z̪ vs s

Voiced Alveolar Sibilant Fricative vs Voiceless Alveolar Sibilant Fricative

How these sounds differ

z̪

Voiced Alveolar Sibilant Fricative

Voicing: voiced
Place: alveolar
Manner: sibilant fricative
Class: consonant
In languages: 17 / 500

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Voiceless Alveolar Sibilant Fricative

Voicing: voiceless
Place: alveolar
Manner: sibilant fricative
Class: consonant
In languages: 345 / 500

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Cross-linguistic distribution

Languages with z̪

Languages with both

345

Languages with s

0 languages in our database contrast both sounds as distinct phonemes. Languages that have one but not the other tend to merge them into a single phoneme — meaning speakers of those languages often struggle to hear the distinction when learning a language that contrasts them.

Has z̪, not s (17)

Moroccan Arabic Afro-Asiatic NAXI Sino-Tibetan KURDISH Indo-European Brahui Dravidian BAI Sino-Tibetan North Azerbaijani Turkic Italian Indo-European Polish Indo-European Ukrainian Indo-European Romanian Indo-European Shona Atlantic-Congo Kurdish Indo-European Lebanese Arabic Afro-Asiatic Tatar Turkic Kyrgyz Turkic Tashlhiyt Berber Afro-Asiatic Lithuanian Indo-European

Has s, not z̪ (20)

Kaliai Austronesian Iai Austronesian Chamorro Austronesian Sa'ban Austronesian Toba-Batak Austronesian Malagasy Austronesian Atayal Austronesian Yay Tai-Kadai Karen Sino-Tibetan Dafla Sino-Tibetan Yao Hmong-Mien Kharia Austroasiatic Hakka Chinese Sino-Tibetan Bhumij Austroasiatic Kota Dravidian Burushaski Language isolate Lak Nakh-Daghestanian Ket Yeniseian Kabardian Abkhaz-Adyge Adzera Austronesian