Voiced velar fricative

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Voiced velar fricative
ɣ
IPA number 141
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)ɣ
Unicode (hex)U+0263
X-SAMPA G
Braille Braille DecimalPoint.svg Braille G7.svg

A voiced velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound that is used in various spoken languages. It is not found in most varieties of Modern English but existed in Old English. [1] The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɣ⟩, a Latinized variant of the Greek letter gamma, ⟨γ⟩, which has this sound in Modern Greek. It should not be confused with the graphically-similar ⟨ɤ⟩, the IPA symbol for a close-mid back unrounded vowel, which some writings [2] use for the voiced velar fricative.

Contents

The symbol ⟨ɣ⟩ is also sometimes used to represent the velar approximant, which, however, is more accurately written with the lowering diacritic: [ɣ̞] or [ɣ˕]. The IPA also provides a dedicated symbol for a velar approximant, [ɰ].

There is also a voiced post-velar fricative, also called pre-uvular, in some languages. For the voiced pre-velar fricative, also called post-palatal, see voiced palatal fricative.

Features

Voiced velar fricative articulation.svg

Features of a voiced velar fricative:

Occurrence

Some of the consonants listed as post-velar may actually be fricative trills.

LanguageWord IPA MeaningNotes
Abaza бгъьы /bğë[bɣʲə]'leaf'
Adyghe чъыгы /čëğë [t͡ʂəɣə] ⓘ 'tree'
Albanian Arbëresh

