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

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

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'	Dialectal. Corresponds to [t͡ʃ] in other dialects.
Ahtna		gistaann	[kɪstʰɐːn]	'six'
Aleut		kiikax̂	[kiːkaχ]	'cranberry bush'
Arabic	Standard	كتب	[ˈkatabɐ]	'he wrote'	See Arabic phonology
Armenian	Eastern	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		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	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		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		cabinet	[kabinɛ]	'office'	See French phonology
Georgian		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		casa	[ˈkaza]	'house'	See Italian phonology
Japanese		鞄/kaban	[kabaɴ]	'handbag'	See Japanese phonology
Kagayanen		?	[kað̞aɡ]	'spirit'
Korean		키조개/kijogae	[kʰid͡ʑoɡɛ]	'Atrina pectinata'	See Korean phonology
Lakota		kimímela	[kɪˈmɪmela]	'butterfly'
Luxembourgish		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⟩. 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		buk	[ˈbuk]	'beech tree'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese		corpo	[ˈkoɾpu]	'body'	See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi		ਕਰ	[kəɾ]	'do'	Contrasts with aspirated form.
Romanian		când	[ˈkɨnd]	'when'	See Romanian phonology
Russian		короткий	[kɐˈrotkʲɪj]	'short'	See Russian phonology
Slovak		kosť	[kosc]	'bone'
Spanish		casa	[ˈkasa]	'house'	See Spanish phonology
Swedish		ko	[ˈkʰuː]	'cow'	See Swedish phonology
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		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	canza	[kanza]	'walking'

See also

• Hard and soft C
• Index of phonetics articles

Bibliography

• Basbøll, Hans (2005), The Phonology of Danish, ISBN 0-203-97876-5
• Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009), Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
• Ladefoged, Peter (2005), Vowels and Consonants (Second ed.), Blackwell