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Voiceless uvular fricative

Voiceless uvular fricative

Overview
The voiceless uvular fricative is a type of consonant
Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the u
Discussion
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Encyclopedia
The voiceless uvular fricative is a type of consonant
Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper vocal tract, the upper vocal tract being defined as that part of the vocal tract that lies above the larynx...

al sound, used in some spoken language
Language
A language is a system for encoding and decoding information. In its most common use, the term refers to so-called "natural languages" — the forms of communication considered peculiar to humankind. In linguistics the term is extended to refer to the human cognitive facility of creating and using...

s. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...

 that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA
X-SAMPA
The Extended Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet is a variant of SAMPA developed in 1995 by John C. Wells, professor of phonetics at the University of London. It was designed to unify the individual language SAMPA alphabets, and extend SAMPA to cover the entire range of characters in the...

 symbol is X. The sound is represented by x̣ (x with underdot) in Americanist phonetic notation
Americanist phonetic notation
Americanist phonetic notation is a system of phonetic notation originally developed by European and American anthropologists and language scientists for the phonetic and phonemic transcription of Native American and European languages...

.

It is not to be confused with the voiceless velar fricative
Voiceless velar fricative
The voiceless velar fricative, informally known as the hard ch, is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is x...

 (IPA
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...

 , X-SAMPA
X-SAMPA
The Extended Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet is a variant of SAMPA developed in 1995 by John C. Wells, professor of phonetics at the University of London. It was designed to unify the individual language SAMPA alphabets, and extend SAMPA to cover the entire range of characters in the...

 x.)

Features


Features of the voiceless uvular fricative:
  • Its manner of articulation
    Manner of articulation
    In linguistics , manner of articulation describes how the tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech organs are involved in making a sound make contact. Often the concept is only used for the production of consonants...

     is fricative
    Fricative consonant
    Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or...

    , which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence
    Turbulence
    In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is a fluid regime characterized by chaotic, stochastic property changes. This includes low momentum diffusion, high momentum convection, and rapid variation of pressure and velocity in space and time. Flow that is not turbulent is called laminar flow...

    .
  • Its place of articulation
    Place of articulation
    In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation of a consonant is the point of contact, where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an active articulator and a passive articulator...

     is uvular
    Uvular consonant
    Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be plosives, fricatives, nasal stops, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not provide a separate symbol for the approximant, and...

     which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue
    Tongue
    The tongue is a muscle on the floor of the mouth that manipulates food for chewing and swallowing . It is the primary organ of taste, as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. A secondary function of the tongue is speech, in which the organ assists...

     (the dorsum) against or near the uvula
    Uvula
    The uvula is the conic projection from the posterior edge of the middle of the soft palate, composed of connective tissue containing a number of racemose glands, and some muscular fibers .-Function in voice:...

    .
  • Its phonation
    Phonation
    Phonation has slightly different meanings depending on the subfield of phonetics. Among some phoneticians, phonation is the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration. This is the definition used among those who study laryngeal anatomy and physiology...

     type is voiceless
    Voiceless
    In linguistics, the term voiceless describes the pronunciation of sounds when the larynx does not vibrate. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the lack of...

    , which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
  • It is an oral consonant
    Oral consonant
    An oral consonant is a consonant sound in speech that is made by allowing air to escape from the mouth, as opposed to the nose. To create an intended oral consonant sound, the entire mouth plays a role in modifying the air's passageway. This rapid modification of the air passageway using the tongue...

    , which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
  • It is a central consonant
    Central consonant
    A central or medial consonant is a consonant sound that is produced when air flows across the center of the mouth over the tongue.Examples of central consonants are the voiceless velar plosive , the voiced alveolar fricative and the alveolar nasal .A consonant in which air...

    , which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the middle of the tongue, rather than the sides.
  • The airstream mechanism
    Airstream mechanism
    In phonetics, the airstream mechanism is the method by which airflow is created in the vocal tract. Along with phonation, it is one of two mandatory aspects of sound production; without these, there can be no speech sound....

     is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lung
    Lung
    The lung or pulmonary system is the essential respiration organ in air-breathing animals, including most tetrapods, a few fish and a few snails. In mammals and the more complex life forms, the two lungs are located in the chest on either side of the heart...

    s and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis
    Glottis
    The glottis is defined as the combination of the vocal folds and the space in between the folds .-Function:As the vocal folds vibrate, the resulting vibration produces a "buzzing" quality to the speech, called voice or voicing or pronunciation.Sound production involving only the glottis is called...

     or the mouth.

Varieties of

IPA Description
plain velar fricative
labialised
Labialisation
Labialisation is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialised sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve the lips, they are called rounded.The most common...

ejective
Ejective consonant
In phonetics, ejective consonants are voiceless consonants that are pronounced with simultaneous closure of the glottis. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated or tenuis consonants...

ejective labialised
semi-labialised
strongly labialised
palatalised
ejective palatalised

Occurrence

Language Word IPA
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...

