The sj-sound ( ) is a voiceless fricative phoneme found in the sound system of most dialects of Swedish. 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 from which the common Swedish name for the sound is derived, as well as , , and (before front vowels) . The sound should not be confused with the Swedish tj-sound , often spelled , , or (before front vowels) . The sound is transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet. The International Phonetic Association (IPA) describes it as a "simultaneous and ", but this realization is not attested from any language, and phoneticians doubt that it occurs in other languages. Other descriptive labels include: Voiceless postalveolo-velar fricative Voiceless palatal-velar fricative Voiceless dorso-palatal velar fricative Voiceless postalveolar and velar fricative Voiceless coarticulated velar and palatoalveolar fricative The closest sound found in English, as well as many other languages, is the voiceless postalveolar fricative (Swedish words with the sound correspond to English words with "sh"), with another approximation being the voiceless labialized velar approximant found in some English dialects. Regionally, it varies from being more -like in the standard speech, to being more -like in northern Sweden and Finland. Features Features of the sj-sound: Its place of articulation varies by dialect, but usually include a velar component. Occurrence Dialects of Swedish This sound has been reported in certain dialects of Swedish, where it is most often known as the sj-sound. Its place of articulation varies over Swedish regions and is not agreed upon. It has been variously found to be the following: velar and postalveolar, meaning it is articulated simultaneously with the tongue dorsum (i.e. the back part of the tongue) approximating the velum (i.e. the soft palate, like ) and just behind the teeth (like ). However, doubly articulated fricatives are very difficult to pronounce or to hear, and many linguists doubt that they exist. Lindblad describes one of two common variants of Swedish as labiodental with simultaneous velarization and protrusion of the upper lip, which would be transcribed as . (The English sigh of relief phew! is one approximation, as is the voiceless labial-velar approximant that is used in some varieties of English.) He does not use the symbol for this allophone. Lindblad describes the