Voiceless velar fricative

The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English, e.g. in loch, broch or saugh (willow).

Voiceless velar fricative
x
IPA Number	140
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	x
Unicode (hex)	U+0078
X-SAMPA	x
Braille

The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨x⟩, the Latin letter x. It is also used in broad transcription instead of the symbol ⟨χ⟩, the Greek chi, for the voiceless uvular fricative.

There is also a voiceless post-velar fricative (also called pre-uvular) in some languages, which can be transcribed as [x̠] or [χ̟]. For voiceless pre-velar fricative (also called post-palatal), see voiceless palatal fricative.

Some scholars also posit the voiceless velar approximant distinct from the fricative, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɰ̊⟩, but this symbol is not suitable in case of the voiceless velar approximant that is unspecified for rounding (the sound represented by the symbol ⟨ɰ̊⟩ is specified as unrounded), which is best transcribed as ⟨x̞⟩, ⟨ɣ̞̊⟩ or ⟨ɣ̊˕⟩ - see voiced velar approximant. The velar approximant can in many cases be considered the semivocalic equivalent of the voiceless variant of the close back unrounded vowel ⟨ɯ̊⟩.

Features

Voiceless velar fricative (x)

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 of the tongue (the dorsum) at the soft palate.
• 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.

Varieties

IPA	Description
x	plain velar fricative
xʷ	labialised
xʼ	ejective
xʷʼ	ejective labialised
x̜ʷ	semi-labialised
x̹ʷ	strongly labialised
xʲ	palatalised
xʲʼ	ejective palatalised

Occurrence

The voiceless velar fricative and its labialized variety are postulated to have occurred in Proto-Germanic, the ancestor of the Germanic languages, as the reflex of the Proto-Indo-European voiceless palatal and velar stops and the labialized voiceless velar stop. Thus Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥nom "horn" and *kʷód "what" became Proto-Germanic *hurnan and *hwat, where *h and *hw were likely [x] and [xʷ]. This sound change is part of Grimm's law.