Meaning Notes
Abkhaz
Abkhaz language
Abkhaz is a Northwest Caucasian language spoken mainly by the Abkhaz people. It is the official language of Abkhazia, where around 100,000 people speak it. Furthermore, it is spoken by thousands of members of the Abkhazian diaspora in Turkey, Georgia's autonomous republic of Adjara, Syria, Jordan...

 
'three' Contrasts with labialized and palatalized
Palatalization
Palatalization or palatalisation generally refers to two phenomena:*As a process or the result of a process, the effect that front vowels and the palatal approximant frequently have on consonants;...

 forms
Afrikaans  'good' Some dialects.
Aleut
Aleut language
Aleut is a language of the Eskimo-Aleut language family. It is the heritage language of the Aleut people living in the Aleutian Islands, Pribilof Islands, and Commander Islands. As of 2007 there were about 150 speakers of Aleut .- Dialects :Aleut is alone with the Eskimo languages in the...

Atkan dialect 'ten'
Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...

'rich' See Arabic phonology
Arabic phonology
While many languages have numerous dialects that differ in pronunciation, the Arabic language is more properly described as a collection of different varieties or Macrolanguage. This article deals primarily with Modern Standard Arabic, which is the standard variety shared by educated speakers...

Armenian
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...

 
'please'
Avar
Avar language
The modern Avar language belongs to the Avar-Andi-Tsez subgroup of the Alarodian Northeast-Caucasian language family....

 
'to lift' Contrasts with a tense
Tenseness
In phonology, tenseness is a particular vowel quality that is phonemically contrastive in many languages, including English. It has also occasionally been used to describe contrasts in consonants. Unlike most distinctive features, the feature [tense] can be interpreted only relatively, that is, in...

 form
Chilcotin
Chilcotin language
Chilcotin is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken in British Columbia by the Tsilhqot’in people.The name Chilcotin is derived from the Chilcotin name for themselves: Tŝilhqot’in , literally "people of the red ochre river".-Consonants:Chilcotin has 47 consonants:* Like many Athabaskan languages,...

 
'I made it'
Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language.
"1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language...

Northern Dutch accents
Hard and soft G in Dutch
In the Dutch language the terminology hard and soft ‹g› refers to not only a phonological phenomenon of the pronunciation of the letters ‹g› and ‹ch› but also indicates a major geographical accent division within the language...

 
'Scheveningen
Scheveningen
Scheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, as well as one of its subdistricts .Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse...

'
See Dutch phonology
Dutch phonology
Dutch is a Germanic language and as such has a similar phonology to other Germanic languages ....

Eyak
Eyak language
Eyak is an extinct Na-Dené language that was historically spoken in southcentral Alaska, near the mouth of the Copper River.Marie Smith Jones of Cordova was the language's last native speaker, as well as the last full-blooded Eyak...

 
'and'
French
French language
French is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...

 
'rock' Rhotic consonant for some dialects. See French phonology
French phonology
This article mainly discusses the phonological system of standard French based on the Parisian dialect. French is notable for its uvular r, nasal vowels, and two processes affecting word-final sounds: liaison, a certain type of sandhi, wherein word-final consonants are not pronounced unless...

German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...

 
'roof' Appears only after certain back vowel
Back vowel
A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark...

s in some dialects. See German phonology
German phonology
This article is about the phonology of the German language based on the standard dialect. It deals with current phonology and phonetics as well as with historical developments thereof, including geographical variants .Since German is a pluricentric language, there are a number of different...

Haida
Haida language
The Haida language is the language of the Haida people. It contains eight vowels and well over 30 consonants. Linguist Edward Sapir classified Haida as one of the Na-Dené languages in 1915, a position later supported by others, notably Pinnow, Greenberg, Enrico, Ruhlen, Manaster Ramer, and Bengtson...

 


The voiceless uvular fricative is a type of
consonant
Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper vocal tract, the upper vocal tract being defined as that part of the vocal tract that lies above the larynx...

al sound, used in some spoken language
Language
A language is a system for encoding and decoding information. In its most common use, the term refers to so-called "natural languages" — the forms of communication considered peculiar to humankind. In linguistics the term is extended to refer to the human cognitive facility of creating and using...

s. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...

 that represents this sound is {{IPA|χ}}, and the equivalent X-SAMPA
X-SAMPA
The Extended Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet is a variant of SAMPA developed in 1995 by John C. Wells, professor of phonetics at the University of London. It was designed to unify the individual language SAMPA alphabets, and extend SAMPA to cover the entire range of characters in the...

 symbol is X. The sound is represented by x̣ (x with underdot) in Americanist phonetic notation
Americanist phonetic notation
Americanist phonetic notation is a system of phonetic notation originally developed by European and American anthropologists and language scientists for the phonetic and phonemic transcription of Native American and European languages...

.

It is not to be confused with the voiceless velar fricative
Voiceless velar fricative
The voiceless velar fricative, informally known as the hard ch, is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is x...

 (IPA
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...

