| Voiced velar plosive | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ɡ | |||
| IPA number | 110 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity(decimal) | ɡ | ||
| Unicode(hex) | U+0261 | ||
| X-SAMPA | g | ||
| Braille |  | ||
| |||
Thevoiced velar plosive orstop is a type ofconsonantal sound used in manyspokenlanguages.
Some languages have thevoiced pre-velar plosive,[1] which is articulated slightly more front compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical velar plosive, though not as front as the prototypicalpalatal plosive.
Conversely, some languages have thevoiced post-velar plosive,[2] which is articulated slightly behind the place of articulation of the prototypical velar plosive, though not as back as the prototypicaluvular plosive.
The symbol in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɡ⟩, and the equivalentX-SAMPA symbol isg. Strictly, the IPA symbol is the so-called single-storey G
, but the double-storey G
is considered an acceptable alternative. The Unicode characterU+0067 gLATIN SMALL LETTER G renders as either a single-storey G or a double-storey G depending on font; the characterU+0261 ɡLATIN SMALL LETTER SCRIPT G is always a single-storey G, but it is generally available only in fonts supporting theIPA ExtensionsUnicode character block.
Features of the voiced velar stop:
| IPA | Description |
|---|---|
| ɡ | plain ɡ |
| ɡʱ | breathy ɡ |
| ɡʲ | palatalized ɡ |
| ɡʷ | labialized ɡ |
| ɡ̚ | ɡ withno audible release |
| ɡ̥ | voiceless ɡ |
| ɡ͈ | tense ɡ |
Of the six stops that would be expected from the most common pattern worldwide—that is, three places of articulation plus voicing ([pb,td,kɡ])—[p] and[ɡ] are the most frequently missing, being absent in about 10% of languages that otherwise have this pattern. Absent stop[p] is anareal feature (see alsoVoiceless 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, Estonian, Finnish, Czech, and Slovak and occurs only in borrowed words in those languages. A few languages, such asModern Standard Arabic and part of theLevantine dialects (e.g.Lebanese andSyrian), are missing both, although most of the otherArabic 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 theglottis and tongue for airflow, the imbalance is more extreme: Voiced[ɢ] is much rarer than voiceless[q].[3]
In manyIndo-Aryan languages, such asHindustani, plain [g] andaspirated [gh] are incontrastive distribution.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abkhaz | ажыга/ažëga | [aˈʐəɡa] | 'shovel' | SeeAbkhaz phonology | |
| Adyghe | Shapsug | гьэгуалъэ/gägwaĺa | [ɡʲaɡʷaːɬa]ⓘ | 'toy' | Dialectal. Corresponds to[d͡ʒ] in other dialects. |
| Temirgoy | чъыгы/ čëgë | [t͡ʂəɡə]ⓘ | 'tree' | Dialectal. Corresponds to[ɣ] in other dialects. | |
| Albanian | gomar | [ˈɡomaɾ] | 'donkey' | ||
| Arabic[4] | Moroccan | أݣادير /ʾagādīr | [ʔaɡaːdiːr] | 'Agadir' | |
| Tunisian | ڨفصة / gafṣa | [ɡɑfsˤɑ]ⓘ | 'Gafsa' | SeeTunisian arabic phonology | |
| Hejazi | قمر / gamar | [ɡamar] | 'moon' | Corresponds to[q] inClassical andModern Standard Arabic. | |
| Najdi | [ɡəmar] | ||||
| Sa'idi | [ɡɑmɑr] | ||||
| Yemeni | قال / gāl | [gæːl] | '(he) said' | Pronunciation of⟨ق⟩ inSan'ani andHadhrami dialects | |
| جمل / gamal | [gæmæl] | 'camel' | Pronunciation of⟨ج⟩ inTa'izzi-Adeni andTihami dialects | ||
| Egyptian | راجل / rāgel | [ˈɾɑːɡel] | 'man' | SeeEgyptian arabic phonology | |
| Armenian | Eastern[5] | գանձ/gandz | [ɡɑndz]ⓘ | 'treasure' | |
| Assyrian | ܓܢܐɡana | [ɡaːna] | 'self' | Used predominantly inUrban Koine. Corresponds to[dʒ] inUrmia, someTyari andJilu dialects. | |
| Azerbaijani | qara / قارا | [ɡɑɾɑ] | 'black' | ||
| Basque | galdu | [ɡaldu] | 'lose' | ||
| Bengali | গান/gan | [ɡan] | 'song' | Contrasts with aspirated form. SeeBengali phonology | |
| Bulgarian | гора/gora | [ɡora] | 'forest' | SeeBulgarian phonology | |
| Catalan[6] | guant | [ˈɡwan̪(t̪)] | 'glove' | SeeCatalan phonology | |
| Chechen | говр/gowr | [ɡɔʊ̯r] | 'horse' | ||
| Czech | gram | [ɡram] | 'gram' | SeeCzech phonology | |
| Danish | Standard[7][8] | lykke | [ˈløɡə] | 'happiness' | Only partially voiced; possible allophone of/ɡ/ in the intervocalic position. More often voiceless[k].[7][8] SeeDanish phonology |
