s̪ vs z

Voiceless Alveolar Sibilant Fricative vs Voiced Alveolar Sibilant Fricative

How these sounds differ

s̪

Voiceless Alveolar Sibilant Fricative

Voicing: voiceless
Place: alveolar
Manner: sibilant fricative
Class: consonant
In languages: 31 / 500

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Voiced Alveolar Sibilant Fricative

Voicing: voiced
Place: alveolar
Manner: sibilant fricative
Class: consonant
In languages: 133 / 500

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Cross-linguistic distribution

Languages with s̪

Languages with both

133

Languages with z

1 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 s̪, not z (20)

SIERRA MIWOK Miwok-Costanoan Digueno Cochimi-Yuman Moroccan Arabic Afro-Asiatic North Azerbaijani Turkic BEJA Afro-Asiatic Brahui Dravidian NICOBARESE Austroasiatic HMONG Hmong-Mien IRARUTU Austronesian ACOMA Keresan KURDISH Indo-European MIXE Mixe-Zoque NAXI Sino-Tibetan NIMBORAN Nimboranic NYANGI Kuliak Italian Indo-European Polish Indo-European Ukrainian Indo-European Romanian Indo-European Shona Atlantic-Congo

Has z, not s̪ (20)

Ga Atlantic-Congo Dagbani Atlantic-Congo Kpelle Mande Kadugli (Miri) Kadugli-Krongo Maltese Afro-Asiatic Awiya Afro-Asiatic Margi Afro-Asiatic Angas Afro-Asiatic Mazahua Otomanguean Navaho Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit Otomi Otomanguean Chipewyan Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit Dakota Siouan Kunimaipa Kunimaipan Malagasy Austronesian Karen Sino-Tibetan Burushaski Language isolate Kabardian Abkhaz-Adyge Lak Nakh-Daghestanian Luvale Atlantic-Congo