The voiced uvular fricative is a type of
consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...
al sound, used in some
spoken language
Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...
s. The symbol in the
International Phonetic Alphabet
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standard written representation ...
that represents this sound is , an inverted small uppercase letter , or in
broad transcription if
rhotic. This consonant is one of the several collectively called
guttural R when found in European languages.
The voiced uvular approximant is also found
interchangeably with the fricative, and may also be transcribed as . Because the IPA symbol stands for the uvular fricative, the
approximant
Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough nor with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do prod ...
may be specified by adding the
downtack: , though some writings use a superscript , which is not an official IPA practice.
For a voiced pre-uvular fricative (also called post-velar), see
voiced velar fricative
The voiced velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound that is used in various spoken languages. It is not found in most varieties of Modern English but existed in Old English. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents ...
.
Features
Features of the voiced uvular fricative:
In many languages it is closer to an
approximant
Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough nor with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do prod ...
, however, and no language distinguishes the two at the uvular articulation.
Occurrence
In Western Europe, a
uvular trill pronunciation of rhotic consonants spread from northern
French to several dialects and
registers of
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
,
[''Grammar of Basque'']
page 30
José Ignacio Hualde, Jon Ortiz De Urbina, Walter de Gruyter, 2003 Catalan,
Danish,
Dutch,
German,
Judaeo-Spanish,
Norwegian,
Occitan,
Portuguese,
Swedish, some variants of
Low Saxon, and
Yiddish
Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...
. However, not all of them remain a uvular trill today.
In
Brazilian Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese (; ; also known as pt-BR) is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of Portuguese language native to Brazil. It is spoken by almost all of the 203 million inhabitants of Brazil and widely across the Brazilian diaspora ...
, it is usually a velar fricative (, ),
voiceless uvular fricative , or glottal transition (, ), except in southern Brazil, where alveolar and uvular trills as well as the voiced uvular fricative predominate. Because such uvular
rhotics often do not contrast with alveolar ones, IPA transcriptions may often use to represent them for ease of typesetting. For more information, see
guttural R.
note, "There is... a complication in the case of uvular fricatives in that the shape of the vocal tract may be such that the uvula vibrates."
It is also present in most
Turkic languages
The Turkic languages are a language family of more than 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and West Asia. The Turkic langua ...
, except for
Turkish, and in
Caucasian languages. It could also come in
É£.
See also
*
Index of phonetics articles
*
Guttural
Guttural Phone (phonetics), speech sounds are those with a primary place of articulation near the back of the oral cavity, where it is difficult to distinguish a sound's place of articulation and its phonation. In popular usage it is an imprecise t ...
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Voiced Uvular Fricative
Approximant-fricative consonants
Uvular consonants
Pulmonic consonants
Voiced oral consonants
Central consonants