Voiced alveolar fricative

The voiced alveolar fricatives are consonantal sounds. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents these sounds depends on whether a sibilant or non-sibilant fricative is being described.

• The symbol for the alveolar sibilant is ⟨z⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is z. The IPA letter ⟨z⟩ is not normally used for dental or postalveolar sibilants unless modified by a diacritic (⟨z̪⟩ and ⟨z̠⟩ respectively).
• The IPA symbol for the alveolar non-sibilant fricative is derived by means of diacritics; it can be ⟨ð̠⟩ or ⟨ɹ̝⟩.

Voiced coronal fricatives

	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar
			retracted	retroflex	palato- alveolar	alveolo -palatal
sibilant	z̪	z͇	z̠	ʐ	ʒ	ʑ
non-sibilant	ð	ð̠/ð͇/ɹ̝		ɻ̝

Voiced alveolar sibilant

The voiced alveolar sibilant is common across European languages but is relatively uncommon cross-linguistically compared to the voiceless variant. Only about 28% of the world's languages contain a voiced dental or alveolar sibilant. Moreover, 85% of the languages with some form of [z] are languages of Europe, Africa or Western Asia.

In the eastern half of Asia, the Pacific and the Americas, [z] is very rare as a phoneme. The presence of [z] in a given language always implies the presence of a voiceless [s].

Features

Features of the voiced 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.
• There are at least three specific variants of [z]:
  • Dentalized laminal alveolar (commonly called "dental"), which means it is articulated with the tongue blade very close to the upper front teeth, with the tongue tip resting behind lower front teeth. The hissing effect in this variety of [z] is very strong.
  • Non-retracted alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal. According to Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996) about half of English speakers use a non-retracted apical articulation.
  • Retracted alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue slightly behind the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal. Acoustically, it is close to [ʒ] or laminal [ʐ].
• 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

Dentalized laminal alveolar

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Arabic	Gulf	?	[z̪eːn]	'well'
Armenian	Eastern	զարդ	<phonos file="zɑɾtʰ.ogg">[z̪ɑɾt̪ʰ]</phonos>	'decoration'
Azerbaijani		zoğ	[z̪o̞ɣ]	'sprout'
Belarusian		база	[ˈbäz̪ä]	'base'	Contrasts with palatalized form. See Belarusian phonology
Bulgarian		езеро	[ˈɛz̪ɛro]	'lake'	Contrasts with palatalized form.
Chinese	Suzhou dialect
Czech		zima	[ˈz̪ɪmä]	'winter'	See Czech phonology
English	Multicultural London	zoo	[z̪ʏˑy̯]	'zoo'	See English phonology
French		zèbre	[z̪ɛbʁ]	'zebra'	See French phonology
Hungarian		zálog	[ˈz̪äːl̪oɡ]	'pledge'	See Hungarian phonology
Kashubian
Kazakh		заң	[z̪ɑŋ]	'law'
Kyrgyz		заң	[z̪äŋ]	'law'
Latvian		zars	[z̪ärs̪]	'branch'	See Latvian phonology
Macedonian		зошто	[ˈz̪ɔʃt̪ɔ]	'why'	See Macedonian phonology
Mirandese		daprendizaige	[d̪əpɾẽd̪iˈz̪ajʒ(ɯ̽)]	'learning'	Contrasts seven sibilants altogether, preserving medieval Ibero-Romance contrasts.
Polish		zero	<phonos file="Pl-zero.ogg">[ˈz̪ɛrɔ]</phonos>	'zero'	See Polish phonology
Romanian		zar	[z̪är]	'dice'	See Romanian phonology
Russian		заезжать/zaezžat'	<phonos file="Ru-заезжать.ogg">[z̪əɪˈʑʑætʲ]</phonos>	'to pick up'	Contrasts with palatalized form. See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatian		зима / zima	[z̪ǐːmä]	'winter'	See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovak		zima	[ˈz̪imä]	'winter'
Slovene		zima	[ˈz̪ìːma]	'winter'
Turkish		göz	[ɡø̞̈z̪]	'eye'	See Turkish phonology
Ukrainian		зуб	[z̪ub]	'tooth'	See Ukrainian phonology
Upper Sorbian		koza	[ˈkoz̪ä]	'goat'
Uzbek
Vietnamese	Hanoi	da	[z̪äː]	'skin'	See Vietnamese phonology