 {{IPA|x}}, X-SAMPA
X-SAMPA
The Extended Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet is a variant of SAMPA developed in 1995 by John C. Wells, professor of phonetics at the University of London. It was designed to unify the individual language SAMPA alphabets, and extend SAMPA to cover the entire range of characters in the...

 x.)

Features


Features of the voiceless uvular fricative:
  • Its manner of articulation
    Manner of articulation
    In linguistics , manner of articulation describes how the tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech organs are involved in making a sound make contact. Often the concept is only used for the production of consonants...

     is fricative
    Fricative consonant
    Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or...

    , which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence
    Turbulence
    In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is a fluid regime characterized by chaotic, stochastic property changes. This includes low momentum diffusion, high momentum convection, and rapid variation of pressure and velocity in space and time. Flow that is not turbulent is called laminar flow...

    .
  • Its place of articulation
    Place of articulation
    In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation of a consonant is the point of contact, where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an active articulator and a passive articulator...

     is uvular
    Uvular consonant
    Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be plosives, fricatives, nasal stops, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not provide a separate symbol for the approximant, and...

     which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue
    Tongue
    The tongue is a muscle on the floor of the mouth that manipulates food for chewing and swallowing . It is the primary organ of taste, as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. A secondary function of the tongue is speech, in which the organ assists...

     (the dorsum) against or near the uvula
    Uvula
    The uvula is the conic projection from the posterior edge of the middle of the soft palate, composed of connective tissue containing a number of racemose glands, and some muscular fibers .-Function in voice:...

    .
  • Its phonation
    Phonation
    Phonation has slightly different meanings depending on the subfield of phonetics. Among some phoneticians, phonation is the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration. This is the definition used among those who study laryngeal anatomy and physiology...

     type is voiceless
    Voiceless
    In linguistics, the term voiceless describes the pronunciation of sounds when the larynx does not vibrate. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the lack of...

    , which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
  • It is an oral consonant
    Oral consonant
    An oral consonant is a consonant sound in speech that is made by allowing air to escape from the mouth, as opposed to the nose. To create an intended oral consonant sound, the entire mouth plays a role in modifying the air's passageway. This rapid modification of the air passageway using the tongue...

    , which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
  • It is a central consonant
    Central consonant
    A central or medial consonant is a consonant sound that is produced when air flows across the center of the mouth over the tongue.Examples of central consonants are the voiceless velar plosive , the voiced alveolar fricative and the alveolar nasal .A consonant in which air...

    , which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the middle of the tongue, rather than the sides.
  • The airstream mechanism
    Airstream mechanism
    In phonetics, the airstream mechanism is the method by which airflow is created in the vocal tract. Along with phonation, it is one of two mandatory aspects of sound production; without these, there can be no speech sound....

     is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lung
    Lung
    The lung or pulmonary system is the essential respiration organ in air-breathing animals, including most tetrapods, a few fish and a few snails. In mammals and the more complex life forms, the two lungs are located in the chest on either side of the heart...

    s and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis
    Glottis
    The glottis is defined as the combination of the vocal folds and the space in between the folds .-Function:As the vocal folds vibrate, the resulting vibration produces a "buzzing" quality to the speech, called voice or voicing or pronunciation.Sound production involving only the glottis is called...

     or the mouth.

Varieties of {{IPA|[χ]}}

IPA Description
{{IPA|χ}} plain velar fricative
{{IPA|χʷ}} labialised
Labialisation
Labialisation is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialised sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve the lips, they are called rounded.The most common...

{{IPA|χʼ}} ejective
Ejective consonant
In phonetics, ejective consonants are voiceless consonants that are pronounced with simultaneous closure of the glottis. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated or tenuis consonants...

{{IPA|χʷʼ}} ejective labialised
{{IPA|χ̜ʷ}} semi-labialised
{{IPA|χ̹ʷ}} strongly labialised
{{IPA|χʲ}} palatalised
{{IPA|χʲʼ}} ejective palatalised

Occurrence

Language Word IPA
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...

Meaning Notes
Abkhaz
Abkhaz language
Abkhaz is a Northwest Caucasian language spoken mainly by the Abkhaz people. It is the official language of Abkhazia, where around 100,000 people speak it. Furthermore, it is spoken by thousands of members of the Abkhazian diaspora in Turkey, Georgia's autonomous republic of Adjara, Syria, Jordan...

 
{{lang|ab|хпа
Abkhaz alphabet
The Abkhaz alphabet is an alphabet for the Abkhaz language which consists of 62 letters.Abkhaz did not become a written language until the 19th century. Hitherto, Abkhazians, especially princes, had been using the Georgian language and alphabet for issuing official documents...

}}
{{IPA|/χpa/}} 'three' Contrasts with labialized and palatalized
Palatalization
Palatalization or palatalisation generally refers to two phenomena:*As a process or the result of a process, the effect that front vowels and the palatal approximant frequently have on consonants;...

 forms
Afrikaans  {{lang|afr-Latn|goed
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, and was initially developed by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language.During the...

