/ˈaɪ.pə/

ʃː vs ʒ

Voiceless Palato-Alveolar Sibilant Fricative vs Voiced Palato-Alveolar Sibilant Fricative

How these sounds differ

ʃː
Voiceless Palato-Alveolar Sibilant Fricative
Voicing
voiceless
Place
palato-alveolar
Manner
sibilant fricative
Class
consonant
In languages
19 / 500
Full details →
ʒ
Voiced Palato-Alveolar Sibilant Fricative
Voicing
voiced
Place
palato-alveolar
Manner
sibilant fricative
Class
consonant
In languages
88 / 500
Full details →

Cross-linguistic distribution

19
Languages with ʃː
10
Languages with both
88
Languages with ʒ

10 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 ʃː, not ʒ (9)

Mahas-Fiyadikka Nubian Zuni Language isolate Goajiro Arawakan Maltese Afro-Asiatic Inuit Eskimo-Aleut Karok Language isolate Bengali Indo-European Japanese Japonic Egyptian Arabic Afro-Asiatic

Has ʒ, not ʃː (20)

Zuberoan Basque Basque Pashto Indo-European Persian Indo-European Breton Indo-European Songhai Songhay Luvale Atlantic-Congo Dagbani Atlantic-Congo Margi Afro-Asiatic Angas Afro-Asiatic Apinaye Nuclear-Macro-Je Ocaina Huitotoan Mazahua Otomanguean Mixtec Otomanguean Dakota Siouan Navaho Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit Aleut Eskimo-Aleut Atayal Austronesian Kabardian Abkhaz-Adyge Lak Nakh-Daghestanian Cheremis Uralic