Voiceless uvular fricative

The voiceless uvular fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is χ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is X.

It is not to be confused with a voiceless velar fricative or x.

[edit] Features

Features of the voiceless uvular fricative:

Its manner of articulation is fricative, which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence.
Its place of articulation is uvular which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) against or near the uvula.
Its phonation type is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the middle of the tongue, rather than the sides.
The airstream mechanism is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis or the mouth.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abkhaz		хпа	/χpa/	'three'	Contrasts with labialized and palatalized forms
Afrikaans		goed	[χuˑt]	'good'	Some dialects.
Aleut	Atkan dialect	hatix̂	[hɑtiχ]	'ten'
Armenian		խնդրեմ	[χndɾɛm]	'please'
Avar		орх	[orχ]	'to lift'	Contrasts with a tense form
Chilcotin		?	[ʔælaχ]	'I made it'
Eyak		da^.x̣	[daːχ]	'and'
French		roche	[χɔʃ]	'rock'	Rhotic consonant for some dialects. See French phonology
German		Dach	[daχ]	'roof'	Appears only after certain back vowels in some dialects. See German phonology
Haida		ḵ'aláax̂an	[qʼʌlɑ́χʌn]	'fence'
Kabardian		нэхъ	[nɑχ]	'more'	Contrasts with a labialized form
Kabyle		axxam	[aχχam]	'house'
Klallam		sx̣aʔqʷaʔ	[sχaʔqʷaʔ]	'salmon backbone'
Lezgian		хат	[χatʰ]	'bead'	Contrasts with a labialized form
Oowekyala		[ʦʼkʼʷχttɬkʦ]		'the invisible one here with me will be short'
Portuguese	Brazilian	carro	[kaχu]	'car'	Some dialects. See Portuguese phonology
Saanich		WEXES	[wəχəs]	'small frogs, peepers'	Contrasts with a labialized form
Seri		xeecoj	[χɛːkox]	'wolf'	Contrasts with a labialized form
Spanish		jugar	[χuˈɣaɾ]	'to play'	Allophone of /x/. See Spanish phonology
Ubykh		[asfəpχa]		'I need to eat it'	Ubykh has ten different uvular fricatives. See Ubykh phonology

Hess, Wolfgang (2001). "Funktionale Phonetik und Phonologie." In "Grundlagen der Phonetik." Bonn: Institut für Kommunikationsforschung und Phonetik, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität.

Consonants (List, table)