}}
{{IPA|[χuˑt] }} 'good' Some dialects.
Aleut
Aleut language
Aleut is a language of the Eskimo-Aleut language family. It is the heritage language of the Aleut people living in the Aleutian Islands, Pribilof Islands, and Commander Islands. As of 2007 there were about 150 speakers of Aleut .- Dialects :Aleut is alone with the Eskimo languages in the...

Atkan dialect {{lang|ale-Latn|hatix̂
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, and was initially developed by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language.During the...

}}
{{IPA|[hɑtiχ] }} 'ten'
Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...

{{Unicode|Ṣan‘ā’ni}} {{lang|ar|غني
Arabic alphabet
The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing several languages of Asia and Africa, such as Arabic and Urdu. After the Latin alphabet, it is the second-most widely used alphabet around the world....

}}
{{IPA|[ˈχanijjɐ]}} 'rich' See Arabic phonology
Arabic phonology
While many languages have numerous dialects that differ in pronunciation, the Arabic language is more properly described as a collection of different varieties or Macrolanguage. This article deals primarily with Modern Standard Arabic, which is the standard variety shared by educated speakers...

Armenian
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...

 
{{lang|hy|խնդրեմ
Armenian alphabet
The Armenian alphabet is an alphabet that has been used to write the Armenian language since the year 405 or 406. It was devised by Saint Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian monk. Until the 19th century, Classical Armenian was the literary language; since then, the Armenian alphabet has been used to...

}}
{{IPA|[χndɾɛm]}} 'please'
Avar
Avar language
The modern Avar language belongs to the Avar-Andi-Tsez subgroup of the Alarodian Northeast-Caucasian language family....

 
{{lang|av-Cyrl|орх
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script writing system isan alphabet developed in the First Bulgarian Empire, and used in the Slavic national languages of Russian, Bulgarian, Belarusian, Rusyn, Serbian, Macedonian, and Ukrainian, and in the non-Slavic languages of Moldovan, Kazakh, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Tuvan, and...

}}
{{IPA|[orχ] }} 'to lift' Contrasts with a tense
Tenseness
In phonology, tenseness is a particular vowel quality that is phonemically contrastive in many languages, including English. It has also occasionally been used to describe contrasts in consonants. Unlike most distinctive features, the feature [tense] can be interpreted only relatively, that is, in...

 form
Chilcotin
Chilcotin language
Chilcotin is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken in British Columbia by the Tsilhqot’in people.The name Chilcotin is derived from the Chilcotin name for themselves: Tŝilhqot’in , literally "people of the red ochre river".-Consonants:Chilcotin has 47 consonants:* Like many Athabaskan languages,...

 
{{lang|clc-Latn|?
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, and was initially developed by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language.During the...

}}
{{IPA|[ʔælaχ] }} 'I made it'
Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language.
"1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language...

Northern Dutch accents
Hard and soft G in Dutch
In the Dutch language the terminology hard and soft ‹g› refers to not only a phonological phenomenon of the pronunciation of the letters ‹g› and ‹ch› but also indicates a major geographical accent division within the language...

 
{{lang|nl|Scheveningen
Dutch orthography
Dutch orthography uses the Latin alphabet according to a system which has evolved to suit the needs of the Dutch language. The regular relationship of graphemes to phonemes is listed in the article on Dutch language...

}}
{{IPA|sχeːvəniŋən }} 'Scheveningen
Scheveningen
Scheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, as well as one of its subdistricts .Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse...

'
See Dutch phonology
Dutch phonology
Dutch is a Germanic language and as such has a similar phonology to other Germanic languages ....

Eyak
Eyak language
Eyak is an extinct Na-Dené language that was historically spoken in southcentral Alaska, near the mouth of the Copper River.Marie Smith Jones of Cordova was the language's last native speaker, as well as the last full-blooded Eyak...

 
{{lang|eya-Latn|da.
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, and was initially developed by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language.During the...

}}
{{IPA|[daːχ] }} 'and'
French
French language
French is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...

 
{{lang|fr|roche
French orthography
French orthography encompasses the spelling and punctuation of the French language. It is based on a combination of phonemic and historical principles. The spellings of many words are derived from Latin etymologies, which has resulted in a multitude of silent letters...

}}
{{IPA|[χɔʃ] }} 'rock' Rhotic consonant for some dialects. See French phonology
French phonology
This article mainly discusses the phonological system of standard French based on the Parisian dialect. French is notable for its uvular r, nasal vowels, and two processes affecting word-final sounds: liaison, a certain type of sandhi, wherein word-final consonants are not pronounced unless...

German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...

 
{{lang|de|Dach
German orthography
German orthography , although largely phonemic, shows many instances of spellings that are historic or analogic to other spellings rather than phonemic. Nevertheless, the pronunciation of almost every word can be derived from its spelling, once the spelling rules are known.-Middle Ages:The oldest...

}}
{{IPA|[daχ] }} 'roof' Appears only after certain back vowel
Back vowel
A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark...

s in some dialects. See German phonology
German phonology
This article is about the phonology of the German language based on the standard dialect. It deals with current phonology and phonetics as well as with historical developments thereof, including geographical variants .Since German is a pluricentric language, there are a number of different...

