Velarization orvelarisation is asecondary articulation ofconsonants by which the back of thetongue is raised toward thevelum during the articulation of the consonant.In theInternational Phonetic Alphabet, velarization is transcribed by one of four diacritics:

• Atilde orswung dash through the letterU+0334 ◌̴COMBINING TILDE OVERLAY covers velarization,uvularization andpharyngealization, as in[ɫ] (the velarized equivalent of[l])
• AsuperscriptLatin gammaU+02E0 ˠMODIFIER LETTER SMALL GAMMA after the letter standing for the velarized consonant, as in ⟨tˠ⟩ (a velarized[t])
• To distinguish velarization from a velar fricative release, ⟨ᵚ⟩ may be used instead of ⟨ˠ⟩^[1]
• A superscript⟨w⟩U+02B7 ʷMODIFIER LETTER SMALL W indicates either simultaneous velarization andlabialization, as in ⟨sʷ⟩ or ⟨pʷ⟩, or labialization of a velar consonant, as in ⟨kʷ⟩.

Althoughelectropalatographic studies have shown that there is a continuum of possible degrees of velarization,^[2] the IPA does not specify any way to indicate degrees of velarization, as the difference has not been found to be contrastive in any language. However, the IPA convention of doubling diacritics to indicate a greater degree can be used: ⟨ˠˠ⟩.

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A common example of a velarized consonant is thevelarized alveolar lateral approximant (or "dark L"). In some accents of English, such asReceived Pronunciation and arguablyGeneral American English, thephoneme/l/ has "dark" and "light" allophones: the "dark", velarized allophone[ɫ] appears insyllable coda position (e.g. infull), while the "light", non-velarized allophone[l] appears insyllable onset position (e.g. inlawn). Other accents of English, such asScottish English,Australian English, and potentially standard U.S. and Canadian accents, have "dark L" in all positions.^[3]

• Albanian phonemically contrasts lightl and darkll
• Catalan dialect and allophonic variance
• Portuguese dialect and allophonic variance
• Turkish
• Kurdish

For many languages, velarization is generally associated with more dental articulations of coronal consonants so that dark l tends to be dental or dentoalveolar, and clear l tends to be retracted to an alveolar position.^[4]

• Danish realizes/d/ in some environments as a velarized[ð].^[5]
• Irish andMarshallese have velarized consonants that systematically contrast with palatalized consonants.^[6]
• Similarly,Russian has velarized consonants as allophones of the non-palatalized (plain) series, especially prominent beforefront vowels and withlabial andvelar consonants as well as thelateral.^[6][7]
• Scottish Gaelic has a three-way contrast innasals andlaterals between[n~n̪ˠ~ɲ] and[l~l̪ˠ~ʎ]^[8]
• Kurdish has three velarized consonants (/ɫ/,/sˠ/, and/zˠ/) which contrast with plain ones.^[9][10]
• Gilbertese has three velarized consonants (/mˠ/, /pˠ/, and /βˠ/), two of which (/mˠ/ and /pˠ/) contrast with a plain form.

The palatalized/velarized contrast is known by other names, especially in language pedagogy: in Irish and Scottish Gaelic language teaching, the termsslender (for palatalized) andbroad (for velarized) are often used. In Scottish Gaelic the terms arecaol (for palatalized) andleathann (for velarized).

The termslight orclear (for non-velarized or palatalized) anddark (for velarized) are also widespread. The terms "softl " and "hardl " are not equivalent to "lightl " and "darkl ". The former pair refers topalatalized ("soft" oriotated) and plain ("hard")Slavic consonants.

• Palatalization (phonetics)

• Phonetics
• Phonology
• Australian English
• Scottish English
• Velar consonants
• Secondary articulation

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Pages with plain IPA
• Articles needing additional references from August 2021
• All articles needing additional references