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.

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 (some dialects)	goed	[χuˑt]	'good'
Armenian	խնդրեմ	[χndɾɛm]	'please'
Avar	орх	[orχ]	'to lift'	Contrasts with a tense form
Chilcotin	?	[ʔælaχ]	'I made it'
French (some dialects)	roche	[χɔʃ]	'rock'	Rhotic consonant. See French phonology
German	Dach	[daχ]	'goal'	Appears only after certain back vowels. See German phonology
Kabardian	нэхъ	[nɑχ]	'more'	Contrasts with a labialized form
Kabyle	axxam	[aχχam]	'house'
Klallam	?	[sχaʔqʷaʔ]	'salmon backbone'
Lezgi	хат	[χatʰ]	'bead'	Contrasts with a labialized form
Oowekyala	[ʦʼkʼʷχttɬkʦ]		'the invisible one here with me will be short'
Saanich	WEXES	[wəχəs]	'small frogs, peepers'	Contrasts with a labialized form
Portuguese (some Brazilian dialects)	carro	[kaχu]	'car'	See Portuguese phonology
Seri	xeecoj	[χɛːkox]	'wolf'	Contrasts with a labialized form
Tlingit	tlaxh	[tɬʰɐχ]	'very'	Tlingit has four different uvular fricatives
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. [1]

Consonants (List, table)

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