How these sounds differ
sˑ
Voiceless Alveolar Sibilant Fricative
- Voicing
- voiceless
- Place
- alveolar
- Manner
- sibilant fricative
- Class
- consonant
- In languages
- 0 / 500
z
Voiced Alveolar Sibilant Fricative
- Voicing
- voiced
- Place
- alveolar
- Manner
- sibilant fricative
- Class
- consonant
- In languages
- 133 / 500
Cross-linguistic distribution
0
Languages with sˑ
0
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 z, not sˑ (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