# Voiceless palatal plosive

The voiceless palatal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in some vocal languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨c⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is c.

## Voiceless palato-alveolar and post-palatal plosives

If distinction is necessary, the voiceless alveolo-palatal plosive may be transcribed as ⟨c̟⟩ (advanced ⟨c⟩) or ⟨t̠ʲ⟩ (retracted and palatalized ⟨t⟩), but these are essentially equivalent, because the contact includes both the blade and body (but not the tip) of the tongue. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbols are c_+ and t_-' or t_-_j, respectively. There is also a non-IPA letter U+0236 ȶ LATIN SMALL LETTER T WITH CURL; ⟨ȶ⟩ ("t", plus the curl found in the symbols for alveolo-palatal sibilant fricatives ⟨ɕ, ʑ⟩), which is used especially in sinological circles.
It is common for the phonetic symbol ⟨c⟩ to be used to represent voiceless postalveolar affricate [t͡ʃ] or other similar affricates, for example in the Indic languages. This may be considered appropriate when the place of articulation needs to be specified and the distinction between plosive and affricate is not contrastive.

## Voiceless post-palatal plosive

There is also the voiceless post-palatal plosive in some languages, which is articulated slightly more back compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical palatal consonant, though not as back as the prototypical velar consonant. The International Phonetic Alphabet does not have a separate symbol for that sound, though it can be transcribed as ⟨c̠⟩ (retracted ⟨c⟩) or ⟨k̟⟩ (advanced ⟨k⟩). The equivalent X-SAMPA symbols are c_- and k_+, respectively.
Especially in broad transcription, the voiceless post-palatal plosive may be transcribed as a palatalized voiceless velar plosive (⟨kʲ⟩ in the IPA, k' or k_j in X-SAMPA).

## Features

Features of the voiceless palatal stop:
* Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no nasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is a plosive.
* Its place of articulation is palatal, which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised to the hard palate.
** The otherwise identical post-palatal variant is articulated slightly behind the hard palate, making it sound closer to the velar [k].
** Alveolo-palatal variant is articulated also with the blade of the tongue at or behind the alveolar ridge.
* Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
* It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
* It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
* Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

