Voiced palatal plosive

Voiced palatal plosive
ɟ
IPA Number 108
Audio sample
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Encoding
Entity (decimal) ɟ
Unicode (hex) U+025F
X-SAMPA J\
Braille ⠔ (braille pattern dots-35)⠚ (braille pattern dots-245)
Voiced alveolo-palatal plosive
ɟ̟
d̠ʲ
ȡ

The voiced palatal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound in some vocal languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ɟ, a barred dotless ⟨j⟩ that was initially created by turning the type for a lowercase letter ⟨f⟩. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is J\.

If the distinction is necessary, the voiced alveolo-palatal plosive may be transcribed ɟ̟, ɟ˖ (both symbols denote an advanced ɟ) or d̠ʲ (retracted and palatalized d), but they are essentially equivalent since the contact includes both the blade and body (but not the tip) of the tongue. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbols are J\_+ and d_-' or d_-_j, respectively. There is also a non-IPA letter U+0221 ȡ ; ȡ ("d" with the curl found in the symbols for alveolo-palatal sibilant fricatives ɕ, ʑ) that is used especially in Sinological circles.

[ɟ] is a less common sound worldwide than the voiced postalveolar affricate [d͡ʒ] because it is difficult to get the tongue to touch just the hard palate without also touching the back part of the alveolar ridge. It is also common for the symbol ɟ to be used to represent a palatalized voiced velar plosive or palato-alveolar/alveolo-palatal affricates, as in Indic languages. That may be considered appropriate when the place of articulation needs to be specified, and the distinction between plosive and affricate is not contrastive.

There is also the voiced post-palatal plosive in some languages, which is articulated slightly more back than the place of articulation of the prototypical palatal consonant but not as back as the prototypical velar consonant. The IPA does not have a separate symbol, which can be transcribed as ɟ̠, ɟ˗ (both symbols denote a retracted ɟ), ɡ̟ or ɡ˖ (both symbols denote an advanced ɡ). The equivalent X-SAMPA symbols are J\_- and g_+, respectively.

Especially in broad transcription, the voiced post-palatal plosive may be transcribed as a palatalized voiced velar plosive (ɡʲ in the IPA, g' or g_j in X-SAMPA).

Features

Features of the voiced palatal stop:

  • Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no nasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is a plosive.
  • Its place of articulation is palatal, which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised to the hard palate.
    • The otherwise identical post-palatal variant is articulated slightly behind the hard palate, making it sound closer to the velar [ɡ].
    • Alveolo-palatal variant is articulated also with the blade of the tongue at or behind the alveolar ridge.
  • Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
  • It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
  • It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
  • The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Palatal or alveolo-palatal

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Albanian gjuha [ˈɟuha] 'tongue' Merged with [d͡ʒ] in Gheg Albanian and some speakers of Tosk Albanian.
Arabic Some Northern Yemeni dialects جمل [ˈɟamal] 'camel' Corresponds to [d͡ʒ ~ ʒ ~ ɡ ~ j] in other varieties. See Arabic phonology
Some Sudanese speakers
Upper Egypt
Aramaic some Urmian & Koine speakers ܓܒ̣ܪܐ/gavrɑ [ɟoːrɑ] 'husband' Corresponds to /ɡ/ or /d͡ʒ/ in other dialects.
some Northern speakers [ɟaʊrɑ]
Azerbaijani گۆنش/günəş [ɟyˈnæʃ] 'sun'
Basque anddere [äɲɟe̞ɾe̞] 'doll'
Catalan Majorcan guix [ˈɟi̞ɕ] 'chalk' Corresponds to /ɡ/ in other varieties. See Catalan phonology
Corsican fighjulà [viɟɟuˈla] 'to watch'
Czech dělám [ˈɟ̟ɛlaːm] 'I do' Alveolo-palatal. See Czech phonology
Dinka jir [ɟir] 'blunt'
Ega [ɟé] 'become numerous'
Friulian gjat [ɟat] 'cat'
Ganda jjajja [ɟːaɟːa] 'grandfather'
Hungarian gyám [ɟäːm] 'guardian' See Hungarian phonology
Irish Gaeilge [ˈɡeːlʲɟə] 'Irish language' See Irish phonology
Latvian ģimene [ˈɟime̞ne̞] 'family' See Latvian phonology
Macedonian раѓање [ˈraɟaɲɛ] 'birth' See Macedonian phonology
Malay Kelantan-Pattani تراجڠ/terajang [tə.ɣa.ɟɛ̃ː] 'kick' See Kelantan-Pattani Malay
Norwegian Central fadder [fɑɟːeɾ] 'godparent' See Norwegian phonology
Northern
Occitan Auvergnat diguèt [ɟiˈɡɛ] 'said' (3rd pers. sing.) See Occitan phonology
Limousin dissèt [ɟiˈʃɛ]
Pitjantjatjara Pitjantjatjara [ˈpɪɟanɟaɟaɾa] See Pitjantjatjara dialect
Portuguese Some Brazilian speakers pedinte [piˈɟ̟ĩc̟i̥] 'beggar' Corresponds to affricate allophone of /d/ before /i/ that is common in Brazil. See Portuguese phonology
Sicilian travagghju [ʈɽɑ̝ˈväɟ.ɟʊ̠] or [ʈ͡ʂɑ̝ˈväɟ.ɟʊ̠] 'job, task'
Slovak ďaleký [ˈɟ̟äɫe̞kiː] 'far' Alveolo-palatal. See Slovak phonology
Turkish güneş [ɟyˈne̞ʃ] 'sun' See Turkish phonology
Vietnamese North-central dialect da [ɟa˧] 'skin' See Vietnamese phonology
Wu Taizhou dialect /gion6 [ɟyoŋ] 'together'

Post-palatal

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Catalan guix [ˈɡ̟i̞ɕ] 'chalk' Allophone of /ɡ/ before front vowels when not preceded by a vowel. See Catalan phonology
English geese 'geese' Allophone of /ɡ/ before front vowels and /j/. See English phonology
Greek μετάγγιση/metággisi [me̞ˈtɐŋ̟ɟ̠is̠i] 'transfusion' Post-palatal. See Modern Greek phonology
Italian Standard ghianda [ˈɡ̟jän̪ːd̪ä] 'acorn' Post-palatal; allophone of /ɡ/ before /i, e, ɛ, j/. See Italian phonology
Portuguese amiguinho [ɐmiˈɡ̟ĩɲu] 'little buddy' Allophone of /ɡ/ before front vowels. See Portuguese phonology
Romanian ghimpe [ˈɡ̟impe̞] 'thorn' Both an allophone of /ɡ/ before /i, e, j/ and the phonetic realization of /ɡʲ/. See Romanian phonology
Russian Standard герб/gerb [ɡ̟e̞rp] 'coat of arms' Typically transcribed in IPA with ɡʲ. See Russian phonology
Spanish guía [ˈɡ̟i.ä] 'guidebook' Allophone of /ɡ/ before front vowels when not preceded by a vowel. See Spanish phonology
Yanyuwa [ɡ̠uɡ̟uɭu] 'sacred' Post-palatal. Contrasts plain and prenasalized versions.

See also