Voiced velar fricative

A voiced velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound that is used in various spoken languages. It is not found in most varieties of Modern English but existed in Old English.^[1] The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is â¨É£â©, a Latinized variant of the Greek letter gamma, â¨Î³â©, which has this sound in Modern Greek. It should not be confused with the graphically-similar â¨É¤â©, the IPA symbol for a close-mid back unrounded vowel, which some writings^[2] use for the voiced velar fricative.

IPA number141

Entity (decimal)ɣ

Unicode (hex)U+0263

X-SAMPAG

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Voiced velar fricative

É£

IPA number 141

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Unicode (hex) U+0263

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The symbol â¨É£â© is also sometimes used to represent the velar approximant, which, however, is more accurately written with the lowering diacritic: [É£Ì] or [É£Ë]. The IPA also provides a dedicated symbol for a velar approximant, [É°].

There is also a voiced post-velar fricative, also called pre-uvular, in some languages. For the voiced pre-velar fricative, also called post-palatal, see voiced palatal fricative.

Features

Features of a voiced velar fricative:

Its manner of articulation is fricative, which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence.
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 that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
It is a median consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream down the midline of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air only with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Some of the consonants listed as post-velar may actually be fricative trills.

More information Language, Word ...

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abaza		Ð±Ð³ÑÑÑ/bÄÃ«	[bÉ£Ê²É]	'leaf'
Adyghe		ÑÑÑÐ³Ñ/ÄÃ«ÄÃ«	[tÍ¡ÊÉÉ£É]^â	'tree'
Albanian	ArbÃ«resh Moresian (Pelloponesian) dialects of Arvanitika	gliata	[É£liÉtÉ]	'tall'
Alekano		gamÃ³	[É£ÉmÉ¤Ê]	'cucumber'
Aleut		agiitalix	[aÉ£iËtalix]	'with'
Angor		ranihÉ¨	[É¾ÉniÉ£É]	'brother'
Angas		Î³Ã¼r	[É£yr]	'to pick up'
Arabic	Modern Standard^[3]	ØºØ±ÙØ¨/ÄarÄ«b	[É£Ã¦ËriËb]^â	'strange'	May be velar, post-velar or uvular, depending on dialect.^[4] See Arabic phonology
Arabic	Baghdad Jewish	×¢×¡××¨× (Ê¿Ã¡skaÄ¡)	[ËÊaskaÉ£]	'army'
Aragonese		augua	[ËawÉ£wa]	'water'	Allophone of /É¡/
Aromanian		ghini	[ËÉ£i.ni]	'well'	Allophone of /É¡/
Aramaic	Eastern	Ü¦ÜÌ£ÜªÜ paÄ¡rÄ	[pÊÉ£rÉ]	'body'	Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants.
Aramaic	Western	Ü¦ÜÌ£ÜªÜ paÄ¡rÄ	[fÊÉ£rÉ]	'body'
Asturian		gadaÃ±u	[É£aËdÌªÃ£É²Ê]	'scythe'	Allophone of /É¡/ in almost all positions
Azerbaijani	Northern	oÄul	[oÉ£ul]	'son'
Azerbaijani	Southern	Ø§ÙØºÙÙ/oÄul	[oÉ£ul]	'son'
Basque^[5]		hego	[eÉ£o]	'wing'	Allophone of /É¡/
Belarusian		Ð³Ð°Ð»Ð°Ð²Ð°/halava	[É£alaËva]	'head'
Brahui		ØºÙØ±ÙÙÙÚ¯/Ä¡urring	[É£urËiÅÉ¡]	'to growl'	See Brahui language Â§ Phonology.
