Voiceless velar plosive
Consonantal sound represented by ⟨k⟩ in IPA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A voiceless velar plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in almost all spoken languages. It is familiar to English-speakers as the "k" sound in "skip". The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is â¨kâ©.
| Voiceless velar plosive | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| k | |||
| IPA number | 109 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | k | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+006B | ||
| X-SAMPA | k | ||
| Braille |  | ||
| |||
A [k] sound is a very common sound cross-linguistically. Most languages have at least a plain [k], and some distinguish more than one variety. Many languages also have a two-way contrast between aspirated and plain [k]. Only a few languages lack a voiceless velar plosive, e.g. North Azerbaijani, Tahitian, and Mongolian.
Some languages have a voiceless pre-velar or post-palatal 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. See Voiceless palatal plosive § Post-palatal for more information.
Conversely, some languages have a voiceless post-velar plosive,[1] which is articulated slightly behind the place of articulation of the prototypical velar plosive, though not as back as the prototypical uvular plosive.
Features
Features of a 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 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 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 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
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abkhaz | аÒалаÒÑ/akÌhalakÌh' | [Ëakalakʲ] | 'the city' | See Abkhaz phonology | |
| Adyghe | Shapsug | кÑÑÑ/kâ²Ät | â | 'chicken' | Dialectal; corresponds to [tÍ¡Ê] in other dialects. |
| Temirgoy | пÑкÑн/pskÄn | [pskan] | 'to cough' | ||
| Ahtna | gistaann | [kɪstÊ°ÉËn] | 'six' | ||
| Aleut[2] | kiikaxÌ | [kiËkaÏ] | 'cranberry bush' | ||
| Arabic | Modern Standard[3] | Ùââتب/kataba | [ËkatabÉ] | 'he wrote' | See Arabic phonology |
| Armenian | Eastern[4] | ÖÕ¡Õ²Õ¡Ö/ k'aÄ¡ak'/k'aghak | [kÊ°ÉËÊÉkÊ°] | 'town' | Contrasts with unaspirated form. |
| Assamese | à¦à¦®/kom | [kÉm] | 'less' | ||
| Assyrian | ÜܬÜÌ£Ü ctava | [ktava] | 'book' | Used in most varieties, with the exception of the Urmia and Nochiya dialects where it corresponds to [tÍ¡Ê]. | |
| Basque | katu | [kat̪u] | 'cat' | ||
| Bengali | à¦à¦®/kom | [kÉm] | 'less' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology | |
| Bulgarian | как/kak | [kak] | 'how' | See Bulgarian phonology | |
| Cantonese | 家/gÄ | â | 'home' | See Cantonese phonology | |
| æ©/æ¡¥/kìuh | [kÊ°i:u˨˩] | 'bridge' | |||
| Catalan[5] | cors | [ËkÉɾs] | 'hearts' | See Catalan phonology | |
| Chuvash | кÑкка | [ku'kËÉ] | 'mother's brother' | ||
| Czech | kost | [kost] | 'bone' | See Czech phonology | |
| Danish | Standard[6] | gÃ¥s | [ËkÉ̽Ës] | 'goose' | Usually transcribed in IPA with â¨É¡Ìâ© or â¨É¡â©. Contrasts with aspirated form, which is usually transcribed in IPA with â¨kÊ°â© or â¨kâ©. See Danish phonology |
| Dutch[7] | koning | â | 'king' | See Dutch phonology | |
| English | kiss | â | 'kiss' | See English phonology | |
| Esperanto | rakonto | [raËkonto] | 'tale' | See Esperanto phonology | |
| Estonian | kõik | [kɤik] | 'all' | See Estonian phonology | |
| Filipino | kuto | [Ëkuto] | 'lice' | ||
| Finnish | kakku | [kÉkËu] | 'cake' | See Finnish phonology | |
| French[8] | cabinet | â | 'office' | See French phonology | |
| Georgian[9] | á¥áá/kva | [kÊ°va] | 'stone' | ||
| German | Käfig | â | 'cage' | See Standard German phonology | |
| Greek | καλÏγεÏÎ¿Ï / kalógeros | [kaËloÌÊeÌroÌsÌ ] | 'monk' | See Modern Greek phonology | |
