Voiced velar plosive

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Voiced velar plosive
ɡ
IPA number 110
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)ɡ
Unicode (hex)U+0261
X-SAMPA g
Braille Braille G7.svg

The voiced velar plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages.

Contents

Some languages have the voiced pre-velar plosive, [1] which is articulated slightly more front compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical velar plosive, though not as front as the prototypical palatal plosive.

Conversely, some languages have the voiced post-velar plosive, [2] which is articulated slightly behind the place of articulation of the prototypical velar plosive, though not as back as the prototypical uvular plosive.

IPA symbol

The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɡ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is g. Strictly, the IPA symbol is the so-called single-storey G Opentail g.svg , but the double-storey G Looptail g.svg is considered an acceptable alternative. The Unicode character U+0067gLATIN SMALL LETTER G renders as either a single-storey G or a double-storey G depending on font; the character U+0261ɡLATIN SMALL LETTER SCRIPT G is always a single-storey G, but it is generally available only in fonts with the IPA Extensions Unicode character block.

Features

Voiced velar plosive.svg

Features of the voiced velar stop:

Varieties

IPADescription
ɡplain ɡ
ɡʱ breathy ɡ
ɡʲ palatalized ɡ
ɡʷ labialized ɡ
ɡ̚ɡ with no audible release
ɡ̥ voiceless ɡ
ɡ͈ tense ɡ

Occurrence

Of the six stops that would be expected from the most common pattern worldwide—that is, three places of articulation plus voicing ([pb,td,kɡ])—[p] and [ɡ] are the most frequently missing, being absent in about 10% of languages that otherwise have this pattern. Absent stop [p] is an areal feature (see also Voiceless bilabial stop). Missing [ɡ], (when the language uses voicing to contrast stops) on the other hand, is widely scattered around the world, for example /ɡ/ is not a native phoneme of Belarusian, Dutch, Czech, or Slovak and occurs only in borrowed words in those languages. A few languages, such as Modern Standard Arabic and part of the Levantine dialects (e.g. Lebanese and Syrian), are missing both, although most Modern Arabic dialects have /ɡ/ in their native phonemic systems as a reflex of ⟨ ق ⟩ or less commonly of ⟨ ج ⟩.

It seems that [ɡ] is somewhat more difficult to articulate than the other basic stops. Ian Maddieson speculates that this may be due to a physical difficulty in voicing velars: Voicing requires that air flow into the mouth cavity, and the relatively small space allowed by the position of velar consonants means that it will fill up with air quickly, making voicing difficult to maintain in [ɡ] for as long as it is in [d] or [b]. This could have two effects: [ɡ] and [k] might become confused, and the distinction is lost, or perhaps a [ɡ] never develops when a language first starts making voicing distinctions. With uvulars, where there is even less space between the glottis and tongue for airflow, the imbalance is more extreme: Voiced [ɢ] is much rarer than voiceless [q]. [3]

In many Indo-Aryan languages, such as Hindustani, plain [g] and aspirated [gh] are in contrastive distribution.

