Sj-sound

In Swedish phonology, the sj-sound (Swedish: sj-ljudet) is a voiceless fricative phoneme found in most dialects. It has a variety of realisations, whose precise phonetic characterisation is a matter of debate, but which usually feature distinct labialization. The sound is represented in Swedish orthography by a number of spellings, including the digraph ⟨sj⟩ from which the common Swedish name is derived as well as ⟨stj⟩, ⟨skj⟩, and ⟨sk⟩ before front vowels. The sound should not be confused with the Swedish tj sound [ɕ], often spelled tj or k in Swedish.

The sound is transcribed ⟨ɧ⟩ in the International Phonetic Alphabet. The International Phonetic Association (IPA) describes [ɧ] as a "simultaneous [ʃ] and [x]", but this claim is disputed among phoneticians, including at least one former president of the IPA. Other descriptive labels include voiceless palatal-velar fricative, voiceless dorso-palatal velar fricative, voiceless postalveolar and velar fricative, or voiceless coarticulated velar and palatoalveolar fricative.