Voiceless velar stop

Voiceless velar stop
k
IPA number	109
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	k
Unicode (hex)	U+006B
X-SAMPA	k
Kirshenbaum	k
Braille
Sound
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The voiceless velar stop or voiceless velar plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many 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 stop, e.g. Tahitian.

There is also a voiceless post-velar stop (also called pre-uvular) in some languages. For voiceless pre-velar stop (also called post-palatal), see voiceless palatal stop.

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 stop.

• Its place of articulation is velar, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue 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

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abkhaz		ақалақь	[ˈakalakʲ]	'the city'	See Abkhaz phonology
Adyghe	Shapsug	кьэт	[kʲat]	'chicken'	Dialectal; corresponds to [t͡ʃ] in other dialects.
	Temirgoy	пскэн	[pskan]	'to cough'
Ahtna		gistaann	[kɪstʰɐːn]	'six'
Aleut[1]		kiikax̂	[kiːkaχ]	'cranberry bush'
Arabic	Standard[2]	كتب	[ˈkatabɐ]	'he wrote'	See Arabic phonology
Armenian	Eastern[3]	քաղաք	[kʰɑˈʁɑkʰ]	'town'	Contrasts with unaspirated form.
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic		kuleh	[kulɛː]	'all'	Used in most varieties, with the exception of the Urmia and Nochiya dialects where it corresponds to [t͡ʃ].
Basque		katu	[kat̪u]	'cat'
Bengali		কম	[kɔm]	'less'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology
Bulgarian		как	[kak]	'how'
Catalan[4]		quinze	[ˈkinzə]	'fifteen'	See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Cantonese	家/gaa1	[kaː˥]	'home'	Contrasts with aspirated and or labialized forms. See Cantonese phonology
	Mandarin	高/gāo	[kɑʊ˥]	'high'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Mandarin phonology
Czech		kost	[kost]	'bone'	See Czech phonology
Danish	Standard[5]	gås	[ˈkɔ̽ːs]	'goose'	Usually transcribed in IPA as ⟨ɡ̊⟩ or ⟨ɡ⟩. Contrasts with aspirated form, which is usually transcribed ⟨kʰ⟩ or ⟨k⟩. See Danish phonology
Dutch[6]		koning	[ˈkoːnɪŋ]	'king'	See Dutch phonology
English		kiss	[kʰɪs]	'kiss'	See English phonology
Estonian		kõik	[kɤik]	'all'
Esperanto		kato	[kato]	'cat'
Finnish		kakku	[kɑkːu]	'cake'	See Finnish phonology
French[7]		cabinet	[kabinɛ]	'office'	See French phonology
Georgian[8]		ქვა	[kʰva]	'stone'
German		Käfig	[ˈkʰɛːfɪç]	'cage'	See German phonology
Greek		καλόγερος/kalógeros	[kaˈlo̞ʝe̞ro̞s̠]	'monk'	See Modern Greek phonology
Gujarati		કાંદો	[kɑːnd̪oː]	'onion'	See Gujarati phonology
Hebrew		כסף/kesef	[ˈkesef]	'money'	See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hindi		काम	[kɑːm]	'work'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Hungarian		akkor	[ɒkkor]	'then'	See Hungarian phonology
Italian[9]		casa	[ˈkaza]	'house'	See Italian phonology
Japanese[10]		鞄/kaban	[kabaɴ]	'handbag'	See Japanese phonology
Kagayanen[11]		?	[kað̞aɡ]	'spirit'
Korean		키조개/kijogae	[kʰid͡ʑoɡɛ]	'Atrina pectinata'	See Korean phonology
Lakota		kimímela	[kɪˈmɪmela]	'butterfly'
Luxembourgish[12]		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⟩.[12] 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'
Norwegian		kake	[kɑːkɛ]	'cake'	See Norwegian phonology
Pashto		كال	[kɑl]	'year'
Polish[13]		buk	[ˈbuk]	'beech tree'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese[14]		corpo	[ˈkoɾpu]	'body'	See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi		ਕਰ	[kəɾ]	'do'	Contrasts with aspirated form.
Romanian[15]		când	[ˈkɨnd]	'when'	See Romanian phonology
Russian[16]		короткий	[kɐˈrotkʲɪj]	'short'	See Russian phonology
Slovak		kosť	[kosc]	'bone'
Spanish[17]		casa	[ˈkasa]	'house'	See Spanish phonology
Swedish		ko	[ˈkʰuː]	'cow'	See Swedish phonology
Telugu		కాకి	[kāki]	'crow'
Turkish		kulak	[kʰuɫäk]	'ear'	See Turkish phonology
Ubykh		/kawar/		'slat'	Found mostly in loanwords. See Ubykh phonology
Ukrainian		колесо	[ˈkɔɫɛsɔ]	'wheel'	See Ukrainian phonology
Urdu		کتاب	[kɪtɑːb]	'book'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Vietnamese[18]		cam	[kaːm]	'orange'	See Vietnamese phonology
West Frisian		keal	[kɪəl]	'calf'
Western Neo-Aramaic	Bakh'a				Post-velar; somewhat more front in Ma'loula.
	Ma'loula
Yi		ꇰ/ge	[kɤ˧]	'foolish'	Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms.
Zapotec	Tilquiapan[19]	canza	[kanza]	'walking'

