Velar consonant

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"Velar" redirects here. For the village in Rajasthan, see Velar (village).
Places of articulation
Labial
Bilabial
Labial-velar
Labial-alveolar
Labiodental
Bidental
Coronal
Linguolabial
Interdental
Dental
Alveolar
Apical
Laminal
Postalveolar
Alveolo-palatal
Retroflex
Dorsal
Palatal
Labial-palatal
Velar
Uvular
Uvular-epiglottal
Radical
Pharyngeal
Epiglotto-pharyngeal
Epiglottal
Glottal
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[Edit]

Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).

Since the velar region of the roof of the mouth is relatively extensive and the movements of the dorsum are not very precise, velars easily undergo assimilation, shifting their articulation back or to the front depending on the quality of adjacent vowels. They often become automatically fronted, that is partly or completely palatal before a following front vowel, and retracted before back vowels.

Palatalised velars (like English /k/ in keen or cube) are sometimes referred to as palatovelars. Many languages also have labialized velars, such as [kʷ], in which the articulation is accompanied by rounding of the lips. There are also labial-velar consonants, which are doubly articulated at the velum and at the lips, such as [k͡p]. This distinction disappears with the approximant [w], since labialization involves adding of a labial approximant articulation to a sound, and this ambiguous situation is often called labiovelar.

The velar consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:

IPA Description Example
Language Orthography IPA Meaning
Image:Xsampa-N2.png velar nasal English ring [ɹɪŋ] ring
Image:Xsampa-k.png voiceless velar plosive English skip [skɪp] skip
Image:Xsampa-g.png voiced velar plosive English get [ɡɛt] get
Image:Xsampa-x.png voiceless velar fricative German Bauch [baʊx] abdomen
Image:Xsampa-G2.png voiced velar fricative Margi ɣàfə́ [ɣàfə́] arrow
Image:Xsampa-X.png voiceless labial-velar approximant English which[1] [ʍɪtʃ] which
Image:Xsampa-Mslash.png velar approximant Spanish pagar[2] [paɰaɾ] to pay
Image:Xsampa-Lslash.png velar lateral approximant Mid-Wahgi aʟaʟe [aʟaʟe] dizzy
Image:Xsampa-w2.png labial-velar approximant English witch [wɪtʃ] witch

It is important to note at this point that a velar trill or tap is not possible - see the shaded boxes on the consonant table at the bottom. In the velar position the tongue has an extremely restricted ability to carry out the type of motion associated with trills or taps. Nor does the body of the tongue have the freedom to move quickly enough to produce a velar trill or flap.[3]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ In dialects that distinguish between which and witch.
  2. ^ Intervocalic g in Spanish often described instead as a very lightly articulated voiced velar fricative.[citation needed]
  3. ^ The International phonetic Alphabet

[edit] See also

  Consonants (List, table) See also: IPA, Vowels  
Pulmonics Bila​bial Labio​dental Den​tal Alve​olar Post-​alve​olar Retro​flex Pal​a​tal Ve​lar Uvu​lar Pha​ryn​geal Epi​glot​tal Glot​tal Non-pulmonics and other symbols
Nasals m ɱ n̪ n ɳ ɲ ŋ ɴ Clicks  ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ ǁ
Plosives p b p̪ b̪ t̪ d̪ t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ Implo­­sives  ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ ʛ
Fricatives  ɸ β f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ ʜ ʢ h ɦ Ejec­­tives  pʼ tʼ kʼ qʼ sʼ
Approximants  ʋ ɹ ɻ j ɰ Affricates  t͡s d͡z t͡ʃ d͡ʒ t͡ɕ d͡ʑ t͡ʂ d͡ʐ t͡ɬ d͡ɮ p̪͡f
Trills ʙ r • ʀ • Other laterals  ɺ • ɫ
Flaps & Taps • ѵ ɾ ɽ • • Co-articulated fricatives  ɕ ʑ ɧ
Lat. Fricatives ɬ ɮ • • • Co-articulated approximants  ʍ w ɥ
Lat. Appr'mants l ɭ ʎ ʟ Co-articulated stops  k͡p ɡ͡b ŋ͡m
This page contains phonetic information in IPA, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help]
Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant. Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged impossible.