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 (⟨z̪⟩ and ⟨z̠⟩ 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 z̪ z̟ z͇ z̠ ʐ ʒ ʑ
Non-sibilant ð ð͇ ɻ̝
tapped ɾ̞
Coronal sibilants
IPA
symbol 		meaning
place
of articulation 		passive
(mouth) 		⟨z̪⟩ dental
⟨z̟⟩ advanced
(denti-alveolar)
⟨z͇⟩ alveolar
⟨z̠⟩ retracted
(postalveolar)
active
(tongue) 		⟨z̺⟩ apical
⟨z̻⟩ laminal
⟨ʐ⟩ retroflex
secondary ⟨zʲ⟩ palatalized coronal
⟨ʑ⟩ alveolo-palatal
⟨ʒ⟩ palato-alveolar
⟨zʷ⟩ labialized coronal
⟨zˠ⟩ velarized coronal
⟨zˤ⟩ pharyngealized coronal
voice-onset time ⟨zʱ⟩ breathy coronal