In Modern Greek, the voiceless velar fricative (with its allophone, the voiceless palatal fricative [ç], occurring before front vowels) originated from the Ancient Greek voiceless aspirated stop /kʰ/ in a sound change that lenited Greek aspirated stops into fricatives.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abaza		хьзы /xzë	[xʲzə]	'name'
Adyghe		хы /xë	[xəː]ⓘ	'six'
Afrikaans		groot	[χrʊət]	'big'
Albanian		gjuha	[ɟuxɑ]	'language'	Allophone of /h/. See Albanian phonology
Aleut	Atkan dialect	alax	[ɑlɑx]	'two'
Arabic	Modern Standard	ﺧﻀراء	[xadˤraːʔ]	'green' (f.)	May be velar, post-velar or uvular, depending on dialect.[1] See Arabic phonology
Armenian		խրոխտ/xëroxt	[χəˈɾoχt]	'brave'
Assamese		অসমীয়া/oxomia	[ɔxɔmia]	'Assamese'
Assyrian		ܚܡܫܐ xemša	[xεmʃa]	'five'
Avar		чeхь / čex	[tʃex]	'belly'
Azerbaijani		xoş / хош/ﺧﻮش	[xoʃ]	'pleasant'
Basque	Some speakers[2]	jan	[xän]	'to eat'	Either velar or post-velar.[2] For other speakers it's [j ~ ʝ ~ ɟ].[3]
Blackfoot[4]		ᖻᖳᐦᓭ / naaáhsa	[naːáxsʌ]	'my grandparents'	Sometimes /x/ becomes allophone /h/ in beginning of words like "hánnia!" Really! Or becomes allphone /ç/ after i/ii like ihkitsika seven.
Brahui[5]		ﺧﻦ	[xan]	'eye'	Corresponds to /x/ in Kurukh and /q/ in Malto.
Breton		hor c'hi	[hor xiː]	'our dog'
Bulgarian		тихо / tiho	[ˈt̪ixo]ⓘ	'quietly'	Described as having "only slight friction" ([x̞]).[6]
Catalan		kharja	[ˈxɑɾ(d)ʑɐ]	'kharjah'	Found in loanwords and interjections. See Catalan phonology
Chechen		хан / xan	[xɑːn]	'time'
Chinese	Mandarin	河 / hé	[xɤ˧˥]	'river'	See Standard Chinese phonology
Czech		chlap	[xlap]	'guy'	See Czech phonology
Danish	Southern Jutlandic	kage	[ˈkʰaːx]	'cake'	See Sønderjysk dialect
Dutch	Standard Belgian[7][8]	acht	[ɑxt]	'eight'	May be post-palatal [ç̠] instead. In dialects spoken above the rivers Rhine, Meuse and Waal the corresponding sound is a postvelar-uvular fricative trill [ʀ̝̊˖].[8] See Dutch phonology and Hard and soft G in Dutch
	Southern Netherlands accents[8][9]
English	Scottish	loch	[ɫɔx]	'loch'	Younger speakers may merge this sound with /k/.[10][11] See Scottish English phonology
	Irish	lough	[lɑx]	'lough'	Occurs only in Gaelic borrowings. See Irish English phonology
	Scouse[12]	book	[bʉːx]	'book'	A syllable-final allophone of /k/ (lenition).
Esperanto		monaĥo	[moˈnaxo]	'monk'	See Esperanto phonology
Estonian		jah	[jɑx]	'yes'	Allophone of /h/. See Estonian phonology
Eyak		duxł	[tʊxɬ]	'traps'
Finnish		kahvi	[ˈkɑxʋi]	'coffee'	Allophone of /h/. See Finnish phonology
French		jota	[xɔta]	'jota'	Occurs only in loanwords (from Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, etc.). See French phonology
Georgian[13]		ჯოხი / joxi	[ˈdʒɔxi]	'stick'
German		Buch	[buːx]ⓘ	'book'	See Standard German phonology
Greek		τέχνη / téchnî	[ˈte̞xni]	'art'	See Modern Greek phonology
Hebrew	Biblical	מִיכָאֵל/Michael	[mixaʔel]	'Michael'	See Biblical Hebrew phonology
Hindustani	Hindi	ख़ुशी/xuší	[xʊʃiː]	'happiness'	Occurs only in loanwords. May be replaced in Hindi with /kʰ/. See Hindustani phonology
	Urdu	ﺧﻮشی/xuşi
Hungarian		sahhal	[ʃɒxːɒl]	'with a shah'	See Hungarian phonology
Icelandic		október	[ˈɔxtoːupɛr̥]	'October'	See Icelandic phonology
Indonesian		khas	[xas]	'typical'	Occurs in Arabic loanwords. Often pronounced as [h] or [k] by some Indonesians. See Indonesian phonology
Irish		deoch	[dʲɔ̝̈x]	'drink'	See Irish phonology
Japanese		マッハ / mahha	[maxːa]	'Mach'	Allophone of /h/.[14] See Japanese phonology
Kabardian		хы / khy	[xəː]ⓘ	'sea'
Kazakh		ханзада / hanzada	[xanzada]	'prince'
Korean		흥정 / heungjeong	[xɯŋd͡ʑʌ̹ŋ]	'bargaining'	Allophone of /h/ before /ɯ/. See Korean phonology
Kurdish		xanî	[xɑːˈniː]	'house'	See Kurdish phonology
Kurukh[15]		कुड़ुख़	[kuɽux]	'Kurukh'	Corresponds to /x/ in Brahui and /q/ in Malto.
Limburgish[16][17]		loch	[lɔx]	'air'	The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect. See Maastrichtian dialect phonology and Hard and soft G in Dutch
