Indic languages. This may be considered appropriate when the place of articulation needs to be specified and the distinction between stop and affricate is not contrastive, and therefore of secondary importance.

There is also a voiced post-palatal stop (also called pre-velar, fronted velar etc.) in some languages.

Features

Features of the voiced palatal stop:

• Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no nasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is a stop.
• 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.
• 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

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Albanian		gjuha	[ˈɟuha]	'tongue'	Merged with [d͡ʒ] in Gheg Albanian for all speakers and in Tosk for some speakers
Arabic	Sudanese	جمل	[ˈɟa.mal]	'camel'	Some dialects; corresponds to /d͡ʒ/, /ʒ/ or /ɡ/ in other varieties. See Arabic phonology
	Yemeni
Basque		anddere	[äɲɟe̞ɾe̞]	'doll'
Catalan	Eastern	guix	[g̟iɕ]	'chalk'	Post-palatal. Allophone of /g/ before front vowels. See Catalan phonology
	Majorcan		[ˈɟiɕ]		Corresponds to /ɡ/ in other varieties. See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Taiwanese Hokkien	攑手/gia̍h-tshiú	[ɟiaʔ˧ʔ t͡ɕʰiu˥˩]	'(to) raise hand '
	Taizhou dialect	共	[ɟyoŋ]	'together'
Corsican		fighjulà	[viɟɟuˈla]	'to watch'
Czech		dělám	[ɟɛlaːm]	'I do'	See Czech phonology
Dinka		jir	[ɟir]	'blunt'
Ega		[ɟé]		'become numerous'
English	Australian	geese	[g̟ɪi̯s]	'geese'	Post-palatal, less commonly palatal. Allophone of /ɡ/ before /iː ɪ e eː æ æɪ æɔ ɪə j/. See Australian English phonology
French		gui	[ɟi]	'mistletoe'	Ranges from alveolar to palatal with more than one closure point. See French phonology
Friulian		gjat	[ɟat]	'cat'
Ganda		jjajja	[ɟːaɟːa]	'grandfather'
German		Studium	[ˈʃtuːɟʊm]	'(academic) studies'	Allophone of more frequent [dj] or [di]. See German phonology
Greek		μετάγγιση/metággisi	[me̞ˈtɐŋ̟ɟ̠is̠i]	'transfusion'	Post-palatal. See Modern Greek phonology
Hungarian		gyám	[ɟaːm]	'guardian'	See Hungarian phonology
Italian	Standard	ghianda	[ˈg̟jän̪ːd̪ä]	'acorn'	Post-palatal. Allophone of /g/ before /i e ɛ j/. See Italian phonology
Irish		Gaeilge	[ˈɡeːlʲɟə]	'Gaelic'	See Irish phonology
Latvian		ģimene	<phonos file="Ģimene.ogg">[ˈɟime̞ne̞]</phonos>	'family'
Macedonian		раѓање	[ˈraɟaɲɛ]	'birth'	See Macedonian phonology
Norwegian	Central	fadder	[fɑɟːeɾ]	'godparent'	See Norwegian phonology
	Northern
Occitan	Auvergnat	diguèt	[ɟiˈɡɛ]	'said' (3rd pers. sing.)	See Occitan phonology
	Limousin	dissèt	[ɟiˈʃɛ]
Portuguese	Some fluminense speakers	amiguinho	[əmiˈɟĩȷ̃u]	'little buddy' (m.)	Allophone of stressed /g/ after [i ~ ɪ] and before close front vowels (/i e ĩ ẽ/).
	Some Brazilian speakers	pedinte	[piˈɟ̟ĩc̟i̥]	'beggar'	Corresponds to affricate allophone of /d/ before /i/ that is common in Brazil. See Portuguese phonology
Romanian		ghimpe	[ˈɟimpe̞]	'thorn'	Allophone of /ɡ/ before /i/ and /e/. See Romanian phonology
Slovak		ďaleký	[ˈɟalʲekiː]	'far'	Alveolo-palatal.
Turkish		güneş	[ɟyˈne̞ʃ]	'sun'	See Turkish phonology
Vietnamese	North-central dialect	da	[ɟa˧]	'skin'	See Vietnamese phonology
Yanyuwa		[ɡ̄ug̟uɭu]		'sacred'	Post-palatal. Contrasts plain and prenasalized versions

See also

• Index of phonetics articles