Voiced velar stop

Last updated
Voiced velar stop
ɡ
IPA Number 110
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ɡ
Unicode (hex)U+0261
X-SAMPA g
Braille Braille G7.svg
Audio sample
noicon
source  · help

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

Contents

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

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

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

Features of the voiced velar stop:

Occurrence

Of the six stops that would be expected from the most common pattern worldwide—that is, three places of articulation plus voicing ([p b, t d, k ɡ])—[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], on the other hand, is widely scattered around the world, for example /ɡ/ is not a native phoneme of Belarusian, Dutch, Czech, Finnish 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]

Many Indo-Aryan languages, such as Hindustani, have a two-way contrast between aspirated and plain [ɡ].

Examples

LanguageWord IPA MeaningNotes
Abkhaz ажыга /ažyga[aˈʐəɡa]'shovel'See Abkhaz phonology
Adyghe Shapsug гьэгуалъэ /g'ègwal"è Loudspeaker.svg [ɡʲaɡʷaːɬa]  'toy'Dialectal. Corresponds to [d͡ʒ] in other dialects.
Temirgoy чъыгы / č"ygy Loudspeaker.svg [t͡ʂəɡə]  'tree'Dialectal. Corresponds to [ɣ] in other dialects.
Albanian gomar [ˈɡomaɾ]'donkey'
Arabic [4] Moroccan أݣادير/'agaadiir[ʔaɡaːdiːr]'Agadir'
Tunisian ڨفصة‎/gafs'a Loudspeaker.svg [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 /gaal[gæːl]'(he) said'Pronunciation of ق in San'ani dialect in the North and Center and Hadhrami in the East
جمل /gamal[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 //, /ʒ/ or /ɟ/ in other pronunciations.
Armenian Eastern [5] գանձ /ganç Loudspeaker.svg [ɡɑndz]  'treasure'
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic ɡana [ɡaːna]'self'Used predominantly in Iraqi 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]'wood'See Bulgarian phonology
Catalan [6] gros [ɡɾɔs]'large'See Catalan phonology
Chinese Southern Min / woa[ɡua]'I'Only in colloquial speech.
Wu / woã[ɡuɑ̃]'crazy'
Xiang / wong[ɡoŋ]'together'
Chechen говр /govr[ɡovr]'horse'
Czech gram [ɡram]'gram'See Czech phonology
Dutch All dialects zakdoek Loudspeaker.svg [ˈzɑɡduk]  'tissue'Allophone of /k/, occurring only before voiced consonants in native words. See Dutch phonology
Standard [7]
Many speakers goal Loudspeaker.svg [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 [ɡuə̯t]'good'
English gaggle Loudspeaker.svg [ˈɡæɡɫ̩] 'gaggle'See English phonology
Esperanto bongusta [bonˈgusta]'tasty'See Esperanto phonology
Filipino gulo [ɡulɔ]'war'
French [8] gain [ɡɛ̃]'earnings'See French phonology
Georgian [9] ული /guli[ˈɡuli]'heart'
German ge [ˈlyːɡə]'lie'See Standard German phonology
Greek γκάρισμα / gkárisma [ˈɡɐɾizmɐ]'donkey's bray'See Modern Greek phonology
Gujarati ગાવું /gāvu[gaːʋʊ̃]'to sing'See Gujarati phonology
Hebrew גב /gav[ɡav]'back'See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hindustani गाना / گانا /gaanaa[ɡɑːnɑː]'song'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindustani phonology
Hungarian engedély [ɛŋɡɛdeːj]'permission'See Hungarian phonology
Irish gaineamh [ˈɡanʲəw]'sand'See Irish phonology
Italian [10] gare [ˈɡäːre]'competitions'See Italian phonology
Japanese [11] 外套 / gaitō [ɡaitoː]'overcoat'See Japanese phonology
Kabardian Baslaney гьанэ / k'anė Loudspeaker.svg [ɡʲaːna]  'shirt'Dialectal. Corresponds to [dʒ] in other dialects.
Kagayanen [12] kalag[kað̞aɡ]'spirit'
Korean 메기 / megi [meɡi]'catfish'See Korean phonology
Lithuanian garai [ɡɐrɐɪ̯ˑ]'steam'See Lithuanian phonology
Luxembourgish [13] agepack[ˈɑɡəpaːk][ translation
needed
]
More often voiceless [ k ]. [13] See Luxembourgish phonology
Macedonian гром /grom[ɡrɔm]'thunder'See Macedonian phonology
Malay guni [ɡuni]'sack'
Marathi वत /gavat[ɡəʋət]'grass'See Marathi phonology
Nepali गाउँ /gauu[ɡäũː]'village'Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nepali phonology
Norwegian gull [ɡʉl]'gold'See Norwegian phonology
Persian گوشت/gušt[guʃt]'meat'
Polish [14] gmin Loudspeaker.svg [ɡmʲin̪]  'plebs'See Polish phonology
Portuguese [15] língua [ˈɫĩɡwɐ]'tongue'See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi ਗਾਂ/gaa[ɡɑ̃ː]'cow'
Romanian [16] gând [ɡɨnd]'thought'See Romanian phonology
Russian [17] голова /golova Loudspeaker.svg [ɡəɫɐˈva]  'head'See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatian [18] гост / gost [gȏ̞ːs̪t̪]'guest'See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovak miazga [ˈmjäzɡä]'lymph'See Slovak phonology
Somali gaabi[ɡaːbi]'to shorten'See Somali phonology
Spanish [19] 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
Turkish salgın [säɫˈɡɯn]'epidemic'See Turkish phonology
Ukrainian [20] ґанок /g̀anok[ˈɡɑn̪ok]'steps'See Ukrainian phonology
West Frisian gasp[ɡɔsp]'buckle' (n.)See West Frisian phonology
Yi / gge [ɡɤ˧]'hear'
Zapotec Tilquiapan [21] 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. Gussenhoven (1992), p. 45.
  8. Fougeron & Smith (1993), p. 73.
  9. Shosted & Chikovani (2006), p. 255.
  10. Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004), p. 117.
  11. Okada (1999), p. 117.
  12. Olson et al. (2010), pp. 206–207.
  13. 1 2 Gilles & Trouvain (2013), pp. 67–68.
  14. Jassem (2003), p. 103.
  15. Cruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 91.
  16. DEX Online :
  17. Padgett (2003), p. 42.
  18. Landau et al. (1999), p. 66.
  19. Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003), p. 255.
  20. Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.
  21. Merrill (2008), p. 108.

