Voiced alveolar fricative

The voiced alveolar fricatives are consonantal sounds. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents these sounds depends on whether a sibilant or non-sibilant fricative is being described.

  • The symbol for the alveolar sibilant is ⟨z⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is z. The IPA letter ⟨z⟩ is not normally used for dental or postalveolar sibilants in narrow transcription unless modified by a diacritic (⟨⟩ and ⟨⟩ respectively).
  • The IPA symbol for the alveolar non-sibilant fricative is derived by means of diacritics; it can be ⟨ð̠⟩ or ⟨ɹ̝⟩.
Voiced coronal fricatives
Dental Denti-
alveolar
Alveolar Post-alveolar
Retracted Retroflex Palato-
alveolar
Alveolo-
palatal
Sibilant plain ʐ ʒ ʑ
Non-sibilant ð ð͇ ɻ̝
tapped ɾ̞
Coronal sibilants
IPA
symbol
meaning
place
of articulation
passive
(mouth)
dental
advanced
(denti-alveolar)
alveolar
retracted
(postalveolar)
active
(tongue)
apical
laminal
ʐ retroflex
secondary palatalized coronal
ʑ alveolo-palatal
ʒ palato-alveolar
labialized coronal
velarized coronal
pharyngealized coronal
voice-onset time breathy coronal