| Gujarati | àªàª¾àªàª¦à«/kaá¹de | [kÉËnd̪oË] | 'onion' | See Gujarati phonology | |
| Hebrew | Modern | ×Ö´Ö¼× Ö¼×ֹר / kinór | â | 'violin' | See Modern Hebrew phonology |
| Samaritan | à à à / derek | [derek] | 'path' | ||
| Hiligaynon | kadlaw | [kad̪law] | 'laugh' | ||
| Hindustani | à¤à¤¾à¤® / Ú©ââا٠| â | 'work' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindustani phonology | |
| Hokkien | æ/koa | [kua˧˨] | 'song' | See Hokkien phonology | |
| å/åº/khu | [kÊ°u˧˨] | 'district' | |||
| Hmong | White Hmong | ð¬ð¬¶ / keeb | [kẽ˦] | 'origin', 'beginning', or 'male name' | |
| Hungarian | akkor | [Ékkor] | 'then' | See Hungarian phonology | |
| Ibaloi | Koma | 'rubber' | |||
| Italian[10] | casa | â | 'house' | See Italian phonology | |
| Japanese[11] | é / kaban | [kabaÉ´] | 'handbag' | See Japanese phonology | |
| Kagayanen[12] | kalag | [kaðÌaÉ¡] | 'spirit' | ||
| Khmer | ááááá»áᶠ/ kâmpÅchéa | [kampuciËÉ] | 'Cambodia' | See Khmer phonology | |
| Korean | ê°ì / kamja | [kamdÊa] | 'potato' | See Korean phonology | |
| Lakota | kimÃmela | [kɪËmɪmela] | 'butterfly' | ||
| Luxembourgish[13] | geess | [ËkeËs] | 'goat' | Less often voiced [É¡]. It is usually transcribed in IPA as â¨É¡â©, and it contrasts with aspirated form, which is usually transcribed â¨kâ©.[13] See Luxembourgish phonology | |
| Macedonian | ÐºÐ¾Ñ | â | 'who' | See Macedonian phonology | |
| Marathi | à¤à¤µà¤ | [kÉÊÉtÍ¡s] | 'armour' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Marathi phonology | |
| Malay | kaki | [käki] | 'leg' | Unreleased in syllable codas in some words, See Malay phonology | |
| Malayalam | à´à´¥/katha | â | 'story' | See Malayalam phonology | |
| Mandarin | é«/gÄo | â | 'high' | See Mandarin phonology | |
| è/kÇo | [kÊ°ÉÊ˨˩˦] | 'roast' (v.) | |||
| Nepali | à¤à¥à¤°à¤¾ | [keɾä] | 'banana' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nepali phonology | |
| Norwegian | kake | [kÉËkÉ] | 'cake' | See Norwegian phonology | |
| Odia | à¬à¬¾à¬®/kÄma | [kämÉ] | 'work' | Contrasts with aspirated form. | |
| Pashto | ÙاÙ/kal | [kÉl] | 'year' | ||
| Persian | کارد/kÄrd | [kÉrd] | 'knife' | ||
| Polish[14] | buk | â | 'beech tree' | See Polish phonology | |
| Portuguese[15] | corpo | â | 'body' | See Portuguese phonology | |
| Punjabi | à¨à¨° /کر / kar | [kÉɾ] | 'do' | Contrasts with aspirated form. | |
| Romanian[16] | când | [Ëkɨnd] | 'when' | See Romanian phonology | |
| Russian[17] | коÑоÑкий/korotkij | â | 'short' | See Russian phonology | |
| Serbo-Croatian[18] | коÑÑ / kost | [kÈËs̪t̪] | 'bone' | See Serbo-Croatian phonology | |
| Slovak | kosÅ¥ | [kÉÌsc] | 'bone' | See Slovak phonology | |
| Slovene | kost | [ËkôËs̪t̪] | 'bone' | Aspirated before close vowels. See Slovene phonology | |
| Spanish[19] | casa | â | 'house' | See Spanish phonology | |
| Swedish | ko | [ËkÊ°uË] | 'cow' | See Swedish phonology | |
| Sylheti | ê ê ¤ê ê £/kita | [kɪt̪à ] | 'what' | ||
| Tamil | à®à®²à¯ | â | 'rock' | See Tamil phonology | |
| Telugu | à°à°¾à°à°¿/kÄki | [kÄki] | 'crow' | Contrasts with aspirated form. | |
| Thai | à¹à¸à¹/ká»Ì | [kaj˨˩] | 'chicken' | Contrasts with an aspirated form. | |
| Toki Pona | kulupu | [kulupu] | 'group' | Sometimes aspirated. | |
| Turkish | kulak | [kʰuɫäk] | 'ear' | See Turkish phonology | |
| Ubykh | каÑаÑ/kawar | [kawar] | 'slat' | Found mostly in loanwords. See Ubykh phonology | |
| Ukrainian[20] | колеÑо/koleso | â | 'wheel' | See Ukrainian phonology | |
| Vietnamese[21] | cam | [kam] | 'orange' | See Vietnamese phonology | |
| Welsh | calon | [kÊ°alÉn] | 'heart' | See Welsh phonology | |
| West Frisian | keal | [kɪÉl] | 'calf' | See West Frisian phonology | |
| Yi | ê° / ge | [kɤ˧] | 'foolish' | Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms. | |
| Zapotec | Tilquiapan[22] | canza | [kanza] | 'walking' | |