Moresian (Pelloponesian) dialects of Arvanitika

gliata[ɣliɑtɑ]'tall'
Alekano gamó[ɣɑmɤʔ]'cucumber'
Aleut agiitalix[aɣiːtalix]'with'
Angor ranihı[ɾɑniɣə]'brother'
Angas γür[ɣyr]'to pick up'
Arabic Modern Standard [3] غريب /ğarīb [ɣæˈriːb] ⓘ 'strange'May be velar, post-velar or uvular, depending on dialect. [4] See Arabic phonology
Baghdad Jewish Arabic עסכרׄ (ʿáskaġ)[ˈʕaskaɣ]'army'
Aragonese augua[ˈawɣwa]'water'Allophone of /ɡ/
Aromanian ghini [ˈɣi.ni]'well'Allophone of /ɡ/
Aramaic Eastern ܦܓ̣ܪܐ paġrā[pʌɣrɑ]'body'Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants.
Western [fʌɣrɔ]
Asturian gadañu [ɣaˈd̪ãɲʊ]'scythe'Allophone of /ɡ/ in almost all positions
Azerbaijani Northern oğul [oɣul]'son'
Southern اوغول /oğul
Basque [5] hego [heɣo]'wing'Allophone of /ɡ/
Belarusian галава/halava [ɣalaˈva]'head'
Brahui غُرِّنگ/ġurring[ɣurːiŋɡ]'to growl'See Brahui language § Phonology.
Breton plac’h [plaɣ]'daughter'
Catalan [6] agrat [əˈɣɾat]'liking'Fricative or approximant. Allophone of /ɡ/. See Catalan phonology
Central Alaskan Yup'ik auga[ˈauːɣa]'his/her/its blood'Never occurs in word-initial positions.
Chechen гӀала / ğala[ɣaːla]'town'
Czech bych byl [bɪɣbɪl]'I would be'Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants. See Czech phonology. Occurs only in few Moravian dialects and even there it is rather /ɦ/
Dàgáárè [pɔ́ɣɔ́]'woman'May be realized with features closer to a velar tap [ɡ̆] (a sound previously considered impossible according to the IPA chart), based on acoustic analysis. [7]
Dinka ɣo [ɣo]'us'
Dogrib weqa[ clarification needed ][weɣa]'for'
Dutch Standard Belgian [8] [9] genoegen [ʝ̠̊ə̟ˈnuɣʷœ̜] ⓘ 'satisfaction'Often (partially) devoiced. [10] May be post-palatal [ ʝ̠ ] instead. [9] See Dutch phonology
Southern accents [9]
English Scouse grass [ɣrɑːs]'grass' Allophone of /g/. See British English phonology [11]
Northumbrian [ example needed ] Burr [12]
Georgian [13] ღარიბი /ğaribi[ɣɑribi]'poor'May actually be post-velar or uvular
German [14] [15] Austrian rot [ɣot]'red'Intervocalic allophone of /r/ in casual speech. [14] [15] [16] See Standard German phonology
Ghari cheghe[tʃeɣe]'five'
Greek γάλα/gála [ˈɣala]'milk'See Modern Greek phonology
Gujarati વાઘણ/vāġaṇ[ʋa̤ɣəɽ̃]'tigress'See Gujarati phonology
Gweno ndeghe[ndeɣe]'bird'
Gwich’in videeghàn[viteːɣân]'his/her chest'
Haitian Creole diri[diɣi]'rice'
Hän dëgëghor[təkəɣor]'I am playing'
Hebrew Classical מִגְדָּל /miğdol[miɣdɔl]'[a] tower'
Some Modern speakers (usually with a difficulty pronouncing [ʁ]) שׁוֹמֵר /shomer[ʃo̞ˈme̞ɣ]'[a male] guard', '[he] guards'[ʃo̞ˈme̞ʁ] by other Modern speakers
Hindustani Hindi [17] ग़रीब/garib [ɣ̄əriːb] ⓘ 'poor'Post-velar, [17] conservative Hindi speakers usually replace it with /g/. See Hindustani phonology
Urdu غریب/gharib
Icelandic saga [ˈsaːɣa]'saga'See Icelandic phonology
Irish a dhorn [əɣoːɾˠn̪ˠ]'his fist'See Irish phonology
Istro-Romanian [18] gură[ˈɣurə]'mouth'Corresponds to [ ɡ ][ in which environments? ] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Iwaidja [mulaɣa]'hermit crab'
Japanese [19] はげ / hage [haɣe]'baldness'Allophone of /ɡ/, especially in fast or casual speech. See Japanese phonology
Judeo-Spanishgato[ˈɣ̞ato̪] [20] 'cat'
Haketia gher[ɣeɾ]'only'appears as a phoneme in words from Arabic [21]
Kabardian гын/gyn [ɣən] ⓘ 'powder'
Komering harong[haɣoŋ]'charcoal'
Lezgian гъел /ğel[ɣel]'sleigh'
Lhaovo Dago’qid[ɣìt]'water'
Yunnan[ɣək˧˩]
Limburgish [22] [23] gaw[ɣɑ̟β̞]'quick'The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect.
Lishan Didan Urmi Dialectעוטג/otogh[ˠotʰoɣ]'room'Generally post-velar
Lithuanian humoras[ˈɣʊmɔrɐs̪]'humor'Preferred over [ɦ]. See Lithuanian phonology
Low German [24] gaan[ˈɣɔ̃ːn]'to go'Increasingly replaced with High German [ɡ]
Macedonian Berovo accent дувна /duvna[ˈduɣna]'it blew'Corresponds to etymological /x/ of other dialects, before sonorants. See Maleševo-Pirin dialect and Macedonian phonology
Bukovo accent глава /glava[ˈɡɣa(v)a]'head'Allophone of /l/ instead of usual [ ɫ ]. See Prilep-Bitola dialect
Malay Standard loghat [loɣat]'dialect'Used in loanwords from Arabic that contain the sound. Replaced with /ɡ/ by Indonesian speakers. See Malay phonology
Johor-Riau ramai [ɣamaj]'crowded (with people)'Corresponds to prevocalic and intervocalic /r/ in Standard Malay and to uvular /ʁ/ in certain other Malay varieties such as Kedah Malay. Silent in word-final position.
