Voiceless palatal plosive

The voiceless palatal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in some vocal languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨c⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is c.

Voiceless palatal plosive
c
IPA number	107
Audio sample
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)	c
Unicode (hex)	U+0063
X-SAMPA	c
Braille
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Voiceless palato-alveolar and post-palatal plosives

Voiceless alveolo-palatal plosive
c̟
t̠ʲ

If distinction is necessary, the voiceless alveolo-palatal plosive may be transcribed as ⟨c̟⟩ (advanced ⟨c⟩) or ⟨t̠ʲ⟩ (retracted and palatalized ⟨t⟩), but these are essentially equivalent, because the contact includes both the blade and body (but not the tip) of the tongue. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbols are c_+ and t_-' or t_-_j, respectively. There is also a non-IPA letter U+0236 ȶ LATIN SMALL LETTER T WITH CURL; ⟨ȶ⟩ ("t", plus the curl found in the symbols for alveolo-palatal sibilant fricatives ⟨ɕ, ʑ⟩), which is used especially in sinological circles.

It is common for the phonetic symbol ⟨c⟩ to be used to represent voiceless postalveolar affricate [t͡ʃ] or other similar 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 plosive and affricate is not contrastive.

Voiceless post-palatal plosive

Voiceless post-palatal plosive
c̠
k̟

There is also the voiceless post-palatal plosive^[1] in some languages, which is articulated slightly more back compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical palatal consonant, though not as back as the prototypical velar consonant. The International Phonetic Alphabet does not have a separate symbol for that sound, though it can be transcribed as ⟨c̠⟩ (retracted ⟨c⟩) or ⟨k̟⟩ (advanced ⟨k⟩). The equivalent X-SAMPA symbols are c_- and k_+, respectively.

Especially in broad transcription, the voiceless post-palatal plosive may be transcribed as a palatalized voiceless velar plosive (⟨kʲ⟩ in the IPA, k' or k_j in X-SAMPA).

Features

Features of the voiceless 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 plosive.
• 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.
  • The otherwise identical post-palatal variant is articulated slightly behind the hard palate, making it sound closer to the velar [k].
  • Alveolo-palatal variant is articulated also with the blade of the tongue at or behind the alveolar ridge.
• Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
• 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.
• Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Palatal or alveolo-palatal

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Albanian[2]		shqip	[ʃcip]	'Albanian'	Merged with [t͡ʃ] in Gheg Albanian and some speakers of Tosk Albanian.[3]
Asturian	Western dialects[4]	muyyer	[muˈceɾ]	'woman'	Alternate evolution of -lj-, -c'l-, pl-, cl- and fl- in the Brañas Vaqueiras area of Western Asturias. May be also realized as [c͡ç] or [ɟ͡ʝ]
Amuzgo	Xochistlahuaca variety[5]	tyaáⁿ	[cã́]	'clumsy; a clumsy person'
Azerbaijani		کئچی/keçi	[ceˈt͡ʃi]	'goat'	Can realize as "t͡ʃ̟" in Tabriz accent
Basque		ttantta	[cäɲcä]	'droplet'
Blackfoot		ᖳᖽᖾᖳᐡ / akikoan	[aˈkicoan]	'girl'	Allophone of /k/ after front vowels.
Breton	Gwenedeg	kenn	[cɛ̃n]	'dandruff'	Realization of /k/ before front vowels.
Bulgarian	Banat dialect	kaćétu (каќету or какьету)	[kacetu]	'as'	See Bulgarian phonology
Catalan	Majorcan[6]	qui	[ˈci̞]	'who'	Dento-alveolo-palatal or palatal.[7] Corresponds to /k/ in other varieties. See Catalan phonology
Corsican		chjodu	[ˈcoːdu]	'nail'	Also present in the Gallurese dialect
Croatian		već	[vec]	'already'	Dialect of the Croatian Littoral
Czech		čeština	[ˈt͡ʃɛʃc̟ɪna]	'Czech' (language)	Alveolo-palatal or alveolar.[8] See Czech phonology
Dawsahak		[cɛːˈnɐ]		'small'
Dinka		car	[car]	'black'
Ega[9]		[cá]		'understand'
French[7]		qui	[ci]	'who' (int.)	Ranges from alveolar to palatal. See French phonology
Friulian		cjase	[caze]	'house'
Ganda		caayi	[caːji]	'tea'
Gweno		[ca]		'to come'
Hakka	Meixian	飛機 / fi1 gi1	[fi˦ ci˦]	'plane'	Allophone of /k/ before /i/.
Hausa		kyauta	[caːuta]	'gift'
Hokkien	Taiwanese	機車 / ki-tshia	[ciː˧ t͡ɕʰia˥]	'motorcycle'
Hungarian[10]		tyúk	[c̟uːk]	'hen'	Alveolo-palatal.[8] See Hungarian phonology
Icelandic		gjóla	[ˈc̟ouːlä]	'light wind'	Alveolo-palatal.[8] See Icelandic phonology
Irish		ceist	[cɛʃtʲ]	'question'	Alveolo-palatal or palatal.[8] See Irish phonology
Khasi		boit	[bɔc]	'dwarf'
Khmer		ចាប / chab	[caːp]	'bird'	Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms.
Kinyarwanda		ikintu	[iciːnɦuʰ]	'thing'
Kurdish	Northern	kîso	[cʰiːsoː]	'tortoise'	Allophone of /kʰ/ before /ɨ/, /ɛ/, /iː/, and /eː/. See Kurdish phonology
	Central	کیسەڵ	[cʰiːsæɫ]
	Southern		[cʰiːsaɫ]
Latvian		ķirbis	[ˈcirbis]	'pumpkin'	See Latvian phonology
Low German	Plautdietsch	kjoakj	[coac]	'church'	Corresponds to [kʲ] in all other dialects.[clarification needed]
Macedonian		вреќа	[ˈvrɛca]	'sack'	See Macedonian phonology
Malay	Kelantan-Pattani	cita	[ci.tɔʔ]	'feeling'	Palatal,[11] allophone of /tʃ/. See Malay phonology
	Indonesian	cari	[cari]	'to find'
Norwegian	Central dialects[12]	fett	[fɛcː]	'fat'	See Norwegian phonology
	Northern dialects[12]
Occitan	Limousin	tireta	[ciˈʀetɒ]	'drawer'
	Auvergnat	tirador	[ciʀaˈdu]
	Western Gascon	chifra	[ˈcifrə]	'digit'	Corresponds to [tʃ] and sometimes [dʒ] in eastern dialects
Romanian[13]		chin	[cin]	'torture'	Allophone of /k/ before /i/ and /e/. See Romanian phonology. Also in some northern dialects
Romansh	Sursilvan[14]	notg	[nɔc]	'night'
	Sutsilvan[15]	tgàn	[caŋ]	'dog'
	Surmiran[16]	vatgas	[ˈvɑcɐs]	'cows'
	Puter[17]	zücher	[ˈtsycər]	'sugar'
	Vallader[18]	müs-chel	[ˈmyʃcəl]	'moss'
Scottish Gaelic[19]		maide	[ˈmãtʲə]	'stick'	Alveolo-palatal or alveolar. Affricated in some positions, with affrication stronger in certain dialects.
Slovak[8]		ťava	[ˈcava]	'camel'	See Slovak phonology
Spanish	Canarian	choco	[ˈc̟oko]	'cuttlefish'	Alveolo-palatal. Used to be voiced.[20] Corresponds to [t͡ʃ] in other dialects of Spanish (speakers from other areas of Spain mishear it as [ʝ]).
Turkish		köy	[cʰœj]	'village'	See Turkish phonology
Vietnamese[21]		chị	[ci˧ˀ˨ʔ]	'elder sister'	May be slightly affricated [tᶝ ]. See Vietnamese phonology
West Frisian		tjems	[cɛms]	'strainer'	See West Frisian phonology
Western Desert		kutju	[kucu]	'one'
Damin		dunji-kan	[t̺un̺t̠ʲi kan̺]	'go'

