Voiced velar stop

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

Voiced velar plosive
ɡ
IPA number	110
Audio sample
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɡ
Unicode (hex)	U+0261
X-SAMPA	g
Braille
Image

Some languages have the voiced pre-velar plosive, 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 voiced post-velar plosive, which is articulated slightly behind the place of articulation of the prototypical velar plosive, though not as back as the prototypical uvular plosive.

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 , but the double-storey G is considered an acceptable alternative. The Unicode character U+0067 g LATIN SMALL LETTER G renders as either a single-storey G or a double-storey G depending on font; the character U+0261 ɡ LATIN SMALL LETTER SCRIPT G is always a single-storey G, but it is generally available only in fonts supporting the IPA Extensions Unicode character block.

Features

Features of the voiced 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 voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• 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.
• Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Varieties

IPA	Description
ɡ	plain ɡ
ɡʱ	breathy ɡ
ɡʲ	palatalized ɡ
ɡʷ	labialized ɡ
ɡ̚	ɡ with no audible release
ɡ̥	voiceless ɡ
ɡ͈	tense ɡ

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], (when the language uses voicing to contrast stops) on the other hand, is widely scattered around the world, for example /ɡ/ is not a native phoneme of Belarusian, Dutch, Czech, 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].

In many Indo-Aryan languages, such as Hindustani, plain [g] and aspirated [g^h] are in contrastive distribution.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abkhaz		ажыга/ažëga	[aˈʐəɡa]	'shovel'	See Abkhaz phonology
Adyghe	Shapsug	гьэгуалъэ/gägwaĺa		'toy'	Dialectal. Corresponds to [d͡ʒ] in other dialects.
	Temirgoy	чъыгы/ čëgë		'tree'	Dialectal. Corresponds to [ɣ] in other dialects.
Albanian		gomar	[ˈɡomaɾ]	'donkey'
Arabic	Moroccan	أݣادير‎/'agaadiir	[ʔaɡaːdiːr]	'Agadir'
	Tunisian	ڨفصة‎‎/gafs'a		'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/gääl	[gæːl]	'(he) said'	Pronunciation of ⟨ق⟩ in San'ani dialect in the North and Center and Hadhrami in the East
		جمل/gämäl	[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 /dʒ/, /ʒ/ or /ɟ/ in other pronunciations.
Armenian	Eastern	գանձ/gandz		'treasure'
Assyrian		ܓܢܐ ɡana	[ɡaːna]	'self'	Used predominantly in Urban 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]	'forest'	See Bulgarian phonology
Catalan		guant	[ˈɡwan̪(t̪)]	'glove'	See Catalan phonology
Chechen		говр/gowr	[ɡɔʊ̯r]	'horse'
Czech		gram	[ɡram]	'gram'	See Czech phonology
Danish	Standard	lykke	[ˈløɡə]	'happiness'	Only partially voiced; possible allophone of /ɡ/ in the intervocalic position. More often voiceless [k]. See Danish phonology
Dutch	All dialects	zakdoek		'tissue'	Allophone of /k/, occurring only before voiced consonants in native words. See Dutch phonology
	Standard
	Many speakers	goal		'goal'	Only in loanwords. Some speakers may realize it as [ɣ] ~ [ʝ] ~ [χ] ~ [x] (like a normal Dutch ⟨g⟩), or as [k].
	Amelands	goëd	[ɡuə̯d]	'good'
English		gaggle	[ˈɡæɡɫ̩]	'gaggle'	See English phonology
Filipino		gulo	[ɡulɔ]	'commotion'
French		gain	[ɡɛ̃]	'earnings'	See French phonology
Georgian		გული/guli	[ˈɡuli]	'heart'
German		Lüge	[ˈlyːɡə]	'lie'	See Standard German phonology
Greek		γκάρισμα / gkárisma	[ˈɡɐɾizmɐ]	'donkey's bray'	See Modern Greek phonology
Gujarati		ગાવું/gávu	[gaːʋʊ̃]	'to sing'	See Gujarati phonology
Hebrew		גב/gav	[ɡav]	'back'	See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hindustani		गाना/gáná / gáná/گانا	[ɡɑːnɑː]	'song'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindustani phonology
Hungarian		engedély	[ɛŋɡɛdeːj]	'permission'	See Hungarian phonology
Irish		gaineamh	[ˈɡanʲəw]	'sand'	See Irish phonology
Italian		gare	[ˈɡäːre]	'competitions'	[g] is represented by letter G when followed by vowels [a], [o] [u], while when in front of vowels [i], [e] and [ɛ], the pronunciation changes to d͡ʒ, for the phoneme [g] to appear on the vowels [i], [e] and [ɛ], the GH digraph is used.
Japanese		外套 / gaito	[ɡaitoː]	'overcoat'	See Japanese phonology
Kabardian	Baslaney	гьанэ/ gäna		'shirt'	Dialectal. Corresponds to [dʒ] in other dialects.
Kagayanen		kalag	[kað̞aɡ]	'spirit'
Khmer		ហ្គាស / gas	[gaːh]	'gas'	See Khmer phonology
Korean		메기 / megi	[meɡi]	'catfish'	See Korean phonology
Limburgish		zegke	[zεgə]	'say'	Common. Example from the Weert dialect.
Lithuanian		garai	[ɡɐrɐɪ̯ˑ]	'steam'	See Lithuanian phonology
Luxembourgish		agepack	[ˈɑɡəpaːk]	'gone about'	More often voiceless [k]. See Luxembourgish phonology
Macedonian		гром/grom	[ɡrɔm]	'thunder'	See Macedonian phonology
Malay		guni	[ɡuni]	'sack'
Marathi		गवत/gëvët	[ɡəʋət]	'grass'	See Marathi phonology
Nepali		गाउँ	[ɡä̃ũ̯]	'village'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nepali phonology
Norwegian		gull	[ɡʉl]	'gold'	See Norwegian phonology
Odia		ଗଛ/gočho	[ɡɔtʃʰɔ]	'tree'	Contrasts with aspirated form.
Persian		گوشت/guşt	[guʃt]	'meat'
Polish		gmin		'plebs'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese		língua	[ˈɫĩɡwɐ]	'tongue'	See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi		ਗਾਂ/gaa	[ɡɑ̃ː]	'cow'
Romanian		gând	[ɡɨnd]	'thought'	See Romanian phonology
Russian		голова/golova		'head'	See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatian		гост / gost	[gȏ̞ːs̪t̪]	'guest'	See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovak		miazga	[ˈmjäzɡä]	'lymph'	See Slovak phonology
Slovene		gost	[ˈɡɔ̂s̪t̪]	'guest'	See Slovene phonology
Somali		gaabi	[ɡaːbi]	'to shorten'	See Somali phonology
Southern Min	Hokkien	我/góa	[ɡua˥˧]	'I'
Spanish		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
Telugu		గచ్చు/gacu	[ɡat͡sːu]	'Floor'	contrasts with aspirated form (which is articulated as breathy consonant).
Turkish		salgın	[säɫˈɡɯn]	'epidemic'	See Turkish phonology
Ukrainian		ґанок / ganok	[ˈɡɑn̪ok]	'porch'	See Ukrainian phonology
Welsh		gwyn	[ɡwɪn] or [ɡwɨ̞n]	'white'	See Welsh phonology
West Frisian		gasp	[ɡɔsp]	'buckle' (n.)	See West Frisian phonology
Wu	Shanghainese	狂/guaon^6	[ɡuɑ̃^23]	'crazy'
Xiang		共/wong	[ɡoŋ]	'together'
Yi		ꈨ / gge	[ɡɤ˧]	'hear'
Zapotec	Tilquiapan	gan	[ɡaŋ]	'will be able'	Depending on speaker and carefulness of speech, [ɡ] may be lenited to [ɣ]

