s͉ vs z

Voiceless Alveolar Sibilant Fricative vs Voiced Alveolar Sibilant Fricative

How these sounds differ

s͉

Voiceless Alveolar Sibilant Fricative

Voicing: voiceless
Place: alveolar
Manner: sibilant fricative
Class: consonant
In languages: 2 / 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 s͉

Languages with both

133

Languages with z

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 s͉, not z (2)

Korean Koreanic Modern Hebrew Afro-Asiatic

Has z, not s͉ (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