Voiceless velar fricative

IPA – number	140
IPA – text	x
IPA – image
Entity	x
X-SAMPA	x
Kirshenbaum	x
Sound sample (help·info)

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 x, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is x. The [x] sound was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English.

Features

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 part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the velum).
• Its phonation type is voiceless, which means the vocal cords are not vibrating during the articulation.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the middle of the tongue, rather than the sides.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis or the mouth.

Varieties of [x]

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Afrikaans		goed	[xuˑt]	'well'
Aleut	Atkan dialect	alax	[ɑlɑx]	'two'
Angor		hombo	[xombo]	'to walk'
Arabic		خضراء	[xadˤraːʔ]	'green (f)'	See Arabic phonology
Assamese		অসমীয়া	[ɔxɔmija]	'Assamese'
Avar		чeхь	[tʃex]	'belly'
Azerbaijani		xoş	[xoʃ]	'pleasant'
Bulgarian		тихо	[tixɔ]	'quietly'
Chinese	Mandarin	河/hé	[xɤ˧˥]	'river'	See Standard Mandarin
Croatian		Hrvatski	[xř̩ʋaːtskiː]	'Croatian'
Czech		chlap	[xlap]	'guy'	See Czech phonology
Dutch	Belgian Dutch[1]	acht	[ˈɑxt] (help·info)	'eight'	More common in northern dialects. See Dutch phonology
	Northern dialects[2]
English	Scottish	loch	[lɔx]	'loch'	See English phonology
Esperanto		monaĥo	[monaxo]	'monk'	See Esperanto phonology
Eyak		duxł	[tʊxɬ]	'traps'
Georgian[3]		ჯოხი	[ˈdʒɔxi]	'stick'
German		Kuchen	[kuːxən]	'cake'	See German phonology
Greek		χαρά	[xaˈra]	'joy'	See Modern Greek phonology
Hindi		ख़ुशी	[xʊʃiː]	'happiness'	See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Hungarian		sahhal	[ʃɒxːɒl]	'with a shah'	See Hungarian phonology
Irish		deoch	[dʲɔ̝̈x]	'drink'	See Irish phonology
Lithuanian		choras	[xoras]	'chorus'
Lojban		xatra	[xatra]	'letter'
Persian		خواهر	[xaːhær]	'sister'	See Persian phonology
Polish[4]		chleb	[xlɛp]	'bread'	Also (in great majority of dialects) represented by <h>. See Polish phonology
Portuguese	Brazilian	rabo	[ˈxabʊ]	'tail'	See Portuguese phonology
Russian[5]		хвост/khvost	[xvost]	'tail'	See Russian phonology
Scottish Gaelic		drochaid	[troxadʒ]	'bridge'	See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Serbian		храст/hrast	[xrast]	'oak'
Slovak		chlap	[xlap]	'guy'
Somali		khad	[xad]	'ink'	See Somali phonology
Spanish[6]		ojo	[ˈo̞xo̞]	'eye'	See Spanish phonology
Xhosa		rhoxisa	[xɔkǁiːsa]	'to cancel'
Urdu		خوشی	[xʊʃiː]	'happiness'	See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Vietnamese		khê	[xe]	'to be burnt'	See Vietnamese phonology
Welsh		carchar	[kaɾxaɾ]	'jail'	See Welsh phonology
Yaghan		xan	[xan]	'here'
Zapotec	Tilquiapan[7]	mejor	[mɘxoɾ]	'better'	Used primarily in loanwords from Spanish

See also

• List of phonetics topics

References

Bibliography

• Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (1): 103-107 
• Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (2): 255-259 
• Merrill, Elizabeth (2008), "Tilquipan Zapotec", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 38 (1): 107-114 
• Padgett, Jaye (2003), "Contrast and Post-Velar Fronting in Russian", Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 21 (1): 39-87 
• van Reenen, Pieter; Huijs, Nanette (2000), "De harde en de zachte g, de spelling gh versus g voor voorklinker in het veertiende-eeuwse Middelnederlands" (in Dutch), Taal en Tongval 52: 159-181, http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/taalentongval/artikelen/Reenen_Huijs.pdf 
• Shosted, Ryan K.; Vakhtang, Chikovani (2006), "Standard Georgian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 36 (2): 255-264 
• Verhoeven, Jo (2005), "Belgian Standard Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 25 (2): 243-247