Negeri Sembilan
Kelantan-Pattani [ɣama]
Terengganu
Pahang [ɣamɛ̃(ː)]
Sarawak [ɣame]Varies with uvular [ ʁ ]. See Sarawak Malay
Malto पेद़ग़े/peðġe[peðɣe]'to break open'See Malto language § Phonology.
Mandarin Chinese Central Mandarin (Dongping dialect) 俺 /ǎn[ɣän˥]'I'
Central Mandarin (Ningyang dialect) [25] 鹅[ɣə˦˨]'goose'
Mi'kmaq nisaqan[nisaɣan]'weir'Allophone of /x/ between sonorants. See Mi'kmaq language § Phonology.
Navajo ’aghá[ʔaɣa]'best'
Neapolitan Central Lucanian (Accettura dialect)chiahäte[kjaˈɣɜtə] [26] 'wounded'Corresponds to /g/ in Standard Italian. The example "chiahäte" translates to "piagato" in Italian.
Nepali कागज/kağdz [käɣʌ(d)z]'paper'Allophone of /ɡ/ and /ɡʱ/ in intervocalic positions. See Nepali phonology
Ngwe Mmockngie dialect[nøɣə̀]'sun'
Northern Qiang hhnesh [ɣnəʂ]'February'
Norwegian Urban East [27] å ha [ɔˈɣɑː]'to have'Possible allophone of /h/ between two back vowels; can be voiceless [ x ] instead. [27] See Norwegian phonology
Occitan Gascon digoc[diˈɣuk]'said' (3rd pers. sg.)
Okanagan ɣəɣicɣc[ɣəɣitʃɣtʃ]'Sparrow hawk'
Pashto غاتر/ğatër[ɣɑtər]'mule'
Pela [ɣɔ˥]'to rain'
Persian باغ/bāq[bɒːɣ]'garden'
Polish niechże [ˈɲɛɣʐɛ]'let' (imperative particle)Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants. See Polish phonology
Portuguese European [28] [29] agora [ɐˈɣɔɾɐ]'now'Allophone of /ɡ/. See Portuguese phonology
Some Brazilian dialects [30] mármore [ˈmaɣmuɾi]'marble', 'sill'Allophone of rhotic consonant (voiced equivalent to [x], itself allophone of /ʁ/) between voiced sounds, most often as coda before voiced consonants.
Punjabi Gurmukhi ਗ਼ਰੀਬ/ġarib[ɣə̄riːb]'poor'Less frequent in Gurmukhi varieties where it may be replaced by /ɡ/.
Shahmukhi غریب /ġarīb
Romani γoines[ɣoines]'good'
Russian Southern дорога/doroga[dɐˈro̞ɣə]'road'Corresponds to /ɡ/ in standard
Standard угу/ugu[ʊˈɣu]'uh-huh'Usually nasal, /ɡ/ is used when spoken. See Russian phonology
горох же / goroh že[ɡʌˈroɣʐe]'the peas'Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants. [31]
Sakha аҕа/ağa[aɣa]'father'
Sardinian Nuorese dialectsúghere[ˈsuɣɛrɛ]'to suck'Allophone of /ɡ/
Scottish Gaelic laghail [ɫ̪ɤɣal]'lawful'More advanced than other velars. See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Serbo-Croatian [32] ovih bi [ǒ̞ʋiɣbi]'of these would'Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants. [32] See Serbo-Croatian phonology
S'gaw Karen ဂ့ၤ /ghei[ɣei]'good'
Shughni ɣ̌īštow [ɣiːʃtoːʷ]'to bark'See Shughni phonology
Sindhi غم /ġamu[ɣəmʊ]'sadness'
Slovak bäch bäl [bɛɐ̯ɣbɛɐ̯l]'I could be'Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants. See Slovak phonology. Occurs only in few Moravian dialects and even there it is rather /ɦ/
Slovene Standard h gori [ˈɣ‿ɡɔ̀ːɾí]'to the mountain'Allophone of /x/ before voiced obstruents. See Slovene phonology
Some dialects gajba [ˈɣáːjbà]'crate'Corresponds to /ɡ/ in Standard Slovene. See Slovene phonology
Spanish amigo [a̠ˈmiɣo̟]'friend'Ranges from close fricative to approximant. [33] Allophone of /ɡ/, see Spanish phonology
Standard European [34] Predrag [ˈpɾe̞ð̞ɾäɣ̞̊]'Predrag'Also described as an approximant. Allophone of /ɡ/ before a pause. [34] See Spanish phonology
Swahili ghali [ɣali]'expensive'
Swedish Västerbotten Norrland dialects meg[mɪːɣ]'me'Allophone of /ɡ/. Occurs between vowels and in word-final positions. [35] Here also /∅/ in Kalix.
Tadaksahak zog[zoɣ]'war'
Tajik ғафс /cafs[ɣafs]'thick'
Tamazight aɣilas (aghilas)[aɣilas]'leopard'
Tamil Sri Lankan Tamil பகை/pakai[pɐɣɛ(i̯)]'hate'Intervocalic singular /k/ has debuccalized for most except in Brahmin and Sri Lankan Tamil. In total it can be [kʰ x ɡ ɣ ɣʰ h] [36]
Turkish Non-standard ağaç [aɣat͡ʃ]'tree'Deleted in most dialects. See Turkish phonology
Tutchone Northern ihghú[ihɣǔ]'tooth'
Southern ghra[ɣra]'baby'
Tyap ghan[ˈɣan]'to hurry'
Ukrainian чахохбі́лі[tʃɐxoɣˈbil⁽ʲ⁾i]‘chakhokhbili’Occurs in specific rare cases only.
Uzbek [37] ёмғир / yomgʻir/yamğır [ʝɒ̜mˈʁ̟ɨɾ̪]'rain'Post-velar. [37]
Vietnamese [38] ghế [ɣe˧˥]'chair'See Vietnamese phonology
West Frisian drage[ˈdraːɣə]'to carry'Never occurs in word-initial positions.
Wu Chinese Northern Wu (Jinsha variety  [ zh ]) 合 [ɣuoʔ˨˦]'to join'
Xiang Chinese Old Xiang (Loudi variety  [ zh ]) 湖南 [ɣu˩˧nia˩˧]'Hunan (province)'
Yi ꊋ / we [ɣɤ˧]'win'
Zhuang Lwg roegbit[lɯ˧ɣo˧pi˥]'Wild duckling'

