Velar consonant


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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).

The velar consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:

IPA Symbol Name Example
k Voiceless velar plosive English [khæp] cap
g Voiced velar plosive English [gɛt] get
ŋ Velar nasal English [ɹʌŋ] rung
x Voiceless velar fricative Hebrew [xanuka] (="Chanukkah")
ɣ Voiced velar fricative Margi [ɣàfə́] (="arrow")
ɰ Velar approximant Spanish [paɰa] paga (="he/she/it/you(formal) pays") 1
ʟ Velar lateral approximant Mid-Waghi [aʟaʟe] (="dizzy")
w Labio-velar approximant English [wɪtʃ] witch
ʍ Labio-velar approximant English [ʍɪtʃ] which 2

Notes:

  1. Intervocalic 'g' in Spanish often described instead as a very lightly articulated voiced velar fricative.
  2. For English dialects that distinguish between which and witch


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 labiovelar phonemes, including the approximant [w] and others given symbols like [kw] etc. In these the articulation is accompanied by rounding of the lips.