Related Research Articles

The voiceless velar stop or voiceless velar plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in almost all spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨k⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is k.

Voiced velar nasal consonantal sound

The voiced velar nasal, also known as agma, from the Greek word for 'fragment', is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. It is the sound of ng in English sing as well as n before velar consonants as in English and ink. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ŋ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is N. The IPA symbol ⟨ŋ⟩ is similar to ⟨ɳ⟩, the symbol for the retroflex nasal, which has a rightward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the right stem, and to ⟨ɲ⟩, the symbol for the palatal nasal, which has a leftward-pointing hook extending from the bottom of the left stem. Both the IPA symbol and the sound are commonly called 'eng' or 'engma'.

The voiceless velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It was part of the consonant inventory of Old English and can still be found in some dialects of English, most notably in Scottish English, e.g. in loch, broch or saugh (willow).

The voiceless bilabial stop is a type of consonantal sound used in most spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨p⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is p.

The voiced bilabial stop is a type of consonantal sound, used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨b⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is b. The voiced bilabial stop occurs in English, and it is the sound denoted by the letter ⟨b⟩ in obey (obeI).

The voiced alveolar, dental and postalveolarstops are types of consonantal sounds, used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents voiced dental, alveolar, and postalveolar stops is ⟨d⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is d.

The voiceless uvular stop or voiceless uvular plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. It is pronounced like a voiceless velar stop, except that the tongue makes contact not on the soft palate but on the uvula. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨q⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is q.

The voiced bilabial nasal is a type of consonantal sound used in almost all spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨m⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is m. The bilabial nasal occurs in English, and it is the sound represented by "m" in map and rum.

The voiced labio-velar approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in certain spoken languages, including English. It is the sound denoted by the letter ⟨w⟩ in the English alphabet; likewise, the symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨w⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is w. In most languages it is a labialized velar approximant, and the semivocalic counterpart of the close back rounded vowel - i.e. the non-syllabic close back rounded vowel. In inventory charts of languages with other labialized velar consonants, will be placed in the same column as those consonants. When consonant charts have only labial and velar columns, may be placed in the velar column, (bi)labial column, or both. The placement may have more to do with phonological criteria than phonetic ones.

Voiced retroflex nasal consonantal sound

The voiced retroflex nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɳ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is n`.

Voiced uvular nasal consonantal sound

The voiced uvular nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɴ⟩, a small capital version of the Latin letter n; the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is N\.

The voiced labiodental fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨v⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is v.

Voiced palatal fricative Consonantal sound

The voiced palatal fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) that represents this sound is ⟨ʝ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is j\. It is the non-sibilant equivalent of the voiced alveolo-palatal sibilant.

Voiced palatal stop consonantal sound

The voiced palatal stop, or voiced palatal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound in some vocal languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɟ⟩, a barred dotless ⟨j⟩ that was initially created by turning the type for a lowercase letter ⟨f⟩. The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is J\.

Voiced uvular fricative consonantal sound

The voiced uvular fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ʁ⟩, an inverted small uppercase letter ⟨ʀ⟩, or in broad transcription ⟨r⟩ if rhotic. This consonant is one of several collectively called guttural R when found in European languages.

Voiced uvular stop consonantal sound

The voiced uvular stop or voiced uvular plosive is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɢ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is G\.

Voiced velar fricative consonantal sound

The voiced velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound that is used in various spoken languages. It is not found in Modern English but existed in Old English. 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 use for the voiced velar fricative.

A voiced alveolar affricate is a type of affricate consonant pronounced with the tip or blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge just behind the teeth. This refers to a class of sounds, not a single sound. There are several types with significant perceptual differences:

The voiced labial–velar stop is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. It is a and pronounced simultaneously. To make this sound, one can say go but with the lips closed as if one were saying Bo; the lips are to be released at the same time as or a fraction of a second after the g of go is pronounced. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɡ͡b⟩. Its voiceless counterpart is voiceless labial–velar stop,.

The voiceless velar affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound are ⟨k͡x⟩ and ⟨k͜x⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is k_x. The tie bar may be omitted, yielding ⟨kx⟩ in the IPA and kx in X-SAMPA.

References