Breton		placâh	[plaÉ£]	'daughter'
Bengali		à¦à¦¼à¦°à§à¦¬	[É£oÉ¹ib]	Ëpoor'	Only occurs in loanwords. See Bengali phonology
Catalan^[6]		agrat	[ÉËÉ£É¾at]	'liking'	Fricative or approximant. Allophone of /É¡/. See Catalan phonology
Central Alaskan Yup'ik		auga	[ËauËÉ£a]	'his/her/its blood'	Never occurs in word-initial positions.
Chechen		Ð³ÓÐ°Ð»Ð° / Äala	[É£aËla]	'town'
Czech		bych byl	[bÉªÉ£ bÉªl]^â	'I would be'	Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants. See Czech phonology. Occurs only in few Moravian dialects and even there it is rather /É¦/
DÃ gÃ¡Ã¡rÃ¨		[pÉÌÉ£ÉÌ]		'woman'	May be realized with features closer to a velar tap [É¡Ì] (a sound previously considered impossible according to the IPA chart), based on acoustic analysis.^[7]
Dinka		É£o	[É£o]	'us'
Dogrib		weqa^{[clarification needed]}	[weÉ£a]	'for'
Dutch	Standard Belgian^[8]^[9]	genoegen	[ÊÌ ÌÉÌËnuÉ£Ê·ÅÌ]^â	'satisfaction'	Often (partially) devoiced.^[10] May be post-palatal [ÊÌ ] instead.^[9] See Dutch phonology
Dutch	Southern accents^[9]	genoegen	[ÊÌ ÌÉÌËnuÉ£Ê·ÅÌ]^â	'satisfaction'
English	Scouse	grass	[É£rÉËs]	'grass'	Allophone of /g/. See British English phonology^[11]
English	Northumbrian	^{[example needed]}			Burr^[12]
Georgian^[13]		á¦áá ááá/Äaribi	[É£Éribi]	'poor'	May actually be post-velar or uvular
German^[14]^[15]	Austrian	rot	[É£ot]	'red'	Intervocalic allophone of /r/ in casual speech.^[14]^[15]^[16] See Standard German phonology
Ghari		cheghe	[tÊeÉ£e]	'five'
Greek		Î³Î¬Î»Î±/gÃ¡la	[ËÉ£ala]	'milk'	See Modern Greek phonology
Gujarati		àªµàª¾àªàª£/vÄÄ¡aá¹	[ÊaÌ¤É£ÉÉ½Ì]	'tigress'	See Gujarati phonology
Gweno		ndeghe	[ndeÉ£e]	'bird'
Gwichâin		videeghÃ n	[viteËÉ£Ã¢n]	'his/her chest'
Haitian Creole		diri	[diÉ£i]	'rice'
HÃ¤n		dÃ«gÃ«ghor	[tÉkÉÉ£or]	'I am playing'
Hebrew	Classical	×Ö´×Ö°×Ö¸Ö¼×/miÄdol	[miÉ£dÉl]	'[a] tower'
Hebrew	Some Modern speakers (usually with a difficulty pronouncing [Ê])	×©××Ö¹×Öµ×¨/shomer	[ÊoÌËmeÌÉ£]	'[a male] guard', '[he] guards'	[ÊoÌËmeÌÊ] by other Modern speakers
Hindustani	Hindi^[17]	à¤à¤¼à¤°à¥à¤¬/garib	[É£á«¢ÉriËb]^â	'poor'	Post-velar,^[17] conservative Hindi speakers usually replace it with /g/. See Hindustani phonology
Hindustani	Urdu	ØºØ±ÛØ¨/gharib	[É£á«¢ÉriËb]^â	'poor'
Icelandic		saga	[ËsaËÉ£a]	'saga'	See Icelandic phonology
Irish		a dhorn	[É É£oËÉ¾Ë nÌªË ]	'his fist'	See Irish phonology
Istro-Romanian^[18]		gurÄ	[ËÉ£urÉ]	'mouth'	Corresponds to [É¡]^{[in which environments?]} in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Iwaidja		[mulaÉ£a]		'hermit crab'
Japanese^[19]		ã¯ã/hage	[haÉ£e]	'baldness'	Allophone of /É¡/, especially in fast or casual speech. See Japanese phonology
Judeo-Spanish		gato	[ËÉ£ÌatoÌª]^[20]	'cat'
Judeo-Spanish	Haketia	gher	[É£eÉ¾]	'only'	appears as a phoneme in words from Arabic^[21]
Kabardian		Ð³ÑÐ½/gyn	[É£Én]^â	'powder'
Komering		harong	[haÉ£oÅ]	'charcoal'
Lezgian		Ð³ÑÐµÐ»/Äel	[É£el]	'sleigh'
Lhaovo	Dagoâ	qid	[É£Ã¬t]	'water'
Lhaovo	Yunnan		[É£ÉkË§Ë©]	'water'