Haida
Haida language
The Haida language is the language of the Haida people. It contains eight vowels and well over 30 consonants. Linguist Edward Sapir classified Haida as one of the Na-Dené languages in 1915, a position later supported by others, notably Pinnow, Greenberg, Enrico, Ruhlen, Manaster Ramer, and Bengtson...

 


The voiceless uvular fricative is a type of
consonant
Consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper vocal tract, the upper vocal tract being defined as that part of the vocal tract that lies above the larynx...

al sound, used in some spoken language
Language
A language is a system for encoding and decoding information. In its most common use, the term refers to so-called "natural languages" — the forms of communication considered peculiar to humankind. In linguistics the term is extended to refer to the human cognitive facility of creating and using...

s. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...

 that represents this sound is {{IPA|χ}}, and the equivalent X-SAMPA
X-SAMPA
The Extended Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet is a variant of SAMPA developed in 1995 by John C. Wells, professor of phonetics at the University of London. It was designed to unify the individual language SAMPA alphabets, and extend SAMPA to cover the entire range of characters in the...

 symbol is X. The sound is represented by x̣ (x with underdot) in Americanist phonetic notation
Americanist phonetic notation
Americanist phonetic notation is a system of phonetic notation originally developed by European and American anthropologists and language scientists for the phonetic and phonemic transcription of Native American and European languages...

.

It is not to be confused with the voiceless velar fricative
Voiceless velar fricative
The voiceless velar fricative, informally known as the hard ch, is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is x...

 (IPA
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...

 {{IPA|x}}, X-SAMPA
X-SAMPA
The Extended Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet is a variant of SAMPA developed in 1995 by John C. Wells, professor of phonetics at the University of London. It was designed to unify the individual language SAMPA alphabets, and extend SAMPA to cover the entire range of characters in the...

 x.)

Features


Features of the voiceless uvular fricative:
  • Its manner of articulation
    Manner of articulation
    In linguistics , manner of articulation describes how the tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech organs are involved in making a sound make contact. Often the concept is only used for the production of consonants...

     is fricative
    Fricative consonant
    Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or...

    , which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence
    Turbulence
    In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is a fluid regime characterized by chaotic, stochastic property changes. This includes low momentum diffusion, high momentum convection, and rapid variation of pressure and velocity in space and time. Flow that is not turbulent is called laminar flow...

    .
  • Its place of articulation
    Place of articulation
    In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation of a consonant is the point of contact, where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tract between an active articulator and a passive articulator...

     is uvular
    Uvular consonant
    Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be plosives, fricatives, nasal stops, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not provide a separate symbol for the approximant, and...

     which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue
    Tongue
    The tongue is a muscle on the floor of the mouth that manipulates food for chewing and swallowing . It is the primary organ of taste, as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. A secondary function of the tongue is speech, in which the organ assists...

     (the dorsum) against or near the uvula
    Uvula
    The uvula is the conic projection from the posterior edge of the middle of the soft palate, composed of connective tissue containing a number of racemose glands, and some muscular fibers .-Function in voice:...

    .
  • Its phonation
    Phonation
    Phonation has slightly different meanings depending on the subfield of phonetics. Among some phoneticians, phonation is the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration. This is the definition used among those who study laryngeal anatomy and physiology...

     type is voiceless
    Voiceless
    In linguistics, the term voiceless describes the pronunciation of sounds when the larynx does not vibrate. Phonologically, this is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word "phonation" implies voicing, and that voicelessness is the lack of...

    , which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
  • It is an oral consonant
    Oral consonant
    An oral consonant is a consonant sound in speech that is made by allowing air to escape from the mouth, as opposed to the nose. To create an intended oral consonant sound, the entire mouth plays a role in modifying the air's passageway. This rapid modification of the air passageway using the tongue...

    , which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
  • It is a central consonant
    Central consonant
    A central or medial consonant is a consonant sound that is produced when air flows across the center of the mouth over the tongue.Examples of central consonants are the voiceless velar plosive , the voiced alveolar fricative and the alveolar nasal .A consonant in which air...

    , which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the middle of the tongue, rather than the sides.
  • The airstream mechanism
    Airstream mechanism
    In phonetics, the airstream mechanism is the method by which airflow is created in the vocal tract. Along with phonation, it is one of two mandatory aspects of sound production; without these, there can be no speech sound....

     is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lung
    Lung
    The lung or pulmonary system is the essential respiration organ in air-breathing animals, including most tetrapods, a few fish and a few snails. In mammals and the more complex life forms, the two lungs are located in the chest on either side of the heart...

    s and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis
    Glottis
    The glottis is defined as the combination of the vocal folds and the space in between the folds .-Function:As the vocal folds vibrate, the resulting vibration produces a "buzzing" quality to the speech, called voice or voicing or pronunciation.Sound production involving only the glottis is called...

     or the mouth.

Varieties of {{IPA|[χ]}}

IPA Description
{{IPA|χ}} plain velar fricative
{{IPA|χʷ}} labialised
Labialisation
Labialisation is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialised sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels involve the lips, they are called rounded.The most common...

