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The voiceless uvular affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represent this sound are ⟨q͡χ⟩ and ⟨q͜χ⟩. The tie bar may be omitted, yielding ⟨qχ⟩.
| Voiceless uvular affricate | |
|---|---|
| qχ | |
| qꭓ | |
| qᴚ | |
| Audio sample | |
| Encoding | |
| X-SAMPA | q_X |
There is also the voiceless pre-uvular affricate[1] in some languages, which is articulated slightly more front compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical voiceless uvular affricate, though not as front as the prototypical voiceless velar affricate. The International Phonetic Alphabet does not have a separate symbol for that sound, though it can be transcribed as ⟨q̟͡χ̟⟩ or ⟨q͡χ˖⟩ (both symbols denote an advanced ⟨q͡χ⟩) or ⟨k̠͡x̠⟩ (retracted ⟨k͡x⟩).
Features
editFeatures of the voiceless uvular affricate:
- Its manner of articulation is affricate, which means it is produced by first stopping the airflow entirely, then allowing air flow through a constricted channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence.
- Its place of articulation is uvular, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) at the uvula.
- 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 that air is exclusively allowed to escape through the mouth.
- 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
editUvular
edit| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alemannic | Most High and Highest Alemannic dialects | Gschänk | [ˈkʃæɴq͡χ] | 'present' | Velar [k͡x] in other dialects. |
| Adyghe | Natukhai | кхъэ | ⓘ | 'grave' | Dialectal. Corresponds to [qʰ] in other dialects. |
| Avar | хъарахъ/څﺎراڅ | ⓘ | 'bush' | Contrasts with the ejective [q͡χʼː]. | |
| Chukchi | ӈирэӄ/ňirèḳ | [ŋireq͡χ] | 'two' | Allophone of [q]. | |
| English | Scouse[2] | clock | [kl̥ɒq͡χ] | 'clock' | Possible word-final realization of /k/.[2] |
| Georgian | Some dialects | აფხაზეთი | [apʰq͡χazetʰi] | 'Abkhazia' | Only after bilabial stops. Otherwise [x]. |
| Kabardian | кхъэ/ٯّە | ⓘ | 'grave' | ||
| Persian | Some dialects | ﻗﻔﻞ | [q͡χofl] | 'lock' | Fortition of word-initial /q/. |
| Rendille | munkhet | [munq͡χet] | 'forgotten' | Only after nasal consonants. Otherwise [x]. | |
Pre-uvular
edit| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uzbek[3] | quruq / قوروق | [q˖uɾ̪uq͡χ˖] | 'dry' | Allophone of /q/ in word-final and preconsonantal positions.[3] | |
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ Instead of "pre-uvular", it can be called "advanced uvular", "fronted uvular", "post-velar", "retracted velar" or "backed velar". For simplicity, this article uses only the term "pre-uvular".
- ^ a b Wells (1982), pp. 372–373.
- ^ a b Sjoberg (1963), p. 11.
References
edit- Sjoberg, Andrée F. (1963). Uzbek Structural Grammar. Uralic and Altaic Series. Vol. 18. Bloomington: Indiana University. LCCN 63-62530. OCLC 4241028.
- Wells, John C. (1982). Accents of English. Vol. 2: The British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511611759. ISBN 0-521-24224-X. OCLC 419896703.