Limburgish^[22]^[23]		gaw	[É£ÉÌÎ²Ì]	'quick'	The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect.
Lishan Didan	Urmi Dialect	×¢×××/otogh	[Ë otÊ°oÉ£]	'room'	Generally post-velar
Lithuanian		humoras	[ËÉ£ÊmÉrÉsÌª]	'humor'	Preferred over [É¦]. See Lithuanian phonology
Low German^[24]		gaan	[ËÉ£ÉÌËn]	'to go'	Increasingly replaced with High German [É¡]
Macedonian	Berovo accent	Ð´ÑÐ²Ð½Ð°/duvna	[ËduÉ£na]	'it blew'	Corresponds to etymological /x/ of other dialects, before sonorants. See MaleÅ¡evo-Pirin dialect and Macedonian phonology
Macedonian	Bukovo accent	Ð³Ð»Ð°Ð²Ð°/glava	[ËÉ¡É£a(v)a]	'head'	Allophone of /l/ instead of usual [É«]. See Prilep-Bitola dialect
Malay	Standard	loghat	[loÉ£at]	'dialect'	Used in loanwords from Arabic that contain the sound. Replaced with /É¡/ by Indonesian speakers. See Malay phonology
	Johor-Riau	ramai	[É£amaj]	'crowded (with people)'	Corresponds to prevocalic and intervocalic /r/ in Standard Malay and to uvular /Ê/ in certain other Malay varieties such as Kedah Malay. Silent in word-final position.
	Negeri Sembilan		[É£amaj]
	Kelantan-Pattani		[É£ama]
	Terengganu		[É£ama]
	Pahang		[É£amÉÌ(Ë)]
	Sarawak		[É£ame]		Varies with uvular [Ê]. See Sarawak Malay
Malto		à¤ªà¥à¤¦à¤¼à¤à¤¼à¥/peÃ°Ä¡e	[peÃ°É£e]	'to break open'	See Malto language Â§ Phonology.
Mandarin Chinese	Central Mandarin (Dongping dialect)	ä¿º/Çn	[É£Ã¤nË¥]	'I'
Mandarin Chinese	Central Mandarin (Ningyang dialect)^[25]	é¹	[É£ÉË¦Ë¨]	'goose'
Mi'kmaq		nisaqan	[nisaÉ£an]	'weir'	Allophone of /x/ between sonorants. See Mi'kmaq language Â§ Phonology.
Navajo		âaghÃ¡	[ÊaÉ£a]	'best'
Neapolitan	Central Lucanian (Accettura dialect)	chiahÃ¤te	[kjaËÉ£É tÉ]^[26]	'wounded'	Corresponds to /g/ in Standard Italian. The example "chiahÃ¤te" translates to "piagato" in Italian.
Nepali		à¤à¤¾à¤à¤/kaÄdz	[kÃ¤É£Ê(d)z]	'paper'	Allophone of /É¡/ and /É¡Ê±/ in intervocalic positions. See Nepali phonology
Ngwe	Mmockngie dialect		[nÃ¸É£ÉÌ]	'sun'
Northern Qiang		hhnesh	[É£nÉÊ]	'February'
Norwegian	Urban East^[27]	Ã¥ ha	[É ËÉ£ÉË]	'to have'	Possible allophone of /h/ between two back vowels; can be voiceless [x] instead.^[27] See Norwegian phonology
Occitan	Gascon	digoc	[diËÉ£uk]	'said' (3rd pers. sg.)
Okanagan		É£ÉÉ£icÉ£c	[É£ÉÉ£itÊÉ£tÊ]	'Sparrow hawk'
Pashto		ØºØ§ØªØ±/ÄatÃ«r	[É£ÉtÉr]	'mule'
Pela		[É£ÉË¥]		'to rain'
Persian		Ø¨Ø§Øº/bÄq	[bÉËÉ£]	'garden'
Polish		niechÅ¼e	[ËÉ²ÉÉ£ÊÉ]	'let' (imperative particle)	Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants. See Polish phonology
Portuguese	European^[28]^[29]	agora	[ÉËÉ£ÉÉ¾É]	'now'	Allophone of /É¡/. See Portuguese phonology
Portuguese	Some Brazilian dialects^[30]	mÃ¡rmore	[ËmaÉ£muÉ¾i]	'marble', 'sill'	Allophone of rhotic consonant (voiced equivalent to [x], itself allophone of /Ê/) between voiced sounds, most often as coda before voiced consonants.
Punjabi	Gurmukhi	à¨à¨¼à¨°à©à¨¬/Ä¡arib	[É£ÉÌriËb]	'poor'	Less frequent in Gurmukhi varieties where it may be replaced by /É¡/.
Punjabi	Shahmukhi	ØºØ±ÛØ¨/Ä¡arÄ«b	[É£ÉÌriËb]	'poor'
Romani		Î³oines	[É£oines]	'good'
Russian	Southern	Ð´Ð¾ÑÐ¾Ð³Ð°/doroga	[dÉËroÌÉ£É]	'road'	Corresponds to /É¡/ in standard