{{IPA|χʼ}} ejective
Ejective consonant
In phonetics, ejective consonants are voiceless consonants that are pronounced with simultaneous closure of the glottis. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated or tenuis consonants...

{{IPA|χʷʼ}} ejective labialised
{{IPA|χ̜ʷ}} semi-labialised
{{IPA|χ̹ʷ}} strongly labialised
{{IPA|χʲ}} palatalised
{{IPA|χʲʼ}} ejective palatalised

Occurrence

Language Word IPA
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic...

Meaning Notes
Abkhaz
Abkhaz language
Abkhaz is a Northwest Caucasian language spoken mainly by the Abkhaz people. It is the official language of Abkhazia, where around 100,000 people speak it. Furthermore, it is spoken by thousands of members of the Abkhazian diaspora in Turkey, Georgia's autonomous republic of Adjara, Syria, Jordan...

 
{{lang|ab|хпа
Abkhaz alphabet
The Abkhaz alphabet is an alphabet for the Abkhaz language which consists of 62 letters.Abkhaz did not become a written language until the 19th century. Hitherto, Abkhazians, especially princes, had been using the Georgian language and alphabet for issuing official documents...

}}
{{IPA|/χpa/}} 'three' Contrasts with labialized and palatalized
Palatalization
Palatalization or palatalisation generally refers to two phenomena:*As a process or the result of a process, the effect that front vowels and the palatal approximant frequently have on consonants;...

 forms
Afrikaans  {{lang|afr-Latn|goed
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, and was initially developed by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language.During the...

}}
{{IPA|[χuˑt] }} 'good' Some dialects.
Aleut
Aleut language
Aleut is a language of the Eskimo-Aleut language family. It is the heritage language of the Aleut people living in the Aleutian Islands, Pribilof Islands, and Commander Islands. As of 2007 there were about 150 speakers of Aleut .- Dialects :Aleut is alone with the Eskimo languages in the...

Atkan dialect {{lang|ale-Latn|hatix̂
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, and was initially developed by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language.During the...

}}
{{IPA|[hɑtiχ] }} 'ten'
Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a Central Semitic language, thus related to and classified alongside other Semitic languages such as Hebrew and the Neo-Aramaic languages. In terms of speakers, the Arabic macrolanguage is the largest member of the Semitic language family. It is spoken by more than 280 million people as...

{{Unicode|Ṣan‘ā’ni}} {{lang|ar|غني
Arabic alphabet
The Arabic alphabet is the script used for writing several languages of Asia and Africa, such as Arabic and Urdu. After the Latin alphabet, it is the second-most widely used alphabet around the world....

}}
{{IPA|[ˈχanijjɐ]}} 'rich' See Arabic phonology
Arabic phonology
While many languages have numerous dialects that differ in pronunciation, the Arabic language is more properly described as a collection of different varieties or Macrolanguage. This article deals primarily with Modern Standard Arabic, which is the standard variety shared by educated speakers...

Armenian
Armenian language
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian people. It is the official language of the Republic of Armenia as well as in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The language is also widely spoken by Armenian communities in the Armenian diaspora...

 
{{lang|hy|խնդրեմ
Armenian alphabet
The Armenian alphabet is an alphabet that has been used to write the Armenian language since the year 405 or 406. It was devised by Saint Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian monk. Until the 19th century, Classical Armenian was the literary language; since then, the Armenian alphabet has been used to...

}}
{{IPA|[χndɾɛm]}} 'please'
Avar
Avar language
The modern Avar language belongs to the Avar-Andi-Tsez subgroup of the Alarodian Northeast-Caucasian language family....

 
{{lang|av-Cyrl|орх
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script writing system isan alphabet developed in the First Bulgarian Empire, and used in the Slavic national languages of Russian, Bulgarian, Belarusian, Rusyn, Serbian, Macedonian, and Ukrainian, and in the non-Slavic languages of Moldovan, Kazakh, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Tuvan, and...

}}
{{IPA|[orχ] }} 'to lift' Contrasts with a tense
Tenseness
In phonology, tenseness is a particular vowel quality that is phonemically contrastive in many languages, including English. It has also occasionally been used to describe contrasts in consonants. Unlike most distinctive features, the feature [tense] can be interpreted only relatively, that is, in...

 form
Chilcotin
Chilcotin language
Chilcotin is a Northern Athabaskan language spoken in British Columbia by the Tsilhqot’in people.The name Chilcotin is derived from the Chilcotin name for themselves: Tŝilhqot’in , literally "people of the red ochre river".-Consonants:Chilcotin has 47 consonants:* Like many Athabaskan languages,...

 
{{lang|clc-Latn|?
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, and was initially developed by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language.During the...

}}
{{IPA|[ʔælaχ] }} 'I made it'
Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language.
"1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language...

Northern Dutch accents
Hard and soft G in Dutch
In the Dutch language the terminology hard and soft ‹g› refers to not only a phonological phenomenon of the pronunciation of the letters ‹g› and ‹ch› but also indicates a major geographical accent division within the language...

