Voiceless velar plosive

Consonantal sound

Voiceless velar plosive
k
IPA Number	109
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	k
Unicode (hex)	U+006B
X-SAMPA	k
Braille
Audio sample
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The voiceless velar plosive or stop 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.

The [k] sound is a very common sound cross-linguistically. Most languages have at least a plain [k], and some distinguish more than one variety. Most Indo-Aryan languages, such as Hindi and Bengali, have a two-way contrast between aspirated and plain [k]. Only a few languages lack a voiceless velar plosive, e.g. Tahitian.

Some languages have the voiceless 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 voiceless 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.

Features

Features of the voiceless velar stop:

• Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no nasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is a plosive.
• Its place of articulation is velar, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) at the soft palate.
• Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Varieties

IPA	Description
k	plain k
kʰ	aspirated k
kʲ	palatalized k
kʷ	labialized k
k̚	k with no audible release
k̬	voiced k
k͈	tense k
kʼ	ejective k

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abkhaz		ақалақь/ak̇halak̇h’	[ˈakalakʲ]	'the city'	See Abkhaz phonology
Adyghe	Shapsug	кьэт/k′ėt	[kʲat] (help·info)	'chicken'	Dialectal; corresponds to [t͡ʃ] in other dialects.
	Temirgoy	пскэн/pskėn	[pskan]	'to cough'
Ahtna		gistaann	[kɪstʰɐːn]	'six'
Aleut[3]		kiikax̂	[kiːkaχ]	'cranberry bush'
Arabic	Modern Standard[4]	كتب‎/kutib	[ˈkatabɐ]	'he wrote'	See Arabic phonology
Armenian	Eastern[5]	քաղաք/ k'aġak'/k'aghak	[kʰɑˈʁɑkʰ]	'town'	Contrasts with unaspirated form.
Assamese		কম/kom	[kɔm]	'less'
Assyrian		ܟܬܒ̣ܐ ctava‎	[ktava]	'book'	Used in most varieties, with the exception of the Urmia and Nochiya dialects where it corresponds to [t͡ʃ].
Basque		katu	[kat̪u]	'cat'
Bengali		কম/kom	[kɔm]	'less'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology
Bulgarian		как/kak	[kak]	'how'	See Bulgarian phonology
Catalan[6]		quinze	[ˈkinzə]	'fifteen'	See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Cantonese	家 / gā	[kaː˥]	'home'	Contrasts with aspirated and or labialized forms. See Cantonese phonology
	Hokkien	歌 koa	[kua]	'song'
	Mandarin	高 / gāo	[kɑʊ˥]	'high'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Mandarin phonology
Chuvash		кукка	[ku'kːɑ]	'mother's brother'
Czech		kost	[kost]	'bone'	See Czech phonology
Danish	Standard[7]	gås	[ˈkɔ̽ːs]	'goose'	Usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɡ̊⟩ or ⟨ɡ⟩. Contrasts with aspirated form, which is usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʰ⟩ or ⟨k⟩. See Danish phonology
Dutch[8]		koning	[ˈkoːnɪŋ]	'king'	See Dutch phonology
English		kiss	[kʰɪs]	'kiss'	See English phonology
Esperanto		rakonto	[raˈkonto]	'tale'	See Esperanto phonology
Estonian		kõik	[kɤik]	'all'	See Estonian phonology
Esperanto		kato	[kato]	'cat'
Filipino		kuto	[ˈkuto]	'lice'
Finnish		kakku	[kɑkːu]	'cake'	See Finnish phonology
French[9]		cabinet	[kabinɛ]	'office'	See French phonology
Georgian[10]		ქვა/kva	[kʰva]	'stone'
German		Käfig	[ˈkʰɛːfɪç]	'cage'	See Standard German phonology
Greek		καλόγερος / kalógeros	[kaˈlo̞ʝe̞ro̞s̠]	'monk'	See Modern Greek phonology
Gujarati		કાંદો/kaṃde	[kɑːnd̪oː]	'onion'	See Gujarati phonology
Hebrew		כסף / kesef	[ˈkesef]	'money'	See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hiligaynon		kadlaw	[kad̪law]	'laugh'
Hindustani		काम / کام‎	[kɑːm]	'work'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindustani phonology
Hungarian		akkor	[ɒkkor]	'then'	See Hungarian phonology
Italian[11]		casa	[ˈkäːzä]	'house'	See Italian phonology
Japanese[12]		鞄 / kaban	[kabaɴ]	'handbag'	See Japanese phonology
Kagayanen[13]		kalag	[kað̞aɡ]	'spirit'
Korean		감자 / kamja	[kamdʐa]	'potato'	See Korean phonology
Lakota		kimímela	[kɪˈmɪmela]	'butterfly'
Luxembourgish[14]		geess	[ˈkeːs]	'goat'	Less often voiced [ɡ]. It is usually transcribed in IPA as ⟨ɡ⟩, and it contrasts with aspirated form, which is usually transcribed ⟨k⟩.[14] See Luxembourgish phonology
Macedonian		кој	[kɔj]	'who'	See Macedonian phonology
Marathi		कवच	[kəʋət͡s]	'armour'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Marathi phonology
Malay		kaki	[käki]	'leg'
Nepali		केरा	[keɾä]	'banana'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nepali phonology
Norwegian		kake	[kɑːkɛ]	'cake'	See Norwegian phonology
Odia		କାମ/kāma	[kämɔ]	'work'	Contrasts with aspirated form.
Pashto		كال‎/kal	[kɑl]	'year'
Persian		کیمچی/kimci	[kimt͡ʃi]	'kimchi'
Polish[15]		buk	[ˈbuk] (help·info)	'beech tree'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese[16]		corpo	[ˈkoɾpu]	'body'	See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi		ਕਰ/کر/kar	[kəɾ]	'do'	Contrasts with aspirated form.
Romanian[17]		când	[ˈkɨnd]	'when'	See Romanian phonology
Russian[18]		короткий/korotkiy	[kɐˈrotkʲɪj] (help·info)	'short'	See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatian[19]		кост / kost	[kȏːs̪t̪]	'bone'	See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovak		kosť	[kɔ̝sc̟]	'bone'	See Slovak phonology
Spanish[20]		casa	[ˈkäsä]	'house'	See Spanish phonology
Swedish		ko	[ˈkʰuː]	'cow'	See Swedish phonology
Sylheti		ꠇꠤꠔꠣ/kita	[kɪt̪à]	'what'
Tamil		கை/kai	[kəɪ̯]	'hand'	See Tamil phonology
Telugu		కాకి/kāki	[kāki]	'crow'
Thai		ไก่/kị̀	[kaj˨˩]	'chicken'	Contrasts with an aspirated form.
Turkish		kulak	[kʰuɫäk]	'ear'	See Turkish phonology
Ubykh		кауар/kawar	[kawar]	'slat'	Found mostly in loanwords. See Ubykh phonology
Ukrainian[21]		колесо/koleso	[ˈkɔɫɛsɔ]	'wheel'	See Ukrainian phonology
Vietnamese[22]		cam	[kam]	'orange'	See Vietnamese phonology
Welsh		calon	[kalɔn]	'heart'	See Welsh phonology
West Frisian		keal	[kɪəl]	'calf'	See West Frisian phonology
Yi		ꇰ / ge	[kɤ˧]	'foolish'	Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms.
Zapotec	Tilquiapan[23]	canza	[kanza]	'walking'