	Standard	ÑÐ³Ñ/ugu	[ÊËÉ£u]	'uh-huh'	Usually nasal, /É¡/ is used when spoken. See Russian phonology
	Standard	Ð³Ð¾ÑÐ¾Ñ Ð¶Ðµ / goroh Å¾e	[É¡ÊËroÉ£ Êe]	'the peas'	Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants.^[31]
Sakha		Ð°ÒÐ°/aÄa	[aÉ£a]	'father'
Sardinian	Nuorese dialect	sÃºghere	[ËsuÉ£ÉrÉ]	'to suck'	Allophone of /É¡/
Scottish Gaelic		laghail	[É«ÌªÉ¤É£al]	'lawful'	More advanced than other velars. See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Serbo-Croatian^[32]		ovih bi	[ÇÌÊiÉ£ bi]	'of these would'	Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants.^[32] See Serbo-Croatian phonology
S'gaw Karen		áá·á¤/ghei	[É£ei]	'good'
Shughni		É£ÌÄ«Å¡tow	[É£iËÊtoËÊ·]	'to bark'	See Shughni phonology
Sindhi		ØºÙ/Ä¡amu	[É£ÉmÊ]	'sadness'
Slovak		bÃ¤ch bÃ¤l	[bÉÉÌ¯É£ bÉÉÌ¯l]	'I could be'	Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants. See Slovak phonology. Occurs only in few Moravian dialects and even there it is rather /É¦/
Slovene	Standard	h gori	[ËÉ£â¿É¡ÉÌËÉ¾Ã]	'to the mountain'	Allophone of /x/ before voiced obstruents. See Slovene phonology
Slovene	Some dialects	gajba	[ËÉ£Ã¡ËjbÃ ]	'crate'	Corresponds to /É¡/ in Standard Slovene. See Slovene phonology
Spanish		amigo	[aÌ ËmiÉ£oÌ]^â	'friend'	Ranges from close fricative to approximant.^[33] Allophone of /É¡/, see Spanish phonology
Spanish	Standard European^[34]	Predrag	[ËpÉ¾eÌÃ°ÌÉ¾Ã¤É£ÌÌ]	'Predrag'	Also described as an approximant. Allophone of /É¡/ before a pause.^[34] See Spanish phonology
Swahili		ghali	[É£ali]	'expensive'
Swedish	VÃ¤sterbotten Norrland dialects	meg	[mÉªËÉ£]	'me'	Allophone of /É¡/. Occurs between vowels and in word-final positions.^[35] Here also /â/ in Kalix.
Tadaksahak		zog	[zoÉ£]	'war'
Tajik		ÒÐ°ÑÑ/cafs	[É£afs]	'thick'
Tamazight		aÉ£ilas (aghilas)	[aÉ£ilas]	'leopard'
Tamil	Sri Lankan	à®ªà®à¯/pakai	[pÉÉ£É(iÌ¯)]	'hate'	Intervocalic singular /k/ has debuccalized for most except in Brahmin and Sri Lankan Tamil. In total it can be [kÊ° x É¡ É£ É£Ê° h]^[36]
Turkish	Non-standard	aÄaÃ§	[aÉ£atÍ¡Ê]	'tree'	Deleted in most dialects. See Turkish phonology
Tutchone	Northern	ihghÃº	[ihÉ£Ç]	'tooth'
Tutchone	Southern	ghra	[É£ra]	'baby'
Tyap		ghan	[ËÉ£an]	'to hurry'
Ukrainian		ÑÐ°ÑÐ¾ÑÐ±ÑÌÐ»Ñ	[tÊÉxoÉ£Ëbilâ½Ê²â¾i]	âchakhokhbiliâ	Occurs in specific rare cases only.
Uzbek^[37]		ÑÐ¼ÒÐ¸Ñ / yomgÊ»ir/yamÄÄ±r	[ÊÉÌmËÊÌÉ¨É¾Ìª]	'rain'	Post-velar.^[37]
Vietnamese^[38]		gháº¿	[É£eË§Ë¥]	'chair'	See Vietnamese phonology
West Frisian		drage	[ËdraËÉ£É]	'to carry'	Never occurs in word-initial positions.
Wu Chinese	Northern (Jinsha variety [zh])	å	[É£uoÊË¨Ë¦]	'to join'
Xiang Chinese	Old (Loudi variety [zh])	æ¹å	[É£uË©Ë§niaË©Ë§]	'Hunan (province)'
Yi		ê/we	[É£É¤Ë§]	'win'
Zhuang		Lwg roegbit	[lÉ¯Ë§ É£oË§piË¥]	'Wild duckling'

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Notes

References

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Voiced velar fricative

Features

Occurrence

See also

Notes

References

External links

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