 
{{lang|nl|Scheveningen
Dutch orthography
Dutch orthography uses the Latin alphabet according to a system which has evolved to suit the needs of the Dutch language. The regular relationship of graphemes to phonemes is listed in the article on Dutch language...

}}
{{IPA|sχeːvəniŋən }} 'Scheveningen
Scheveningen
Scheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, as well as one of its subdistricts .Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse...

'
See Dutch phonology
Dutch phonology
Dutch is a Germanic language and as such has a similar phonology to other Germanic languages ....

Eyak
Eyak language
Eyak is an extinct Na-Dené language that was historically spoken in southcentral Alaska, near the mouth of the Copper River.Marie Smith Jones of Cordova was the language's last native speaker, as well as the last full-blooded Eyak...

 
{{lang|eya-Latn|da.
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, and was initially developed by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language.During the...

}}
{{IPA|[daːχ] }} 'and'
French
French language
French is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...

 
{{lang|fr|roche
French orthography
French orthography encompasses the spelling and punctuation of the French language. It is based on a combination of phonemic and historical principles. The spellings of many words are derived from Latin etymologies, which has resulted in a multitude of silent letters...

}}
{{IPA|[χɔʃ] }} 'rock' Rhotic consonant for some dialects. See French phonology
French phonology
This article mainly discusses the phonological system of standard French based on the Parisian dialect. French is notable for its uvular r, nasal vowels, and two processes affecting word-final sounds: liaison, a certain type of sandhi, wherein word-final consonants are not pronounced unless...

German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...

 
{{lang|de|Dach
German orthography
German orthography , although largely phonemic, shows many instances of spellings that are historic or analogic to other spellings rather than phonemic. Nevertheless, the pronunciation of almost every word can be derived from its spelling, once the spelling rules are known.-Middle Ages:The oldest...

}}
{{IPA|[daχ] }} 'roof' Appears only after certain back vowel
Back vowel
A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark...

s in some dialects. See German phonology
German phonology
This article is about the phonology of the German language based on the standard dialect. It deals with current phonology and phonetics as well as with historical developments thereof, including geographical variants .Since German is a pluricentric language, there are a number of different...

Haida
Haida language
The Haida language is the language of the Haida people. It contains eight vowels and well over 30 consonants. Linguist Edward Sapir classified Haida as one of the Na-Dené languages in 1915, a position later supported by others, notably Pinnow, Greenberg, Enrico, Ruhlen, Manaster Ramer, and Bengtson...

 
{{Unicode
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, and was initially developed by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language.During the...

 
{{IPA|[qʼʌlɑ́χʌn] }} 'fence'
Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family. Culturally, it is considered a Jewish language. Hebrew in its modern form is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel while Classical Hebrew has been used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around the world for over...

 
{{lang|he|אוכל
Hebrew alphabet
The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, and because of its place of origin, the Assyrian script is the better-known of two script standards used to write the...

}}
{{IPA|[oχel]}} 'eat' See Hebrew phonology
Hebrew phonology
This article is about the phonology of the Hebrew language based on the Israeli dialect. It deals with current phonology and phonetics as well as with historical developments thereof, including geographical variants....

Kabardian
Kabardian language
The Kabardian language is closely related to the Adyghe language , both members of the Northwest Caucasian language family. It is spoken mainly in the Russian republics of Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia and in Turkey and the Middle East...

 
{{lang|kbd-Cyrl|нэхъ
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script writing system isan alphabet developed in the First Bulgarian Empire, and used in the Slavic national languages of Russian, Bulgarian, Belarusian, Rusyn, Serbian, Macedonian, and Ukrainian, and in the non-Slavic languages of Moldovan, Kazakh, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Tuvan, and...

}}
{{IPA|[nɑχ] }} 'more' Contrasts with a labialized form
Kabyle
Kabyle language
Kabyle is a Berber language spoken by the Kabyle people. In 1995, there were 7,123,000 speakers worldwide, the majority in Algeria, where there were more than 4,500,000...

 
{{lang|kab|axxam}} {{IPA|[aχχam] }} 'house'
Klallam
Klallam language
Klallam or Clallam is a nearly extinct Straits Salishan language that was traditionally spoken by the Klallam peoples at Beecher Bay on Vancouver Island in British Columbia and across the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the north coast of the Olympic Peninsula in Washington...

 
{{Unicode
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, and was initially developed by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language.During the...

 
{{IPA|[sχaʔqʷaʔ] }} 'salmon backbone'
Lakota
Lakota language
Lakota is a Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of the Sioux tribes. While generally taught and considered by speakers as a separate language, Lakota is mutually understandable with the other two languages , and is considered by most linguists one of the three major varieties of the Sioux...

 
{{lang|lkt|ȟóta
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, and was initially developed by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language.During the...