See also

• Hard and soft C
• Index of phonetics articles

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. Ladefoged (2005), p. 165.
4. Thelwall (1990), p. 37.
5. Dum-Tragut (2009), p. 13.
6. Carbonell & Llisterri (1992), p. 53.
7. Basbøll (2005:61)
8. Gussenhoven (1992), p. 45.
9. Fougeron & Smith (1993), p. 73.
10. Shosted & Chikovani (2006), p. 255.
11. Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004), p. 117.
12. Okada (1999), p. 117.
13. Olson et al. (2010), pp. 206–207.
14. Gilles & Trouvain (2013:67–68)
15. Jassem (2003), p. 103.
16. Cruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 91.
17. DEX Online : [1]
18. Padgett (2003), p. 42.
19. Landau et al. (1999), p. 66.
20. Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003), p. 255.
21. Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.
22. Thompson (1959), pp. 458–461.
23. Merrill (2008), p. 108.

References

• Basbøll, Hans (2005), The Phonology of Danish, ISBN 0-203-97876-5
• Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (1–2): 53–56, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004618
• Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223
• Danyenko, Andrii; Vakulenko, Serhii (1995), Ukrainian, Lincom Europa, ISBN 9783929075083
• Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009), Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L. (1993), "French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 23 (2): 73–76, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004874
• Gilles, Peter; Trouvain, Jürgen (2013), "Luxembourgish" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 67–74, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000278
• Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), "Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (2): 45–47, doi:10.1017/S002510030000459X
• Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (1): 103–107, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001191
• Ladefoged, Peter (2005), Vowels and Consonants (Second ed.), Blackwell
• Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (2): 255–259, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001373
• Merrill, Elizabeth (2008), "Tilquiapan Zapotec" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 38 (1): 107–114, doi:10.1017/S0025100308003344
• Okada, Hideo (1999), "Japanese", in International Phonetic Association (ed.), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge University Press, pp. 117–119, ISBN 978-0-52163751-0
• Olson, Kenneth; Mielke, Jeff; Sanicas-Daguman, Josephine; Pebley, Carol Jean; Paterson, Hugh J., III (2010), "The phonetic status of the (inter)dental approximant", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 40 (2): 199–215, doi:10.1017/S0025100309990296
• Padgett, Jaye (2003), "Contrast and Post-Velar Fronting in Russian", Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 21 (1): 39–87, doi:10.1023/A:1021879906505, S2CID 13470826
• Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (1): 117–121, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001628
• Shosted, Ryan K.; Chikovani, Vakhtang (2006), "Standard Georgian" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (2): 255–264, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659
• Thelwall, Robin (1990), "Arabic", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 20 (2): 37–41, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004266
• Thompson, Laurence (1959), "Saigon phonemics", Language, 35 (3): 454–476, doi:10.2307/411232, JSTOR 411232
• Landau, Ernestina; Lončarića, Mijo; Horga, Damir; Škarić, Ivo (1999), "Croatian", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 66–69, ISBN 978-0-521-65236-0

External links

• List of languages with [k] on PHOIBLE