Voiced alveolar fricative

The voiced alveolar fricative is a type of consonant. The letter for this sound in the International Phonetic Alphabet is ⟨z⟩. The X-SAMPA symbol for this sound is ⟨z⟩.

Voiced alveolar fricative
z
IPA Number	133
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	z
Unicode (hex)	U+007A
X-SAMPA	z

Features

• The phonation is voiced. This means that the vocal cords vibrate while the sound is being pronounced.
• The place of articulation (where the sound is produced) is alveolar. This means that this sound is produced with the tip of the tongue (apical) or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge (laminal).
• The manner of articulation (how the sound is produced) is fricative. This means that this sound is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, to make turbulence.

Examples

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning
Adyghe		зы	[ˈzə]	'one'
Albanian		zjarr	[zjar]	'fire'
Arabic	Standard[1]	زائِر	[ˈzaːʔir]	'visitor'
Assamese		জলকীয়া	[zɔlɔkija]	'chili'
Assyrian		ܙܢ̱ܓܐ zìga	[ziɡa]	'bell'
Bengali		নামাজ	[namaz]	'Salat'
Breton		iliz	[iliz]	'church'
Chechen		зурма / zurma	[zuɾma]	'music'
Dutch[2][3]		zaad	[z̻aːt̻]	'seed'
Emilian and Romagnol		raṡån	[raːz̺ʌŋ]	'reason'
English		zoo	[zuː]	'zoo'
Esperanto		kuzo	[ˈkuzo]	'cousin'
Georgian[4]		ზარი	[ˈzɑɾi]	'bell'
Greek	Athens dialect[5]	ζάλη / záli	[ˈz̻ali]	'dizziness'
Hebrew		זאב	[zeˈʔev]	'wolf'
Hindustani	Hindi	ज़मीन	[zəmiːn]	'land'
	Urdu	زمین
Japanese[6]		全部 / zenbu	[zembɯ]	'everything'
Kabardian		зы	[ˈzə]	'one'
Kalaw Lagaw Ya		zilamiz	[zilʌmiz]	'go'
Kashmiri		ज़ानुन / زانُن	[zaːnun]	'to know'
Khmer		បែលហ្ស៊ិក / bêlhsĭk	[ɓaelzɨk]	noun: 'Belgium', 'Belgian(s)' adjective: 'Belgian'
Malay		beza	[bezə]	'difference'
Maltese		żelu	[zelu]	'zeal'
Marathi		जर	[zər]	'if'
Occitan	Limousin	jòune	[ˈzɒwne]	'young'
Polish		Ꜯbak	[zbæ:k]	'ångstrom'
Persian		گوز	[guz]	'fart'
Portuguese[7]		casa	[ˈkazɐ]	'house'
Punjabi		ਜ਼ਿੰਦਗੀ	[zɪnˈd̪əgi]	'life'
Spanish	Andalusian	comunismo	[ko̞muˈnizmo̞]	'Communism'
	Latin American
	Filipino
	Mexican	isla	[ˈiz.lä]	'island'
Swahili		lazima	[lɑzimɑ]	'must'
West Frisian[8]		sizze	[ˈsɪzə]	'to say'
Yi		ꍂ / ssy	[zɹ̩˧]	'generation'
Yiddish		זון / zien	[zin]	'son'
Zapotec	Tilquiapan[9]	guanaz	[ɡʷanaz]	'went to grab'

References

1. Thelwall, Robin (1990), "Arabic", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 20 (2): 37–41, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004266, S2CID 243640727
2. Gussenhoven, Carlos (1999), "Dutch", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 74–77, ISBN 978-0-521-65236-0
3. Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003) [First published 1981], The Phonetics of English and Dutch (5th ed.), Leiden: Brill Publishers, ISBN 978-9004103405
4. Shosted, Ryan K.; Chikovani, Vakhtang (2006), "Standard Georgian" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (2): 255–264, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659
5. Adams, Douglas Q. (1975), "The Distribution of Retracted Sibilants in Medieval Europe", Language, 51 (2): 282–292, doi:10.2307/412855, JSTOR 412855
6. Okada, Hideo (1999), "Japanese", in International Phonetic Association (ed.), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge University Press, pp. 117–119, ISBN 978-0-52163751-0
7. Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223, S2CID 249414876
8. Sipma, Pieter (1913), Phonology & grammar of modern West Frisian, London: Oxford University Press
9. Merrill, Elizabeth (2008), "Tilquiapan Zapotec" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 38 (1): 107–114, doi:10.1017/S0025100308003344