}}
{{IPA|[ˈxota]}} 'gray'
Lezgian  хат
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script writing system isan alphabet developed in the First Bulgarian Empire, and used in the Slavic national languages of Russian, Bulgarian, Belarusian, Rusyn, Serbian, Macedonian, and Ukrainian, and in the non-Slavic languages of Moldovan, Kazakh, Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Tuvan, and...

 
{{IPA|[χatʰ]}} 'bead' Contrasts with a labialized form
Oowekyala
Oowekyala language
Oowekyala is a dialect of Heiltsuk-Oowekyala, a Northern Wakashan language spoken around Rivers Inlet and Owikeno Lake in the Central Coast region of the Canadian province...

 
{{IPA|[tsʼkʼʷχttɬkt͡s]}} 'the invisible one here with me will be short'
Nez Perce
Nez Perce language
Nez Perce is a Sahaptian language related to the several dialects of Sahaptin . The Sahaptian sub-family is one of the branches of the Plateau Penutian family...

 
{{IPA|[ˈχǝχɑˑt͡s]}} 'grizzly bear'
Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and northern Portugal. It is derived from the Latin spoken by the romanized Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago...

 
Brazilian
Brazilian Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese is a group of Portuguese dialects written and spoken by virtually all the almost 200 million inhabitants of Brazil and by a few million Brazilian emigrants, mainly in the United States, United Kingdom, Portugal, Canada, Japan and Paraguay.Roughly speaking, the differences...

 
{{lang|pt|carro
Portuguese orthography
The orthography of Portuguese is based on the Latin alphabet, and makes use of the acute accent, the circumflex accent, the grave accent, the tilde, and the cedilla, to denote stress, vowel height, nasalization, and other sound changes. Brazilian Portuguese also uses the diaeresis mark...

}}
{{IPA|[kaχu]}} 'car' Some dialects. See Portuguese phonology
Portuguese phonology
The phonology of Portuguese can vary considerably between dialects, in extreme cases leading to difficulties in intelligibility. This article focuses on the pronunciations that are generally regarded as standard...

Saanich  WEXES
Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world today. It evolved from the western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, and was initially developed by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language.During the...

 
{{IPA|[wəχəs]}} 'small frogs, peepers' Contrasts with a labialized form
Seri
Seri language
Seri is a language isolate spoken by the Seri people in two villages on the coast of Sonora, Mexico.-Classification:...

 
{{lang|sei|xeecoj}} {{IPA|[χɛːkox]}} 'wolf' Contrasts with a labialized form
Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...

 
{{lang|es|jugar}} {{IPA|[χuˈɣaɾ] }} 'to play' /x/}}. See Spanish phonology
Spanish phonology
This article is about the phonology of the Spanish language. It deals with current phonology and phonetics as well as with historical developments thereof...

Tlingit
Tlingit language
The Tlingit language is spoken by the Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska and Western Canada. It is a branch of the Na-Dené language family. Tlingit is very endangered, with fewer than 140 native speakers still living, all of whom are bilingual or near-bilingual in English...

 
{{lang|tli|tlaxh
Tlingit alphabet
The Tlingit language has been recorded in a number of orthographies over the two hundred years since European contact. The first transcriptions of Tlingit were done by Russian Orthodox ministers, hence they were in the Cyrillic alphabet...

}}
{{IPA|[tɬʰɐχ]}} 'very' Tlingit has four different uvular fricatives
Ubykh
Ubykh language
Ubykh or Ubyx is a language of the Northwestern Caucasian group, spoken by the Ubykh people up until the early 1990s.The word is derived from , its name in the Abdzakh Adyghe language...

 
{{IPA|[asfəpχa]}} 'I need to eat it' Ubykh has ten different uvular fricatives. See Ubykh phonology
Ubykh phonology
Ubykh, a North-West Caucasian language, has the largest consonant inventory of all documented languages which do not use clicks, and also has the most disproportional ratio of phonemic consonants to vowels. It also possesses consonants at at least eight, perhaps nine, basic places of articulation...

Uyghur
Uyghur language
Uyghur , formerly known as Eastern Turki, is a Turkic language spoken in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, a Central Asian region administered by China, mainly by the Uyghur ethnic group. It is spoken by 10 million in China, mostly in Xinjiang...

 
{{lang|ug|یاخشی
Uyghur Ereb Yéziqi
The Uyghur language has been traditionally written with the Arabic script since the 10th century, known as Kona Yezik "Old Writing", as opposed to the Romanization Yengi Yezik, Yeŋi Yeziq "New Writing" in use from 1969 to 1987, and the Cyrillic script currently used in the former Soviet Union.The...

}}
{{IPA|[jɑχʃi]}} 'good'
Yiddish
Yiddish language
Yiddish is a non-territorial High German language of Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world...

 
{{lang|yid|בוך
Hebrew alphabet
The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, and because of its place of origin, the Assyrian script is the better-known of two script standards used to write the...

}}
{{IPA|[bʊχ]}} 'book' See Yiddish phonology
Yiddish phonology
There is significant phonological variation among the various dialects of the Yiddish language. The description that follows is of a modern Standard Yiddish that was devised during the early 20th century and is frequently encountered in pedagogical contexts...