Ż, ż (Z with overdot) is a letter, consisting of the letter Z of the ISO basic Latin alphabet and an overdot.
| Z with overdot | |
|---|---|
| Ż ż | |
| Usage | |
| Type | alphabetic |
| Language of origin | Polish |
| Phonetic usage | [ʐ], [ʂ], [ʒ], [z], [ð], [dð~dz] |
| Alphabetical position | 32 |
| History | |
| Development |
|
| Transliteration equivalents | Ƶ ƶ |
| Other | |
| This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. | |
Usage edit
Polish edit
In the Polish language, ż is the final, 32nd letter of the alphabet. It typically represents the voiced retroflex fricative ([ʐ]), somewhat similar to the pronunciation of ⟨g⟩ in "mirage"; however, in a word-final position or when followed by a voiceless obstruent, it is devoiced to the voiceless retroflex fricative ([ʂ]).
Its pronunciation is the same as that of the digraph ⟨rz⟩, except that ⟨rz⟩ (unlike ⟨ż⟩) also undergoes devoicing when preceded by a voiceless obstruent. The difference in spelling comes from their historical pronunciations: ż originates from a palatalized /ɡ/ or /z/, while ⟨rz⟩ evolved from a palatalized ⟨r⟩.[1]
The letter was originally introduced in 1513 by Stanisław Zaborowski in his book Ortographia.[2]
Occasionally, the letter Ƶ ƶ (Z with a horizontal stroke) is used instead of Ż ż for aesthetic purposes, especially in all-caps text and handwriting.
Kashubian edit
Kashubian ż is a voiced fricative like in Polish, but it is postalveolar ([ʒ]) rather than retroflex.
Maltese edit
In Maltese, ż represents the voiced alveolar sibilant [z], pronounced like "z" in English "maze". This contrasts with the letter ⟨z⟩, which represents the voiceless alveolar sibilant affricate [ts], like in the word "hats".
Computing codes edit
| Character | Ż | ż | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unicode name | LATIN CAPITAL LETTER Z WITH DOT ABOVE | LATIN SMALL LETTER Z WITH DOT ABOVE | ||
| character encoding | decimal | hex | decimal | hex |
| Unicode | 379 | 017B | 380 | 017C |
| UTF-8 | 197 187 | C5 BB | 197 188 | C5 BC |
| Numeric character reference | Ż | Ż | ż | ż |
| CP 852 | 189 | BD | 190 | BE |
| CP 775 | 163 | A3 | 164 | A4 |
| Mazovia | 161 | A1 | 167 | A7 |
| Windows-1250, ISO-8859-2 | 175 | AF | 191 | BF |
| Windows-1257, ISO-8859-13 | 221 | DD | 253 | FD |
| Mac Central European | 251 | FB | 253 | FD |
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Corbett, Greville; Comrie, Bernard (2003). The Slavonic Languages. Routledge. p. 690. ISBN 978-1-136-86137-6.
The spelling difference reflects the historical difference between a palatalization of /r/ (for rz) and of /g/ or /z/ (for ż).
- ^ Edward Polański. "Reformy ortografii polskiej – wczoraj, dziś, jutro". Biuletyn Polskiego Towarzystwa Językoznawczego, vol. 60, p. 31. 2004. Warsaw: Energeia. ISSN 0032-3802. (in Polish)