LanguageWord IPA MeaningNotes
Abkhaz ажыга /ažëga[aˈʐəɡa]'shovel'See Abkhaz phonology
Adyghe Shapsug гьэгуалъэ /gägwaĺa [ɡʲaɡʷaːɬa] ⓘ 'toy'Dialectal. Corresponds to [d͡ʒ] in other dialects.
Temirgoy чъыгы / čëgë [t͡ʂəɡə] ⓘ 'tree'Dialectal. Corresponds to [ɣ] in other dialects.
Albanian gomar [ˈɡomaɾ]'donkey'
Arabic [4] Moroccan أݣادير‎/'agaadiir[ʔaɡaːdiːr]'Agadir'
Tunisian ڨفصة‎‎/gafs'a [ɡɑfsˤɑ] ⓘ 'Gafsa'⟨ ڨ ⟩ is also used in Algeria
Hejazi قمر /gamar[ɡamar]'moon'Corresponds to [ q ] in Classical and Modern Standard Arabic.
Najdi [ɡəmar]
Sa'idi [ɡɑmɑr]
Yemeni قال /gääl[gæːl]'(he) said'Pronunciation of ⟨ ق ⟩ in San'ani dialect in the North and Center and Hadhrami in the East
جمل /gämäl[gæmæl]'camel'Pronunciation of ⟨ ج ⟩ in Ta'izzi-Adeni dialects in the South and Tihami in the West
Egyptian راجل /raagel[ˈɾɑːɡel]'man'Standard pronunciation of ⟨ ج ⟩ in Egypt and corresponds to /dʒ/, /ʒ/ or /ɟ/ in other pronunciations.
Armenian Eastern [5] գանձ /gandz [ɡɑndz] ⓘ 'treasure'
Assyrian ܓܢܐ ɡana [ɡaːna]'self'Used predominantly in Urban Koine. Corresponds to [dʒ] in Urmia, some Tyari and Jilu dialects.
Azerbaijani qara [ɡɑɾɑ]'black'
Basque galdu [ɡaldu]'lose'
Bengali গান/gan[ɡan]'song'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology
Bulgarian гора/gora[ɡora]'forest'See Bulgarian phonology
Catalan [6] guant [ˈɡwɑnt]'glove'See Catalan phonology
Chechen говр /gowr[ɡɔʊ̯r]'horse'
Czech gram [ɡram]'gram'See Czech phonology
Danish Standard [7] [8] lykke [ˈløɡə]'happiness'Only partially voiced; possible allophone of /ɡ/ in the intervocalic position. More often voiceless [ k ]. [7] [8] See Danish phonology
Dutch All dialects zakdoek [ˈzɑɡduk] ⓘ 'tissue'Allophone of /k/, occurring only before voiced consonants in native words. See Dutch phonology
Standard [9]
Many speakers goal [ɡoːɫ] ⓘ 'goal'Only in loanwords. Some speakers may realize it as [ ɣ ] ~ [ ʝ ] ~ [ χ ] ~ [ x ] (like a normal Dutch ⟨g⟩), or as [ k ].
Amelands goëd [ɡuə̯d]'good'
English gaggle [ˈɡæɡɫ̩]'gaggle'See English phonology
Filipino gulo [ɡulɔ]'commotion'
French [10] gain [ɡɛ̃]'earnings'See French phonology
Georgian [11] გული /guli[ˈɡuli]'heart'
German Lüge [ˈlyːɡə] ⓘ 'lie'See Standard German phonology
Greek γκάρισμα / gkárisma [ˈɡɐɾizmɐ]'donkey's bray'See Modern Greek phonology
Gujarati ગાવું /gávu[gaːʋʊ̃]'to sing'See Gujarati phonology
Hebrew גב/gav[ɡav]'back'See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hindustani गाना/gáná / gáná/گانا [ɡɑːnɑː]'song'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindustani phonology
Hungarian engedély [ɛŋɡɛdeːj]'permission'See Hungarian phonology
Irish gaineamh [ˈɡanʲəw]'sand'See Irish phonology
Italian [12] gare [ˈɡäːre]'competitions'[g] is represented by letter G when followed by vowels [a], [o] [u], while when in front of vowels [i], [e] and [ɛ], the pronunciation changes to d͡ʒ, for the phoneme [g] to appear on the vowels [i], [e] and [ɛ], the GH digraph is used.
Japanese [13] 外套 / gaito [ɡaitoː]'overcoat'See Japanese phonology
Kabardian Baslaney гьанэ / gäna [ɡʲaːna] ⓘ 'shirt'Dialectal. Corresponds to [dʒ] in other dialects.
Kagayanen [14] kalag[kað̞aɡ]'spirit'
Khmer ហ្គាស / gas[gaːh]'gas'See Khmer phonology
Korean 메기 / megi [meɡi]'catfish'See Korean phonology
Limburgish zegke[zεgə]'say'Common. Example from the Weert dialect.
Lithuanian garai [ɡɐrɐɪ̯ˑ]'steam'See Lithuanian phonology
