sʰ vs z

Voiceless Alveolar Sibilant Fricative vs Voiced Alveolar Sibilant Fricative

How these sounds differ

sʰ

Voiceless Alveolar Sibilant Fricative

Voicing: voiceless
Place: alveolar
Manner: sibilant fricative
Class: consonant
In languages: 3 / 500

Full details →

Voiced Alveolar Sibilant Fricative

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

Full details →

Cross-linguistic distribution

Languages with sʰ

Languages with both

133

Languages with z

3 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 sʰ (20)

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