Non-retracted alveolar

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Adyghe		зы	<phonos file="1 zee.ogg">[ˈzə]</phonos>	'one'
Albanian		zjarr	[zjar]	'fire'
Arabic	Standard	زائِر	[ˈzaːʔir]	'visitor'	See Arabic phonology
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic		[ziɡa]		'bell'
Breton		iliz	[iliz]	'church'
Chechen		зурма / zurma	[zuɾma]	'music'
Dutch	Standard	zee	[zeː]	'sea'	See Dutch phonology
	Friesland	ezel	[ˈeɪ̯zəɫ]	'donkey'	It is always devoiced if word initially. See Dutch phonology
English		zoo	[zuː]	'zoo'	Absent from some Scottish and Asian dialects. See English phonology
Georgian		ზარი	[ˈzɑɾi]	'bell'
Greek	Athens dialect	ζάλη/záli	[ˈz̻ali]	'dizziness'	See Modern Greek phonology
Hebrew		זאב	[zeˈʔev]	'wolf'	See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hindi		ज़मीन	[zəmiːn]	'land'	See Hindustani phonology
Italian	Marked accents of Emilia-Romagna	caso	[ˈkäːz̺ʲo]	'case'	Palatalized apical; may be [ʐ] or [ʒ] instead. See Italian phonology
Japanese		全部/zenbu	[zembɯ]	'everything'	See Japanese phonology
Kabardian		зы	<phonos file="1 zee.ogg">[ˈzə]</phonos>	'one'
Kalaw Lagaw Ya		zilamiz	[zilʌmiz]	'go'
Kashmiri		ज़ानुन/زانُن	[zaːnun]	'to know'
Malay		zaman	[zaman]	'period'
Maltese		żelu	[zelu]	'zeal'
Marathi		जर	[zər]	'if'	See Marathi phonology.
Occitan	Limousin	jòune	[ˈzɒwne]	'young'	See Occitan phonology
Portuguese		casa	[ˈkazɐ]	'house'	See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi		ਜ਼ਿੰਦਗੀ	[zɪnˈd̪əgi]	'life'
Spanish	Andalusian	comunismo	[ko̞muˈnizmo̞]	'Communism'	Allophone of /s/ before voiced consonants, when it is not debuccalized to [h ~ ɦ]. Present in dialects which realize /s/ as a non-retracted alveolar fricative. Before /d/ it is dental [z̪].
	Latin American
	Mexican	zapato	[zäˈpät̪o̞]	'shoe'	Some northern dialects. Corresponds to /s/ in other Mexican dialects, and to /θ/ in Peninsular Spanish. See Spanish phonology
Swahili		lazima	[lɑzimɑ]	'must'
Urdu		زمین	[zəmiːn]	'land'	See Hindustani phonology
West Frisian		sizze	[ˈs̺ɪz̺ə]	'to say'	Apical. It never occurs in word-initial positions. See West Frisian phonology
Yi		ꍂ/ssy	[zɿ˧]	'generation'
Yiddish		zien	[zin]	'son'
Zapotec	Tilquiapan	guanaz	[ɡʷanaz]	'?'