## Occurrence
### Palatal or alveolo-palatal

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Albanian | Albanian | shqip | [ʃcip] | 'Albanian' | Merged with [t͡ʃ] in Gheg Albanian and some speakers of Tosk Albanian. |
| Asturian | Western dialects | muyyer | [muˈceɾ] | 'woman' | Alternate evolution of -lj-, -c'l-, pl-, cl- and fl- in the Brañas Vaqueiras area of Western Asturias. May be also realized as [c͡ç] or [ɟ͡ʝ] |
| Amuzgo | Xochistlahuaca variety | tyaáⁿ | [cã́] | 'clumsy; a clumsy person' | |
| Azerbaijani | Azerbaijani | کئچی/keçi | [ceˈt͡ʃi] | 'goat' | Can realize as "t͡ʃ̟" in Tabriz accent |
| Basque | Basque | ttantta | [cäɲcä] | 'droplet' | |
| Blackfoot | Blackfoot | ᖳᖽᖾᖳᐡ / akikoan | [aˈkicoan] | 'girl' | Allophone of /k/ after front vowels. |
| Breton | Gwenedeg | kenn | [cɛ̃n] | 'dandruff' | Realization of /k/ before front vowels. |
| Bulgarian | Banat dialect | kaćétu (каќету or какьету) | [kacetu] | 'as' | See Bulgarian phonology |
| Catalan | Majorcan | qui | [ˈci̞] | 'who' | Dento-alveolo-palatal or palatal. Corresponds to /k/ in other varieties. See Catalan phonology |
| Corsican | Corsican | chjodu | [ˈcoːdu] | 'nail' | Also present in the Gallurese dialect |
| Croatian | Croatian | već | [vec] | 'already' | Dialect of the Croatian Littoral |
| Czech | Czech | čeština | [ˈt͡ʃɛʃc̟ɪna] | 'Czech' (language) | Alveolo-palatal or alveolar. See Czech phonology |
| Dawsahak | Dawsahak | [cɛːˈnɐ] | [cɛːˈnɐ] | 'small' | |
| Dinka | Dinka | car | [car] | 'black' | |
| Ega | Ega | [cá] | [cá] | 'understand' | |
| French | French | qui | [ci] | 'who' (int.) | Ranges from alveolar to palatal. See French phonology |
| Friulian | Friulian | cjase | [caze] | 'house' | |
| Ganda | Ganda | caayi | [caːji] | 'tea' | |
| Gweno | Gweno | [ca] | [ca] | 'to come' | |
| Hakka | Meixian | 飛機 / fi$^1$ gi$^1$ | [fi˦ ci˦] | 'plane' | Allophone of /k/ before /i/. |
| Hausa | Hausa | kyauta | [caːuta] | 'gift' | |
| Hokkien | Taiwanese | 機車 / ki-tshia | [ciː˧ t͡ɕʰia˥] | 'motorcycle' | |
| Hungarian | Hungarian | tyúk | [c̟uːk] | 'hen' | Alveolo-palatal. See Hungarian phonology |
| Icelandic | Icelandic | gjóla | [ˈc̟ouːlä] | 'light wind' | Alveolo-palatal. See Icelandic phonology |
| Irish | Irish | ceist | [cɛʃtʲ] | 'question' | Alveolo-palatal or palatal. See Irish phonology |
| Khasi | Khasi | boit | [bɔc] | 'dwarf' | |
| Khmer | Khmer | ចាប / chab | [caːp] | 'bird' | Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms. |
| Kinyarwanda | Kinyarwanda | ikintu | [iciːnɦuʰ] | 'thing' | |
| Kurdish | Northern | kîso | [cʰiːsoː] | 'tortoise' | Allophone of /kʰ/ before /ɨ/, /ɛ/, /iː/, and /eː/. See Kurdish phonology |
| Kurdish | Central | کیسەڵ | [cʰiːsæɫ] | 'tortoise' | Allophone of /kʰ/ before /ɨ/, /ɛ/, /iː/, and /eː/. See Kurdish phonology |
| Kurdish | Southern | کیسەڵ | [cʰiːsaɫ] | 'tortoise' | Allophone of /kʰ/ before /ɨ/, /ɛ/, /iː/, and /eː/. See Kurdish phonology |
| Latvian | Latvian | ķirbis | [ˈcirbis] | 'pumpkin' | See Latvian phonology |
| Low German | Plautdietsch | kjoakj | [coac] | 'church' | Corresponds to [kʲ] in all other dialects. |
| Macedonian | Macedonian | вреќа | [ˈvrɛca] | 'sack' | See Macedonian phonology |
| Malay | Kelantan-Pattani | cita | [ci.tɔʔ] | 'feeling' | Palatal, allophone of /tʃ/. See Malay phonology |
| Malay | Indonesian | cari | [cari] | 'to find' | Palatal, allophone of /tʃ/. See Malay phonology |
| Norwegian | Central dialects | fett | [fɛcː] | 'fat' | See Norwegian phonology |
| Norwegian | Northern dialects | fett | [fɛcː] | 'fat' | See Norwegian phonology |
| Occitan | Limousin | tireta | [ciˈʀetɒ] | 'drawer' | |
| Occitan | Auvergnat | tirador | [ciʀaˈdu] | 'drawer' | |
| Occitan | Western Gascon | chifra | [ˈcifrə] | 'digit' | Corresponds to [tʃ] and sometimes [dʒ] in eastern dialects |
| Romanian | Romanian | chin | [cin] | 'torture' | Allophone of /k/ before /i/ and /e/. See Romanian phonology. Also in some northern dialects |
| Romansh | Sursilvan | notg | [nɔc] | 'night' | |
| Romansh | Sutsilvan | tgàn | [caŋ] | 'dog' | |
| Romansh | Surmiran | vatgas | [ˈvɑcɐs] | 'cows' | |
| Romansh | Puter | zücher | [ˈtsycər] | 'sugar' | |
| Romansh | Vallader | müs-chel | [ˈmyʃcəl] | 'moss' | |
| Scottish Gaelic | Scottish Gaelic | maide | [ˈmãtʲə] | 'stick' | Alveolo-palatal or alveolar. Affricated in some positions, with affrication stronger in certain dialects. |
| Slovak | Slovak | ťava | [ˈcava] | 'camel' | See Slovak phonology |
| Spanish | Canarian | choco | [ˈc̟oko] | 'cuttlefish' | Alveolo-palatal. Used to be voiced. Corresponds to [t͡ʃ] in other dialects of Spanish (speakers from other areas of Spain mishear it as [ʝ]). |
| Turkish | Turkish | köy | [cʰœj] | 'village' | See Turkish phonology |
| Vietnamese | Vietnamese | chị | [ci˧ˀ˨ʔ] | 'elder sister' | May be slightly affricated [tᶝ ]. See Vietnamese phonology |
| West Frisian | West Frisian | tjems | [cɛms] | 'strainer' | See West Frisian phonology |
| Western Desert | Western Desert | kutju | [kucu] | 'one' | |
| Damin | Damin | dunji-kan | [t̺un̺t̠ʲi kan̺] | 'go' | |

