| Above: | Voiceless palatal-velar fricative (Sj-sound) |
| Ipa Symbol: | ɧ |
| Ipa Number: | 175 |
| Decimal: | 615 |
| Xsampa: | x\ |
| Kirshenbaum: | x^ or S~ |
| Imagefile: | IPA Unicode 0x0267.svg |
The sj-sound (Swedish: sj-ljudet in Swedish pronounced as /ˈɧêːˌjʉːdɛt/) is a voiceless fricative phoneme found in the sound system of most dialects of Swedish. It has a variety of realisations, whose precise phonetic characterisation is a matter of debate, but which usually feature distinct labialization. The sound is represented in Swedish orthography by a number of spellings, including the digraph (sj) from which the common Swedish name for the sound is derived, as well as (stj), (skj), and (before front vowels) (sk). The sound should not be confused with the Swedish tj-sound pronounced as /link/, often spelled (tj), (kj), or (before front vowels) (k).
These sounds are transcribed (IPA|ɧ) in the International Phonetic Alphabet. The International Phonetic Association (IPA) describes them as "simultaneous pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/", but this realization is not attested, and phoneticians doubt that such a realization actually occurs in any language.[1]
Other descriptive labels include:
The closest sound found in English, as well as many other languages, is the voiceless postalveolar fricative pronounced as /[ʃ]/ (Swedish words with the sound often correspond to English words with "sh", such as "shield", "shoot"), although usually the closest audible approximation is the voiceless labialized velar approximant pronounced as /[ʍ]/ found in some English dialects. Regionally, it varies from being more pronounced as /link/-like in the standard speech, to being more pronounced as /link/-like in northern Sweden and Finland. The tj-sound (which often corresponds to English words with "ch", such as "chicken", "church") remains distinct, varying from more pronounced as /link/-like (i.e., pronounced as /link/) in the standard speech to more pronounced as /link/-like in northern Sweden and Finland.
Features of the sj-sound:
This sound has been reported in certain dialects of Swedish, where it is most often known as the sj-sound.
Its place of articulation varies over Swedish regions and is not agreed upon. It has been variously found to be the following:
Consider the following comments by Peter Ladefoged and Ian Maddieson:
A sound transcribed with (IPA|ɧ) is also reported to occur in the Kölsch variety of Ripuarian in Germany,[3] [4] being articulated in positions in words that enveloping Standard German has pronounced as /link/.
The acoustic difference between pronounced as //ʃ// and the Kölsch pronounced as //ɧ// is difficult to perceive but the articulation is clearly distinct.[3] Whether or not there is a relation between Swedish pronounced as //ɧ// and the Kölsch pronounced as //ɧ// is not known. While none seems to have been established, comments suggest that the choice of (IPA|ɧ) might well have been based upon a misunderstanding.[4] Certainly, the Kölsch pronounced as //ɧ// is not doubly articulated and even contrasts with a slightly velarized pronounced as //ʃ//.
Some phoneticians[5] suggest that (IPA|ɕ) is a better symbol for this sound, but this is not established practice, and may need further research.
A sound transcribed with (IPA|ɧ) is also reported word-initially and word-medially in the Wutun language, where it has been described as a dorso-palatal/velar glide.[6] The symbol is also used in describing a sound in the Bahing language of Nepal.[7]
pronounced as /navigation/