Velar ejective fricative

A velar ejective fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨xʼ⟩.

Features

Features of a velar ejective 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 velar, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) at the soft palate.
Its phonation is un-voiced, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
It is an oral consonant, which means that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
The airstream mechanism is ejective (glottalic egressive), which means the air is forced out by pumping the glottis upward.

The velar ejective fricative occurs in the Dakota language,^[1] Saho language, where it is represented as qh,^[2] and Tlingit language.^[3] It has been reported as well in the Winnebago and Chiwere languages.^{[citation needed]}

Occurrence of [xʼ] in several languages
Language	Word	IPA	Meaning
Tlingit	xʼáaxʼ	[xʼáːxʼ]^ⓘ	'apple'
Chiwere	x^aⁿ	[xʼã]	'life'
Winnebago	x'ooke	[xʼoːkɛ]	'parents

^ UPSID, UCLA Phonological Segment Inventory Database: Data and Index. 1981. p. 208. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
^ Banti, Giorgio; Vergari, Moreno (May–December 2005). "A SKETCH OF SAHO GRAMMAR" (PDF). Journal of Eritrean Studies. 4 (1&2): 100, 102. Retrieved June 28, 2025.
^ Crippen, James A. (August 13, 2007). "Language name and location: Tlingit, Alaska, USA, Canada". Max Plank GS. Retrieved June 28, 2025.