### Post-palatal

| Language | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes |
| Belarusian | Belarusian | кіслы | [ˈk̟is̪ɫ̪ɨ] | 'acidic' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʲ⟩. See Belarusian phonology |
| Catalan | Catalan | qui | [k̟i] | 'who' | Allophone of /k/ before front vowels. See Catalan phonology |
| Danish | Standard | gidsel | [ˈk̟isəl] | 'hostage' | Allophone of /ɡ/ before front vowels. See Danish phonology |
| English | English | keen | | 'keen' | Allophone of /k/ before front vowels and /j/. See English phonology |
| English | English | back | bæc̠ | back | Mainstream Irish English realisation of /k/ after front vowels. |
| German | Standard | Kind | [k̟ʰɪnt] | 'child' | Allophone of /k/ before and after front vowels. See Standard German phonology |
| Greek | Greek | Μακεδνός | | 'Makedon' | See Modern Greek phonology |
| Italian | Standard | chi | | 'who' | Allophone of /k/ before /i, e, ɛ, j/. See Italian phonology |
| Japanese | Japanese | 九 / kyū | [k̟ÿː] | 'nine' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʲ⟩, allophone of /kj/. See Japanese phonology |
| Polish | Polish | kiedy | [ˈk̟ɛdɨ] | 'when' | See Polish phonology |
| Portuguese | Portuguese | qui | [k̟i] | 'Chi' | Allophone of /k/ before front vowels. See Portuguese phonology |
| Romanian | Romanian | ochi | [o̞k̟] | 'eye' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʲ⟩. See Romanian phonology |
| Russian | Standard | кит / kit | [k̟it̪] | 'whale' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʲ⟩. See Russian phonology |
| Scottish Gaelic | Scottish Gaelic | còig | [kʰoːʲk̟] | 'five (5)' | Typically transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʲ⟩. Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms. |
| Spanish | Spanish | kilo | [ˈk̟ilo̞] | 'kilo(gram)' | Allophone of /k/ before front vowels. See Spanish phonology |
| Tidore | Tidore | yaci | [jaci] | 'to rip' | |
| Ukrainian | Ukrainian | кінчик/kinchyk | | 'tip' | Can also be transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʲ⟩, but is an allophone of /k/ before front vowels. See Ukrainian phonology |
| Vietnamese | Vietnamese | | | | Final allophone of /c/. See Vietnamese phonology |