ʐ vs ʂ

Voiced Retroflex Sibilant Fricative vs Voiceless Retroflex Sibilant Fricative

How these sounds differ

Voiced Retroflex Sibilant Fricative

Voicing: voiced
Place: retroflex
Manner: sibilant fricative
Class: consonant
In languages: 14 / 500

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Voiceless Retroflex Sibilant Fricative

Voicing: voiceless
Place: retroflex
Manner: sibilant fricative
Class: consonant
In languages: 37 / 500

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Cross-linguistic distribution

Languages with ʐ

Languages with both

Languages with ʂ

10 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 ʐ, not ʂ (4)

Mapudungun Araucanian Wapishana Arawakan Yánesha Arawakan Daur Mongolic-Khitan

Has ʂ, not ʐ (20)

Mongghul Mongolic-Khitan Cham Austronesian Chasta Costa Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit TARASCAN Tarascan Luiseno Uto-Aztecan Pima Uto-Aztecan Mazateco Otomanguean Chacobo Pano-Tacanan Guambiano Barbacoan JACALTEC Mayan CAMSA Language isolate ACOMA Keresan Konkani Indo-European Burushaski Language isolate Kota Dravidian Hindi-Urdu Indo-European Marathi Indo-European Telugu Dravidian Tamil Dravidian Urdu Indo-European