Lishan Didan	Urmi Dialect	חלבא / xalwa	[xalwɑ]	'milk'	Generally post-velar
Lithuanian		choras	[ˈxɔrɐs̪]	'choir'	Occurs only in loanwords (usually international words)
Lojban		xatra	[xatra]	'letter'
Macedonian		Охрид / Ohrid	[ˈɔxrit]ⓘ	'Ohrid'	See Macedonian phonology
Malay		اﺧير / akhir	[axir]	'last', 'end'	Occurs in Arabic loanwords. Often pronounced as [h] or [k]. See Malay phonology
Manx		aashagh	[ˈɛːʒax]	'easy'
Nepali		आँखा/axa	[ä̃xä]	'eye'	Allophone of /kʰ/. See Nepali phonology
Norwegian
	Urban East[18]	hat	[xɑːt]	'hate'	Possible allophone of /h/ near back vowels; can be voiced [ɣ] between two voiced sounds.[18] See Norwegian phonology
	Brekke dialect[19]	seg	[sɛɰ̊]	'oneself'	Also described as an approximant. Coda allophone of /ɡ/; reported to occur only in this word.[19] See Norwegian phonology
	Kaldfarnes dialect[19]
	Sørkjosen dialect[19]		[sæɰ̊]
	Undheim dialect[19]		[seɰ̊]
	Bryne dialect[19]	sterkaste, sterkeste	[ˈstæɰ̊kɑstə]	'strongest'	Also described as an approximant. Allophone of /r/ when it is in contact with voiceless consonants. Exact distribution may differ between dialects. In the Hafrsfjord dialect, [ɰ̊] may also occur in the word seg. See Norwegian phonology
	Hafrsfjord dialect[19]
	Raundalen dialect[19]
	Stanghelle dialect[19]
	Fyllingsdalen dialect[19]		[ˈstæɰ̊kestɛ]
Pashto		اخته / axta	[ax.t̪a]	'occupied'	See Pashto phonology
Persian		دُخـتَر / doxtär	[doxˈtær]	'daughter'	See Persian phonology
Polish[20]		chleb	[xlɛp]	'bread'	Also (in great majority of dialects) represented orthographically by ⟨h⟩. See Polish phonology
Portuguese	Fluminense	arte	[ˈaxtɕi]	'art'	In free variation with [χ], [ʁ], [ħ] and [h] before voiceless consonants
	General Brazilian[21]	rosa	[ˈxɔzɐ]	'rose'	Some dialects. An allophone of /ʁ/. See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi	Gurmukhi	ਖ਼ਬਰ/xabar	[xəbəɾ]	'news'	Less frequent and may merge with /kʰ/ in Gurmukhi varieties.
	Shahmukhi	ﺧﺒر/xabar
Romanian		hram	[xräm]	'patronal feast of a church'	Allophone of /h/. See Romanian phonology
Russian[22]		хороший / horošij	[xɐˈr̠ʷo̞ʂɨ̞j]ⓘ	'good'	See Russian phonology
Scottish Gaelic[23]		drochaid	[ˈt̪ɾɔxɪtʲ]	'bridge'	See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Serbo-Croatian		храст / hrast	[xrâːst]	'oak'	See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovak		chlap	[xɫäp]	'guy'
Slovene	Standard	pohlep	[poˈxlɛ̂p]	'greed'	See Slovene phonology
	Some dialects	bog	[ˈbôːx]	'god'	Allophone of /ɣ/ before voiceless obstruents or pause. See Slovene phonology
Somali		khad	[xad]	'ink'	Also occurs allophone of /q/ in Arabic loan words. See Somali phonology
Spanish[24]	Latin American[25]	ojo	[ˈo̞xo̞]	'eye'	May be glottal instead;[25] in northern and central Spain it is often post-velar[25][26][27] or uvular /χ/.[27][28] See Spanish phonology
	Southern Spain[25]
Spanish	Standard European[29]	Predrag	[ˈpɾe̞ð̞ɾäɣ̞̊]	'Predrag'	Also described as an approximant. Allophone of /ɡ/ before a pause.[29] See Spanish phonology
Sylheti		ꠈꠛꠞ/xobor	[xɔ́bɔɾ]	'news'
Tachelhit		ixf	[ixf]	'head'
Taqbaylit		axaṭar	[ɑχɑtˤɑr]	'because'
Tagalog		bakit	[baxit]	'why'	Allophone of /k/ in intervocalic positions. See Tagalog phonology
Toda[30]		pax	[pax]	'smoke'
Turkish[31]		ıhlamur	[ɯxlamuɾ]	'linden'	Allophone of /h/.[31] See Turkish phonology
Turkmen		hile	[xiːle]	'cunning' (noun)
Tyap		kham	[xam]	1. 'calabash'; 2. 'prostitute'
Xhosa		rhoxisa	[xɔkǁiːsa]	'to cancel'
Ukrainian		хлопець / hlopeć	[ˈxɫɔ̝pɛt͡sʲ]	'boy'	See Ukrainian phonology
Uzbek[32]		oxirgi	[ɒxirgi]	'last'	Post-velar. Occurs in environments different from word-initially and pre-consonantally, otherwise it is pre-velar.[32]
Vietnamese[33]		không	[xəwŋ͡m˧]	'no', 'not', 'zero'	See Vietnamese phonology
Yaghan		xan	[xan]	'here'
Yi		ꉾ / he	[xɤ˧]	'good'
Zapotec	Tilquiapan[34]	mejor	[mɘxoɾ]	'better'	Used primarily in loanwords from Spanish