See also

• Index of phonetics articles
• Arabic letters specifically to create the phoneme /ɡ/ in loanwords:
  • ج
  • چ
  • غ
  • ق
  • ڨ
  • ك
  • ڭ
  • گ

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. Goblirsch (2018), pp. 134–5, citing Fischer-Jørgensen (1952) and Abrahams (1949, pp. 116–21, 228–30).
8. Puggaard-Rode, Horslund & Jørgensen (2022).
9. Gussenhoven (1992), p. 45.
10. Fougeron & Smith (1993), p. 73.
11. Shosted & Chikovani (2006), p. 255.
12. Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004), p. 117.
13. Okada (1999), p. 117.
14. Olson et al. (2010), pp. 206–207.
15. Gilles & Trouvain (2013), pp. 67–68.
16. Jassem (2003), p. 103.
17. Cruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 91.
18. DEX Online : [1]
19. Padgett (2003), p. 42.
20. Landau et al. (1999), p. 66.
21. Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003), p. 255.
22. Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.
23. Merrill (2008), p. 108.

References

• Abrahams, Henrik (1949), Études phonétiques sur les tendances évolutives des occlusives germaniques, Aarhus University Press
• Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (1–2): 53–56, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004618, S2CID 249411809
• Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223, S2CID 249414876
• Danyenko, Andrii; Vakulenko, Serhii (1995), Ukrainian, Lincom Europa, ISBN 978-3-929075-08-3
• Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009), Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
• Fischer-Jørgensen, Eli (1952), "Om stemtheds assimilation", in Bach, H.; et al. (eds.), Festskrift til L. L. Hammerich, Copenhagen: G. E. C. Gad, pp. 116–129
• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 23 (2): 73–76, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004874, S2CID 249404451
• Gilles, Peter; Trouvain, Jürgen (2013), "Luxembourgish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (1): 67–74, doi:10.1017/S0025100312000278
• Goblirsch, Kurt (2018), Gemination, Lenition, and Vowel Lengthening: On the History of Quantity in Germanic, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-107-03450-1
• Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), "Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22 (2): 45–47, doi:10.1017/S002510030000459X, S2CID 243772965
• Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (1): 103–107, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001191
• Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
• 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 978-0-521-63751-0
• 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, S2CID 38504322
• 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
• Puggaard-Rode, Rasmus; Horslund, Camilla Søballe; Jørgensen, Henrik (2022), "The rarity of intervocalic voicing of stops in Danish spontaneous speech", Laboratory Phonology, 13 (1), doi:10.16995/labphon.6449, hdl:1887/3304670
• 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
• Thompson, Laurence (1959), "Saigon phonemics", Language, 35 (3): 454–476, doi:10.2307/411232, JSTOR 411232
• Watson, Janet (2002), The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic, New York: Oxford University Press
• 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 [ɡ] on PHOIBLE