Post-palatal

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Belarusian		кіслы	[ˈk̟is̪ɫ̪ɨ]	'acidic'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʲ⟩. See Belarusian phonology
Catalan[22]		qui	[k̟i]	'who'	Allophone of /k/ before front vowels.[22] See Catalan phonology
Danish	Standard[23]	gidsel	[ˈk̟isəl]	'hostage'	Allophone of /ɡ/ before front vowels.[23] See Danish phonology
English[24][25]		keen	[k̟ʰiːn]ⓘ	'keen'	Allophone of /k/ before front vowels and /j/.[24][25] See English phonology
		back	bæc̠	back	Mainstream Irish English realisation of /k/ after front vowels.[26]
German	Standard[27][28]	Kind	[k̟ʰɪnt]	'child'	Allophone of /k/ before and after front vowels.[27][28] See Standard German phonology
Greek[29]		Μακεδνός	[mɐc̠e̞ˈðno̞s̠]ⓘ	'Makedon'	See Modern Greek phonology
Italian	Standard[30]	chi	[k̟i]ⓘ	'who'	Allophone of /k/ before /i, e, ɛ, j/.[30] See Italian phonology
Japanese		九 / kyū	[k̟ÿː]	'nine'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʲ⟩, allophone of /kj/. See Japanese phonology
Polish		kiedy	[ˈk̟ɛdɨ]	'when'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese		qui	[k̟i]	'Chi'	Allophone of /k/ before front vowels. See Portuguese phonology
Romanian[31]		ochi	[o̞k̟]	'eye'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʲ⟩. See Romanian phonology
Russian	Standard[32]	кит / kit	[k̟it̪]	'whale'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʲ⟩. See Russian phonology
Scottish Gaelic[33]		còig	[kʰoːʲk̟]	'five (5)'	Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʲ⟩. Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms.
Spanish[34]		kilo	[ˈk̟ilo̞]	'kilo(gram)'	Allophone of /k/ before front vowels.[34] See Spanish phonology
Tidore		yaci	[jaci]	'to rip'
Ukrainian		кінчик/kinchyk	[ˈk̟inʲt͡ʃɪk]ⓘ	'tip'	Can also be transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʲ⟩, but is an allophone of /k/ before front vowels. See Ukrainian phonology
Vietnamese		[example needed]			Final allophone of /c/. See Vietnamese phonology

See also

• Index of phonetics articles