Luxembourgish [15] agepack[ˈɑɡəpaːk]'gone about'More often voiceless [ k ]. [15] See Luxembourgish phonology
Macedonian гром /grom[ɡrɔm]'thunder'See Macedonian phonology
Malay guni [ɡuni]'sack'
Marathi गवत/gëvët [ɡəʋət]'grass'See Marathi phonology
Nepali गाउँ [ɡä̃ũ̯]'village'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nepali phonology
Norwegian gull [ɡʉl]'gold'See Norwegian phonology
Odia ଗଛ/gočho[ɡɔtʃʰɔ]'tree'Contrasts with aspirated form.
Persian گوشت/guşt[guʃt]'meat'
Polish [16] gmin [ɡmʲin̪] ⓘ 'plebs'See Polish phonology
Portuguese [17] língua [ˈɫĩɡwɐ]'tongue'See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi ਗਾਂ/gaa[ɡɑ̃ː]'cow'
Romanian [18] gând [ɡɨnd]'thought'See Romanian phonology
Russian [19] голова /golova [ɡəɫɐˈva] ⓘ 'head'See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatian [20] гост / gost [gȏ̞ːs̪t̪]'guest'See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovak miazga [ˈmjäzɡä]'lymph'See Slovak phonology
Slovene gost [ˈɡɔ̂s̪t̪]'guest'See Slovene phonology
Somali gaabi[ɡaːbi]'to shorten'See Somali phonology
Southern Min Hokkien 我/góa [ɡua˥˧]'I'
Spanish [21] gato [ˈɡät̪o̞]'cat'See Spanish phonology
Swahili giza [ˈɡīzɑ]'darkness'See Swahili phonology
Swedish god [ɡuːd̪]'tasty'May be an approximant in casual speech. See Swedish phonology
Telugu గచ్చు/gacu [ɡat͡sːu]'Floor'contrasts with aspirated form (which is articulated as breathy consonant).
Turkish salgın [säɫˈɡɯn]'epidemic'See Turkish phonology
Ukrainian [22] ґанок / ganok[ˈɡɑn̪ok]'porch'See Ukrainian phonology
Welsh gwyn[ɡwɪn] or [ɡwɨ̞n]'white'See Welsh phonology
West Frisian gasp[ɡɔsp]'buckle' (n.)See West Frisian phonology
Wu Shanghainese 狂/guaon6[ɡuɑ̃23]'crazy'
Xiang 共/wong[ɡoŋ]'together'
Yi ꈨ / gge [ɡɤ˧]'hear'
Zapotec Tilquiapan [23] gan[ɡaŋ]'will be able'Depending on speaker and carefulness of speech, [ɡ] may be lenited to [ɣ]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Instead of "pre-velar", it can be called "advanced velar", "fronted velar", "front-velar", "palato-velar", "post-palatal", "retracted palatal" or "backed palatal".
  2. ↑ Instead of "post-velar", it can be called "retracted velar", "backed velar", "pre-uvular", "advanced uvular" or "fronted uvular".
  3. ↑ WALS Online : Chapter 5 – Voicing and Gaps in Plosive Systems Archived 2012-04-27 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Watson (2002), pp. 16–17.
  5. ↑ Dum-Tragut (2009), p. 13.
  6. ↑ Carbonell & Llisterri (1992), p. 53.
  7. 1 2 Goblirsch (2018), pp. 134–5, citing Fischer-Jørgensen (1952) and Abrahams (1949, pp. 116–21, 228–30).
  8. 1 2 Puggaard-Rode, Horslund & Jørgensen (2022).
  9. ↑ Gussenhoven (1992), p. 45.
  10. ↑ Fougeron & Smith (1993), p. 73.
  11. ↑ Shosted & Chikovani (2006), p. 255.
  12. ↑ Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004), p. 117.
  13. ↑ Okada (1999), p. 117.
  14. ↑ Olson et al. (2010), pp. 206–207.
  15. 1 2 Gilles & Trouvain (2013), pp. 67–68.
  16. ↑ Jassem (2003), p. 103.
  17. ↑ Cruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 91.
  18. ↑ DEX Online :
  19. ↑ Padgett (2003), p. 42.
  20. ↑ Landau et al. (1999), p. 66.
  21. ↑ Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003), p. 255.
  22. ↑ Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.
  23. ↑ Merrill (2008), p. 108.

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References

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