Voiceless retroflex fricative

The voiceless retroflex sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is Template:Angbr IPA which is a Latin letter s combined with a retroflex hook. Like all the retroflex consonants, the IPA letter is formed by adding a rightward-pointing hook to the bottom of Template:Angbr (the letter used for the corresponding alveolar consonant). A distinction can be made between laminal, apical, and sub-apical articulations. Only one language, Toda, appears to have more than one voiceless retroflex sibilant, and it distinguishes subapical palatal from apical postalveolar retroflex sibilants; that is, both the tongue articulation and the place of contact on the roof of the mouth are different.

Some scholars also posit the voiceless retroflex approximant distinct from the fricative. The approximant may be represented in the IPA as Template:Angbr IPA.

Features

File:Voiceless retroflex fricative articulation.svg

Schematic mid-sagittal section

Features of the voiceless retroflex fricative:

Occurrence

In the following transcriptions, diacritics may be used to distinguish between apical {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and laminal {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.

The commonality of {{#invoke:IPA|main}} cross-linguistically is 6% in a phonological analysis of 2155 languages.<ref>Phoible.org. (2018). PHOIBLE Online - Segments. [online] Available at: http://phoible.org/parameters.</ref>

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abkhaz		lang}}	main}}	'day'	See Abkhaz phonology
Adyghe		lang}}	Template:Audio-IPA	'girl'	Laminal.
Chinese	Mandarin	lang}}/{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	main}}	'stone'	Apical. See Mandarin phonology
Emilian-Romagnol	Romagnol	lang}}	main}}	'yes'	Apical; may be Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink instead.
Faroese		lang}}	main}}	'eighty'
		lang}}	main}}	'only'	main}}.Template:Sfnp See Faroese phonology
Hindustani	Hindi	lang}}	main}}	'trouble'	See Hindi phonology
Hmong		Template:Script / {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	main}}	'to write'
Kannada		ಕಷ್ಟ/kašťa	main}}	'difficult'	Only in loanwords. See Kannada phonology.
Kazakh		lang}}	main}}	'small, compact'	See Kazakh phonology
Khanty	Most northern dialects	lang}}	main}}	'knee'	Corresponds to a voiceless retroflex affricate {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in the southern and eastern dialects.
Lower Sorbian<ref name="Šewc">Template:Harvp</ref>Template:Sfnp		lang}}	main}}	'glass'
Malayalam		lang}}	main}}	'difficult'	Only occurs in loanwords. See Malayalam phonology
MapudungunTemplate:Sfnp		lang}}	main}}	'fog'	main}} in post-nuclear position.Template:Sfnp
Marathi		lang}}	main}}	'sage'	See Marathi phonology
Nepali		lang}}	main}}	'Shashthi (day)'	Allophone of /s/ in neighbourhood of retroflex consonants. See Nepali phonology
Norwegian		lang}}	main}}	'Norwegian'	main}} in many dialects, including Urban East Norwegian. See Norwegian phonology
Oʼodham		Cuk-Ṣon	main}}	Tucson
Pashto	Southern dialect	ښودل/šodël	main}}	'to show'
Polish	Standard<ref name="Hamann">Template:Harvp</ref>	lang}}	Template:Audio-IPA	'rustle'	After voiceless consonants it is also represented by Template:Angbr. When written so, it can be instead pronounced as the voiceless raised alveolar non-sonorant trill by few speakers.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is transcribed {{#invoke:IPA|main}} by most Polish scholars. See Polish phonology
	Southeastern Cuyavian dialects<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || rowspan="2" | {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} || rowspan="2" | {{#invoke:IPA|main}} || rowspan="2" | 'they hid' || rowspan="2" | Some speakers. It's a result of hypercorrecting the more popular merger of {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} into Template:IPAblink (see szadzenie).
	Suwałki dialect<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Romanian	Moldavian dialectsTemplate:Sfnp	{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	'barn'	Apical.Template:Sfnp See Romanian phonology
	Transylvanian dialectsTemplate:Sfnp
Russian<ref name="Hamann"/>		lang}}	main}}	'jester'	See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatian		lang}} / {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	main}}	'scarf'	Typically transcribed as /ʃ/. See Serbo-Croatian phonology
SlovakTemplate:Sfnp		lang}}	main}}	'kerchief'
Swedish		lang}}	main}}	'rapids'	main}} in many dialects, including Central Standard Swedish. See Swedish phonology
Tamil		lang}}	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}	'difficult'	Only occurs in loanwords, often replaced with /s/. See Tamil phonology
Telugu		lang}}			Only occurs in loanwords. See Telugu phonology
TodaTemplate:Sfnp			main}}	'(clan name)'	Subapical, contrasts /θ s̪ s̠ ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ/.Template:Sfnp
TorwaliTemplate:Sfnp		šeš/ݜیݜ	main}}	'thin rope'
Ubykh			main}}	'head'	See Ubykh phonology
Ukrainian		lang}}	[ˈʂɑxɪ]	'chess'	See Ukrainian phonology
Upper Sorbian	Some dialectsTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp	Template:Example needed	—	—	Used in dialects spoken in villages north of Hoyerswerda; corresponds to Template:IPAblink in standard language.<ref name="Šewc"/>
Vietnamese	Southern dialectsTemplate:Sfnp	lang}}	main}}	'milk'	See Vietnamese phonology
Yi		lang}}/{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	main}}	'gold'
Yurok<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref> ||segep || {{#invoke:IPA|main}} ||'coyote'
Zapotec	TilquiapanTemplate:Sfnp	Template:Example needed	—	—	main}} before {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.

Voiceless retroflex non-sibilant fricative

Features

Features of the voiceless retroflex non-sibilant fricative:

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Angami<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>		lang}}	main}}	Template:Gloss	Contrasts with Template:IPAslink
Chokri<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>		{{#invoke:IPA|main}}		Template:Gloss	In free variation with Template:IPAslink; contrasts with Template:IPAslink
Ormuri<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Kaniguram dialect	lang}}	main}}	Template:Gloss	Usually corresponds to Template:IPAslink in the Logar dialect

See also

• Index of phonetics articles

References

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External links

• Template:Phoible
• Template:Phoible