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Baker, Peter Stuar (2012). Introduction to Old English (3rd ed.). Wiley. pp.  15. ISBN   9781444354195. OCLC   778433078 – via Internet Archive. Between voiced sounds dotless g is pronounced [ɣ], a voiced velar spirant. This sound became [w] in Middle English, so English no longer has it.
  2. ↑ Such as Booij (1999) and Nowikow (2012).
  3. ↑ Watson (2002), pp. 17 and 19-20.
  4. ↑ Watson (2002), pp. 17, 19–20, 35-36 and 38.
  5. ↑ Hualde (1991), pp. 99–100.
  6. ↑ Wheeler (2005), p. 10.
  7. ↑ Angsongna, Alexander; Akinbo, Samuel (2022). "Dàgáárè (Central)". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 52 (2): 341–367. doi:10.1017/S0025100320000225. S2CID   243402135.
  8. ↑ Verhoeven (2005 :243)
  9. 1 2 3 Collins & Mees (2003 :191)
  10. ↑ Velde, Hans Van de; Gerritsen, Marinel; Hout, Roeland van (1996). "The Devoicing of Fricatives in Standard Dutch. A Real-time study based on radio recordings" (PDF). Language Variation and Change. 8 (2). Cambridge University Press: 149–175. doi:10.1017/S0954394500001125. ISSN   0954-3945.
  11. ↑ Watson, Kevin (2007). Illustrations of the IPA: Liverpool English (Cambridge University Press ed.). Journal of the International Phonetic Association 37. pp. 351–360.
  12. ↑ Wells, John C. (1982). Accents of English 2: The British Isles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 368. ISBN   0-521-24224-X.
  13. ↑ Shosted & Chikovani (2006), p. 255.
  14. 1 2 Krech et al. (2009 :108)
  15. 1 2 Sylvia Moosmüller (2007). "Vowels in Standard Austrian German: An Acoustic-Phonetic and Phonological Analysis" (PDF). p. 6. Retrieved March 9, 2013.
  16. ↑ Ulbrich, Christiane; Ulbrich, Horst (2007). "The Realisation of /r/ in Swiss German and Austrian German" (PDF). ICPhS XVI. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
  17. 1 2 Kachru (2006), p. 20.
  18. ↑ Pop (1938), p. 30.
  19. ↑ Okada (1999), p. 118.
  20. ↑ Gabriel, Christoph; Gess, Randall; Meisenburg, Trudel, eds. (2021-11-22), Manual of Romance Phonetics and Phonology , De Gruyter, doi:10.1515/9783110550283, hdl: 1983/44e3b3cd-164e-496b-a7a6-6b3a492e4c48 , ISBN   978-3-11-055028-3 , retrieved 2023-12-17
  21. ↑ "Differential Impact of Arabic on Haketia and Turkish on Judezmo".
  22. ↑ Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999 :159)
  23. ↑ Peters (2006 :119)
  24. ↑ R.E. Keller, German Dialects. Phonology and Morphology, Manchester 1960
  25. ↑ Ning Tingde(宁廷德) (2013). 宁阳方言志 (in Chinese). Jinan: 齐鲁书社. ISBN   9787533327620.
  26. ↑ Volpi, Luigi (2011). La lingua dei Masciaioli - Dizionario del dialetto di Accettua cittadina lucana in Prov. di Matera (in Italian). Potenza (Italy): EditricErmes. p. 92.[ ISBN missing ]
  27. 1 2 Vanvik (1979), p. 40.
  28. ↑ Cruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 92.
  29. ↑ Mateus & d'Andrade (2000), p. 11.
  30. ↑ Barbosa & Albano (2004), p. 228.
  31. ↑ Jones, Daniel & Ward, Dennis (1969) The Phonetics of Russian. Cambridge University Press.
  32. 1 2 Landau et al. (1999 :67)
  33. ↑ Phonetic studies such as Quilis (1981) have found that Spanish voiced stops may surface as spirants with various degrees of constriction. These allophones are not limited to regular fricative articulations, but range from articulations that involve a near complete oral closure to articulations involving a degree of aperture quite close to vocalization
  34. 1 2 Wetzels & Mascaró (2001), p. 224.
  35. ↑ "685-686 (Nordisk familjebok / 1800-talsutgåvan. 17. V - Väring)". 1893.
  36. ↑ Zvelebil, Kamil (1965). Some features of Ceylon Tamil. Indo-Iranian Journal. Vol. 9. JSTOR. pp. 113–138. JSTOR   24650188.
  37. 1 2 Sjoberg (1963), p. 13.
  38. ↑ Thompson (1959), pp. 458–461.

References

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