Ż

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Z with overdot
Ż ż
Usage
Typealphabetic
Language of originPolish
Phonetic usage[ʐ], [ʂ], [ʒ], [z], [ð], [dð~dz]
Alphabetical position32
History
Development
  • Ż ż
Transliteration equivalentsƵ 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.

Ż, ż (Z with overdot) is a letter, consisting of the letter Z of the ISO basic Latin alphabet and an overdot.

Usage[edit]

Polish[edit]

Signage on Polish municipal police (Straż Miejska) cars uses both the standard form (Ż, on the door) and the variant with horizontal stroke (Ƶ, on the roof sign)

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]

City limit sign of Żurrieq in Malta

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]

  1. ^ 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).
  2. ^ Edward Polański. "Reformy ortografii polskiej – wczoraj, dziś, jutro". Biuletyn Polskiego Towarzystwa Językoznawczego, vol. 60, p. 31. 2004. Warsaw: Energeia. ISSN 0032-3802. (in Polish)