xʼ vs ɣ

Voiceless Velar Fricative vs Voiced Velar Fricative

How these sounds differ

xʼ

Voiceless Velar Fricative

Voicing: voiceless
Place: velar
Manner: fricative
Class: consonant
In languages: 1 / 500

Full details →

Voiced Velar Fricative

Voicing: voiced
Place: velar
Manner: fricative
Class: consonant
In languages: 60 / 500

Full details →

Cross-linguistic distribution

Languages with xʼ

Languages with both

Languages with ɣ

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 ɣ, not xʼ (20)

Margi Afro-Asiatic Angas Afro-Asiatic Chacobo Pano-Tacanan Guarani Tupian Mapudungun Araucanian Quechua Quechuan Mixtec Otomanguean Mazateco Otomanguean Navaho Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit Chasta Costa Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit Chipewyan Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit Inuit Eskimo-Aleut Aleut Eskimo-Aleut Maung Iwaidjan Proper Kunjen Pama-Nyungan Atayal Austronesian Kabardian Abkhaz-Adyge Lahu Sino-Tibetan Karen Sino-Tibetan IRISH Indo-European