See also

• Hard and soft C
• Index of phonetics articles

References

Bibliography

International Phonetic Alphabet   IPA topics IPA International Phonetic Association History of the IPA Extensions to the IPA Kiel convention (1989) Journal of the IPA (JIPA) Naming conventions Phonetics Diacritics Segments Tone letter Place of articulation Manner of articulation Special topics Case variants of IPA letters Handwritten IPA Obsolete and nonstandard symbols IPA chart for English dialects Encodings SAMPA X-SAMPA Kirshenbaum TIPA Phonetic symbols in Unicode WorldBet IPA Braille   Consonants IPA pulmonic consonantschart image • audio Place → Labial Coronal Dorsal Laryngeal ↓ Manner Bilabial Labio­dental Linguo­labial Dental Alveolar Palato- alveolar Retroflex Alveolo- palatal Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyngeal / Epiglottal Glottal Nasal m̥ m ɱ n̼̊ n̼ n̥ n ɳ̊ ɳ ɲ̊ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ ɴ̥ ɴ Stop p b p̪ b̪ t̼ d̼ t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ Sibilant affricate ts dz tʃ dʒ ʈʂ ɖʐ tɕ dʑ Non-sibilant affricate pɸ bβ p̪f b̪v tθ dð tθ̠ dð̠ t̠ɹ̠̊˔ d̠ɹ̠˔ cç ɟʝ kx ɡɣ qχ ɢʁ ʡħ ʡʕ ʔh Sibilant fricative s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ɕ ʑ Non-sibilant fricative ɸ β f v θ̼ ð̼ θ ð θ̱ ð̠ ɹ̠̊˔ ɹ̠˔ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ h ɦ ʔ̞ Approximant ɸ˕ ʋ θ̞ ɹ̥ ɹ ɻ̊ ɻ j̊ j ɰ̊ ɰ Flap or tap ⱱ̟ ⱱ ɾ̼ ɾ̥ ɾ ɽ̊ ɽ ɢ̆ ʡ̮ Trill ʙ r̼ r̥ r ɽr̥ ɽr ʀ̥ ʀ ʜ ʢ Lateral affricate tɬ dɮ ʈɭ̊˔ cʎ̥˔ kʟ̝̊ ɡʟ̝ Lateral fricative ɬ ɮ ɭ̊˔ ʎ̥˔ ʎ̝ ʟ̝̊ ʟ̝ Lateral approximant l̼ l̥ l ɭ̊ ɭ ʎ̥ ʎ ʟ ʟ̠ Lateral flap ɺ̼ ɺ ɭ̆ ʎ̮ ʟ̆ Non-pulmonic consonants Simple clicks ʘ ʘ̬ ʘ̃ ǀ ǀ̬ ǀ̃ ǃ ǃ̬ ǃ̃ ǂ ǂ̬ ǂ̃ ǁ ǁ̬ ǁ̃ ǃ˞ ǃ̬˞ ǃ̃˞ Other clicks ʘ̃ˀ ʘˀ ˀʘ̃ ʘ͡q ʘ͡qχ ʘ͡qʼ ʘ͡qχʼ ¡ ʞ Implosives ɓ ɗ ᶑ ʄ ɠ ʛ ɓ̥ ɗ̥ ᶑ̥ ʄ̊ ɠ̊ ʛ̥  Ejectives pʼ tʼ ʈʼ cʼ kʼ qʼ ʡʼ fʼ θʼ sʼ ɬʼ ʃʼ ʂʼ ɕʼ xʼ χʼ tsʼ tɬʼ tʃʼ ʈʂʼ tɕʼ cʎ̝̥ʼ kxʼ kʟ̝̊ʼ qχʼ Co-articulated consonants Continuants ʍ w ɥ̊ ɥ ɫ Occlusives k͡p ɡ͡b ŋ͡m ɧ t͡p d͡b n͡m q͡ʡ — These tables contain phonetic symbols, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help] — Where symbols appear in pairs, left–right represent the voiceless–voiced consonants. — Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged to be impossible or not distinctive. Chart image Pulmonics Non-pulmonics Affricates Co-articulated   Vowels Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close •iy •ɨʉ •ɯu •ɪʏ •ɪ̈ʊ̈ •ɯ̽ʊ •eø •ɘɵ •ɤo •e̞ø̞ •əɵ̞ •ɤ̞o̞ •ɛœ •ɜɞ •ʌɔ •æ •ɐɞ̞ •aɶ •äɒ̈ •ɑɒ Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open IPA help • chart •  chart with audio • view