Related Consonants

Nearby Fricatives	Palatal	Velar	Uvular
Voiceless	ç	x	χ
Voiced	ʝ	ɣ	ʁ

• Corresponding plosive: k
• Corresponding affricate: k͡x
• Corresponding nasal: ŋ̊

See also

• Guttural
• Index of phonetics articles

Notes

1. Watson (2002), pp. 17, 19–20, 35–36 and 38.
2. Hualde & Ortiz de Urbina (2003), pp. 16 and 26.
3. Hualde & Ortiz de Urbina (2003), p. 16.
4. "Blackfoot Pronunciation and Spelling Guide". Native-Languages.org. Retrieved 2007-04-10.
5. Bhadriraju Krishnamurti (2003), p. 100.
6. Ternes, Elmer; Vladimirova-Buhtz, Tatjana (1999). "Bulgarian". Handbook of the International Phonetic Association. Cambridge University Press. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-521-63751-0.
7. Verhoeven (2005:243)
8. Collins & Mees (2003:191)
9. Gussenhoven (1999:74)
10. "Annexe 4: Linguistic Variables". Archived from the original on 2021-02-25. Retrieved 2014-12-03.
11. "University of Essex :: Department of Language and Linguistics :: Welcome". Essex.ac.uk. Retrieved 2013-08-01.
12. Wells (1982:373)
13. Shosted & Chikovani (2006), p. 255.
14. Okada, Hideo (December 1991). "Japanese". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 21 (2): 94–96. doi:10.1017/S002510030000445X. S2CID 242782215. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
15. Bhadriraju Krishnamurti (2003), p. 74.
16. Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999:159)
17. Peters (2006:119)
18. Vanvik (1979), p. 40.
19. "Nordavinden og sola: Opptak og transkripsjoner av norske dialekter". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
20. Jassem (2003), p. 103.
21. Barbosa & Albano (2004), pp. 5–6.
22. Padgett (2003), p. 42.
23. Oftedal, M. (1956) The Gaelic of Leurbost. Oslo. Norsk Tidskrift for Sprogvidenskap.
24. Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003), p. 255.
25. Chen (2007), p. 13.
26. Hamond (2001:?), cited in Scipione & Sayahi (2005:128)
27. Lyons (1981), p. 76.
28. Harris & Vincent (1988), p. 83.
29. Wetzels & Mascaró (2001), p. 224.
30. Bhadriraju Krishnamurti (2003), p. 149.
31. Göksel & Kerslake (2005:6)
32. Sjoberg (1963), pp. 11–12.
33. Thompson (1959), pp. 458–461.
34. Merrill (2008), p. 109.

References

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• Sjoberg, Andrée F. (1963), Uzbek Structural Grammar, Uralic and Altaic Series, vol. 18, Bloomington: Indiana University
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External links

• List of languages with [x] on PHOIBLE