Why X sometimes sounds like Z (in English)

Have you ever looked at the magical instruments that are xylophones and wonder why x is pronounced as z instead of ks? This is why X sometime sounds like Z (in English, at least.)

#language #languages #alphabet #linguistics

[gisopolis]

0:57 We percussionists classify those "metallic things" as glockenspiels, not xylophones, so the definition actually stays true to its etymology!

[SuraiginOfficial]

Fun fact: in greek the metal xylophone is called "μεταλλόφωνο (metalofono)" and just so nobody asks, i know this because i'm greek and i own a metalophone.

[alexmeng]

Look at what I've found, another linguistic youtube channel! What a great day.
About the [ks] vs [gz] distribution in English, it looks like it's being conditioned by both intervocalicity and stress positions. Look at all the [gz] words (ex'ist, ex'ample) the /k/ in /ks/ is an unstressed syllable final and /s/ is a stressed onset. Then in [ks] words ('exercise, t'axi) /k/ is in a stressed syllable while /s/ is not. (Or you can simplify this and just say whether stress comes before or after <x> but phonologically <x> is two sounds.) This voicing assimilation would also make sense since an unstressed syllable is more likely to have its features mixed up a bit and the second component /s/ just follows whatever the first sound /k/ is doing.
Keep up the good work!

[carmi]

2:25 a similiar thing happens in Italian too. The letter z is pronunced as "ts" in most times, but it can become "dz" in some cases, the most consistent of them is at the beginning of the word.

[urinstein]

Today I learned, the t in "tsunami" is silent in English.
Until now I used to bring up this egzact word as an egzample of the "ts" sound.

[thegoldendragonacs]

The fact that you snuck a chug jug reference in the section about voiced and unvoiced words is legendary.

Never before have I seen a meme that not only doesn’t distract, but actually proves a point.

[Leo-qhvf]

In Portuguese there are also many cases in which "x" is pronounced like a "z". For example, the word "example" in Portuguese is "exemplo", and this x sounds like a z. It also happens for exercise and many others.

[mikaelsza]

In portuguese language, X has 4 sounds:
/ks/ Sexo, Fixo, Tóxico, Torax;
/s/ Excelente, Maximo;
/z/ Exame, Exercício;
(Sh-sound) Xadrez, Caixa, Xenofobo, Xilofone
How do we know which sound use?
Mostly, practice!!
But ever has Sh-sound when starts a word and ever has /ks/ sound when ends a word.

Edit: reading a comment below, I noticed that the Z sound is present when X is stressed or before the stressed syllable and KS sound when X is after the stressed syllable, but both in intervocalic position.

[zeezee]

It's great that your explanations are often intuitive. Thank you.

[dklimenok]

2:45 It's worth pointing out that those are not exceptions. The voicing occurred if the prefix ex- was followed immediately by a stressed vowel, which is not the case for exercise.

[lohphat]

Those metal xylophones are technically glockenspiels.

Xylophones are wooden by definition. There are further refinements in nomenclature regarding marimbas and vibraphones as well.

[kantoid]

I'm brazilian, and in portuguese, "x" has 4 sounds

Sh:
Xilofone (xylophone), xicara (mug)

Z:
Exato (exact), exótico (exotic)

Ks:
Taxi, complexidade (complexity)

S:
(it usually sounds "s" in words that have "s" or "c" after "x", but there's exceptions)

Excelente (excelent), extremamente (extremely)

[OhioStudiosOG]

i always pronounced Xylophone with the x as a normal eks sound, i always got mad when people said zylophone.

[brasteryakintosh]

Something to note is that “x” is sometimes pronounced /ʃ/ because that’s what sound it made in Old Spanish before it was merged with “j” and still then became /x/ except in consonant clusters where it merged with “s”. This is why “example” is “ejemplo”. Still, using “x” for /ʃ/ spread to other languages on the Iberian Peninsula and this pronunciation was still in use when Spanish missionaries started transcribing Native American languages. Because Mandarin needed a romanization system that could write two different /ʃ/-like sounds and “x” was the only letter that could work on its own for a /ʃ/-like sound which was important because reasons, “x” became the grapheme of choice

[sakamotosan]

Interestingly, in Japanese, "xenon" is called キセノン, which sounds something close to "ksenon", like the Greek pronunciation. And "xylophone" is シロフォン, something like shirofone (trying to use english phonetics here).

[aie]

4:11 Not just Xalapa, Mexico is also pronounced as Mehico in Spanish

[lizavetabudnik]

Isn't it "xylOphono" in Greek and "xylophOne" in French?

[elcanaldelucas]

4:08 i love how he did not use Mexico itself as an example

[ddnava]

4:08. Fun fact: The x in Mexico should actually be pronounced as the x in Xalapa, but English speakers just decided to ignore that and make yet another exception
Cheers!

[georgios_]

Wow! Really nice etymological travel! Thanks!