Retracted alveolar

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Catalan		zel	[ˈz̺ɛɫ]	'zeal'	Apical. See Catalan phonology
Galician		mesmo	[ˈme̞z̺mo̞]	'same'	Apical. Allophone of /s/ before voiced consonants. Before /d/ it is pronounced dentally [z̺].
Greek		μάζα/máza	[ˈmɐz̠ɐ]	'mass'	See Modern Greek phonology
Italian	Central Italy	caso	[ˈkäːz̠o]	'case'	Present in Lazio north of Cape Linaro, most of Umbria (save Perugia and the extreme south) and Le Marche south of the Potenza.
	Northern Italy				Apical. Present in many areas north of the La Spezia–Rimini Line. See Italian phonology
	Sicily				Present south and west of a line drawn from Syracuse to Cefalù.
Low German
Maldivian		zaraafaa	[z̺aˈraːfaː]	'giraffe'
Mirandese		eisistir	[e̞jz̺is̺ˈtiɾ]	'to exist'	Apical. Mirandese and neighboring Portuguese dialects were the only surviving oral tradition to preserve all seven mediaeval Ibero-Romance sibilants: ⟨ch⟩ /tʃ/, ⟨x⟩ /ʃ/, ⟨g⟩/⟨j⟩ /ʒ/, ⟨c⟩/⟨ç⟩ /s̪/, ⟨z⟩ /z̪/, ⟨s⟩/-⟨ss⟩- /s̺/, -⟨s⟩- /z̺/
Occitan	Gascon	casèrna	[kaz̺ɛrno]	'barracks'	See Occitan phonology
	Languedocien	véser	[bez̺e]	'to see'
Portuguese	European, inland northern				Apical. Contrasts with non-retracted /z/. See Portuguese phonology
	European, coastal northern				Merges with non-retracted /z/. See Portuguese phonology
Spanish	Castilian	mismo	[ˈmiz̺mo̞]	'same'	Apical. Allophone of /s/ before voiced consonants. Before /d/ it is pronounced dentally [z̺]. See Spanish phonology
	Paisa Region

Variable

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Dutch	Netherlandic	zee	[zeɪ̯]	'sea'	Laminal alveolar, varies between non-retracted and retracted. See Dutch phonology
German	Standard	sauber	[ˈzäʊ̯bɐ]	'clean'	Varies between dentalized laminal, non-retracted laminal and non-retracted apical. See Standard German phonology
Italian	Standard	caso	[ˈkäːzo]	'case'	Varies between dentalized laminal and non-retracted apical. See Italian phonology
	Ticino				Varies between dentalized laminal and non-retracted apical. Both variants may be labiodentalized. See Italian phonology

Voiced alveolar non-sibilant fricative

The voiced alveolar non-sibilant fricative is a consonantal sound. As the International Phonetic Alphabet does not have separate symbols for the alveolar consonants (the same symbol is used for all coronal places of articulation that aren't palatalized), it can represent this sound as in a number of ways including ⟨ð̠⟩ or ⟨ð͇⟩ (retracted or alveolarized ⟨ð⟩, respectively), or ⟨ɹ̝⟩ (constricted ⟨ɹ⟩).

Features

• 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. However, it does not have the grooved tongue and directed airflow, or the high frequencies, of a sibilant.
• Its place of articulation is alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
• 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
Czech		čtyři	[ˈt͡ʃtɪɹ̝ɪ]	'four'	May be a trill fricative or a tap fricative instead. It contrasts with /r/ and /ʒ/. See Czech phonology
Danish	Few speakers	ved	[ʋɪð̠]	'at'	Laminal. Allophone of /d/ in the syllable coda; a lot more often realized as an approximant. See Danish phonology
Dutch		kaart	[kaːð̠t]	'card'	One of many possible realizations of /r/; distribution unclear. See Dutch phonology
English	Scouse	maid	[meɪð̠]	'maid'	Allophone of /d/. See English phonology
	South African	round	[ɹ̝æʊ̯nd]	'round'	Apical, present in some urban dialects. See English phonology
Icelandic		bróðir	[ˈproːð̠ir]	'brother'	Usually apical, may be closer to an approximant. See Icelandic phonology
Italian	Bologna	caso	[ˈkäːð̠o]	'case'	Laminal; a hypercorrective variant of /z/ for some young speakers. Either non-sibilant, or "not sibilant enough". See Italian phonology
	Sicily	terra	[ˈt̪ɛɹ̝ä]	'earth'	Apical; corresponds to /rr/ in standard Italian. See Italian phonology
Swedish	Central Standard	vandrare	[ˈvän̪ːˈd̪ɹ̝äɹə]	'wanderer'	Allophone of /r/ around the Stockholm area. See Swedish phonology

See also

• Tongue shape
• Apical consonant
• Laminal consonant
• Index of phonetics articles