| Dutch | All dialects | zakdoek | [ˈzɑɡduk]ⓘ | 'tissue' | Allophone of/k/, occurring only before voiced consonants in native words. SeeDutch phonology |
| Standard[9] | |||||
| Many speakers | goal | [ɡoːɫ]ⓘ | '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' | SeeEnglish phonology | |
| Filipino | gulo | [ɡulɔ] | 'commotion' | ||
| French[10] | gain | [ɡɛ̃] | 'earnings' | SeeFrench phonology | |
| Georgian[11] | გული/guli | [ˈɡuli] | 'heart' | ||
| German | Lüge | [ˈlyːɡə]ⓘ | 'lie' | SeeStandard German phonology | |
| Greek | γκάρισμα /gkárisma | [ˈɡɐɾizmɐ] | 'donkey's bray' | SeeModern Greek phonology | |
| Gujarati | ગાવું/gávu | [gaːʋʊ̃] | 'to sing' | SeeGujarati phonology | |
| Hebrew | גב/gav | [ɡav] | 'back' | SeeModern Hebrew phonology | |
| Hindustani | गाना/gáná /gáná/گانا | [ɡɑːnɑː] | 'song' | Contrasts with aspirated form. SeeHindustani phonology | |
| Hungarian | engedély | [ɛŋɡɛdeːj] | 'permission' | SeeHungarian phonology | |
| Irish | gaineamh | [ˈɡanʲəw] | 'sand' | SeeIrish phonology | |
| Italian[12] | gare | [ˈɡäːre] | 'competitions' | [g] is represented by letterG when followed by vowels [a], [o] [u], while when in front of vowels [i], [e] and [ɛ], the pronunciation changes tod͡ʒ, for the phoneme [g] to appear on the vowels [i], [e] and [ɛ], theGH digraph is used. | |
| Japanese[13] | 外套 /gaito | [ɡaitoː] | 'overcoat' | SeeJapanese phonology | |
| Kabardian | Baslaney | гьанэ/ gäna | [ɡʲaːna]ⓘ | 'shirt' | Dialectal. Corresponds to[dʒ] in other dialects. |
| Kagayanen[14] | kalag | [kað̞aɡ] | 'spirit' | ||
| Khmer | ហ្គាស /gas | [gaːh] | 'gas' | SeeKhmer phonology | |
| Korean | 메기 /megi | [meɡi] | 'catfish' | SeeKorean phonology | |
| Limburgish | zegke | [zεgə] | 'say' | Common. Example from theWeert dialect. | |
| Lithuanian | garai | [ɡɐrɐɪ̯ˑ] | 'steam' | SeeLithuanian phonology | |
| Luxembourgish[15] | agepack | [ˈɑɡəpaːk] | 'gone about' | More often voiceless[k].[15] SeeLuxembourgish phonology | |
| Macedonian | гром/grom | [ɡrɔm] | 'thunder' | SeeMacedonian phonology | |
| Malay | guni | [ɡuni] | 'sack' | ||
| Marathi | गवत/gëvët | [ɡəʋət] | 'grass' | SeeMarathi phonology | |
| Nepali | गाउँ | [ɡä̃ũ̯] | 'village' | Contrasts with aspirated form. SeeNepali phonology | |
| Norwegian | gull | [ɡʉl] | 'gold' | SeeNorwegian phonology | |
| Odia | ଗଛ/gočho | [ɡɔtʃʰɔ] | 'tree' | Contrasts with aspirated form. | |
| Persian | گوشت/guşt | [guʃt] | 'meat' | ||
| Polish[16] | gmin | [ɡmʲin̪]ⓘ | 'plebs' | SeePolish phonology | |
| Portuguese[17] | língua | [ˈɫĩɡwɐ] | 'tongue' | SeePortuguese phonology | |
| Punjabi | ਗਾਂ/gaa | [ɡɑ̃ː] | 'cow' | ||
| Romanian[18] | gând | [ɡɨnd] | 'thought' | SeeRomanian phonology | |
| Russian[19] | голова/golova | [ɡəɫɐˈva]ⓘ | 'head' | SeeRussian phonology | |
| Serbo-Croatian[20] | гост /gost | [gȏ̞ːs̪t̪] | 'guest' | SeeSerbo-Croatian phonology | |
| Slovak | miazga | [ˈmjäzɡä] | 'lymph' | SeeSlovak phonology | |
| Slovene | gost | [ˈɡɔ̂s̪t̪] | 'guest' | SeeSlovene phonology | |
| Somali | gaabi | [ɡaːbi] | 'to shorten' | SeeSomali phonology | |
| Southern Min | Hokkien | 我/góa | [ɡua˥˧] | 'I' | |
| Spanish[21] | gato | [ˈɡät̪o̞] | 'cat' | SeeSpanish phonology | |
| Swahili | giza | [ˈɡīzɑ] | 'darkness' | SeeSwahili phonology | |
| Swedish | god | [ɡuːd̪] | 'tasty' | May be anapproximant in casual speech. SeeSwedish phonology | |
| Telugu | గచ్చు/gacu | [ɡat͡sːu] | 'Floor' | contrasts with aspirated form (which is articulated asbreathy consonant). | |
| Turkish | salgın | [säɫˈɡɯn] | 'epidemic' | SeeTurkish phonology | |
| Ukrainian[22] | ґанок /ganok | [ˈɡɑn̪ok] | 'porch' | SeeUkrainian phonology | |
| Welsh | gwyn | [ɡwɪn] or [ɡwɨ̞n] | 'white' | SeeWelsh phonology | |
| West Frisian | gasp | [ɡɔsp] | 'buckle' (n.) | SeeWest Frisian phonology | |
| Wu | Shanghainese | 狂/guaon6 | [ɡuɑ̃23] | 'crazy' | |
| Xiang | 共/wong | [ɡoŋ] | 'together' | ||
| Yi | ꈨ /gge | [ɡɤ˧] | 'hear' | ||
| Zapotec | Tilquiapan[23] | gan | [ɡaŋ] | 'will be able' | Depending on speaker and carefulness of speech,[ɡ] may be lenited to[ɣ] |
