/ˈaɪ.pə/

sˤ vs z

Voiceless Alveolar Sibilant Fricative vs Voiced Alveolar Sibilant Fricative

How these sounds differ

sˤ
Voiceless Alveolar Sibilant Fricative
Voicing
voiceless
Place
alveolar
Manner
sibilant fricative
Class
consonant
In languages
4 / 500
Full details →
z
Voiced Alveolar Sibilant Fricative
Voicing
voiced
Place
alveolar
Manner
sibilant fricative
Class
consonant
In languages
133 / 500
Full details →

Cross-linguistic distribution

4
Languages with sˤ
1
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 sˤ, not z (3)

Moroccan Arabic Afro-Asiatic KURDISH Indo-European Kurdish Indo-European

Has z, not sˤ (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 Otomi Otomanguean Dakota Siouan Mazahua Otomanguean Navaho Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit Chipewyan Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit Kunimaipa Kunimaipan Malagasy Austronesian Karen Sino-Tibetan Burushaski Language isolate Kabardian Abkhaz-Adyge Lak Nakh-Daghestanian Luvale Atlantic-Congo