Voiced velar fricative

Voiced velar fricative
ɣ
Image
IPA number	141
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɣ
Unicode (hex)	U+0263
X-SAMPA	G
Kirshenbaum	Q
Sound

The voiced velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in various spoken languages. It is not found in English today, but did exist in Old English. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɣ⟩ (a variant of the Greek letter gamma, ⟨γ⟩, which is used for this sound in Modern Greek), also graphically similar to ⟨ɤ⟩, the IPA symbol for a close-mid back unrounded vowel), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is G. The symbol ɣ is also sometimes used to represent the velar approximant, though that is more accurately written with the lowering diacritic: [ɣ̞] or [ɣ˕]. The IPA also provides a dedicated symbol for a velar approximant, [ɰ], though there can be stylistic reasons to not use it in phonetic transcription.

Features

Features of the 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 at the soft palate.
• Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Adyghe		адыгэ	[adəɣɛ]	'adyghe'	Only in some dialects
Alekano		gamó	[ɣɑmɤʔ]	'cucumber'
Aleut		agiitalix	[aɣiːtalix]	'with'
Asturian		gadañu	[ɣad̪ãˈɲʊ]	'scythe'	Allophone of /ɡ/ in almost all positions.
Angor		ranihı	[ɾɑniɣə]	'brother'
Angas		γür	[ɣyr]	'to pick up'
Arabic		غرفة	[ˈɣurfɐ]	'room'	May be post-velar or uvular depending on dialect. See Arabic phonology
Azerbaijani		ağac	[ɑɣɑd͡ʒ]	'tree'
Basque		hego	[heɣo]	'wing'	Allophone of /ɡ/.
Berber		aġilas	[aɣilas]	'leopard'	Also written with ⟨ɣ⟩, a variant of ⟨ġ⟩.
Catalan		figuera	[fiˈɣeɾə]	'fig tree'	Allophone of /ɡ/. See Catalan phonology
Chechen		гӀала/ġala	[ɣaːla]	'town'
Dinka		ɣo	[ɣo]	'us'
Dutch		gaan	[ɣaːn]	'to go'	More common in northern dialects. See Dutch phonology
Georgian		ღარიბი	[ɣɑribi]	'poor'	May actually be post-velar or uvular
Gujarati		વાઘણ	[ʋɑ̤̈ɣəɽ̃]	'tigress'	See Gujarati phonology
Ghari		cheghe	[tʃeɣe]	'five'
Greek		γάλα/gála	[ˈɣala]	'milk'	See Modern Greek phonology
Gweno		[ndeɣe]		'bird'
Gwich’in		videeghàn	[viteːɣân]	'his/her chest'
Hän		dëgëghor	[təkəɣor]	'I am playing.'
Hindi		ग़रीब	[ɣəriːb]	'poor'	See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Icelandic		saga	[ˈsaːɣa]	'story'	After vowels; See Icelandic phonology
Irish		dhorn	[ɣoːɾˠn̪ˠ]	'fist'	See Irish phonology
Iwaidja		[mulaɣa]		'hermit crab'
Japanese		はげ	[haɣe]	'baldness'	Allophone of /ɡ/, especially in fast and/or casual speech. See Japanese phonology
Kabardian		адыгэ	[adəɣɛ]	'adyghe'	Only in some dialects
Macedonian	Bukovo sub-dialect	глава	[ˈɡɣa(v)a]	'head'	Allophone of /l/. See Prilep-Bitola dialect.
	Berovo sub-dialect	дувна	[ˈduɣna]	'it blew'	Phoneme which developed from the etymological /x/ before sonorants. See Macedonian phonology
Navajo		’aghá	[ʔaɣa]	'best'
Ngwe	Mmockngie dialect	[nøɣə̀]		'sun'
Occitan	Gascon	digoc	[diˈɣuk]	'said (3sg.)'
Pashto		غاتر	[ɣɑtər]	'mule'
Persian		حقیقت	[hæɣiːˈɢæt]	'truth'	See Persian phonology
Polish		niechże	[ɲeɣʐɛ]	'suppose'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese	European	agora	[ɐˈɣɔɾɐ]	'now'	Allophone of /ɡ/ in northern and central dialects. See Portuguese phonology
	Some Brazilian dialects	carro	[ˈkaɣu]	'car'	Rhotic consonant
Northern Qiang		?	[ɣnəʂ]	'February'
Romani	Lithuanian	γoines	[ɣoines]	'good'
Russian	Southern	дорога	[dɐˈro̞ɣa]	'a way'	Corresponds to /ɡ/ in other dialects.
	Standard	Господи	[ˈɣospədʲɪ]	'Lord' 'three-day'	Occurs in interjections, some religious words, and as an allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants. See Russian phonology.
Sardinian	Nuorese dialect	súghere	[ˈsuɣɛrɛ]	'to suck'	Allophone of /ɡ/
Scottish Gaelic		laghail	[ɫ̪ɤɣal]	'lawful'	See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Sindhi		غم	[ɣəmʊ]	'sadness'
Swahili		ghali	[ɣali]	'expensive'
Dawsahak		?	[zoɣ]	'war'
Tagalog		igriega	[iːˈɡrɪjɛɣɑ]	'letter y'	See Tagalog phonology
Tajik		ғафс	[ɣafs]	'thick'
Tiwi		ngaga	[ˈŋaɣa]	'we (inclusive)'
Turkish		ağa	[aɣa]	'agha'	Deleted in most dialects. See Turkish phonology
Tutchone	Northern	ihghú	[ihɣǔ]	'tooth'
	Southern	ghra	[ɣra]	'baby'
Urdu		غریب	[ɣəriːb]	'poor'	See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Vietnamese		ghế	[ɣe˧ˀ˥]	'chair'	See Vietnamese phonology
West Frisian		drage	[draːɣə]	'to carry'	Never occurs in word-initial positions.
Yi		ꊋ/we	[ɣɤ˧]	'win'

See also

• List of phonetics topics

Bibliography

• Barbosa, Plínio A. (2004), "Brazilian Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (2): 227–232, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001756 
• Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223 
• Hualde, José Ignacio (1991), Basque phonology, New York: Routledge, http://books.google.com/books?id=PBqPPLE2iXEC&l 
• Mateus, Maria Helena; d'Andrade, Ernesto (2000), The Phonology of Portuguese, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-823581-X 
• Okada, Hideo (1991), "Japanese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 21 (2): 94–97, doi:10.1017/S002510030000445X 
• Shosted, Ryan K.; Vakhtang, Chikovani (2006), "Standard Georgian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 36 (2): 255–264, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659 
• Thompson, Laurence (1959), "Saigon phonemics", Language 35 (3): 454–476, doi:10.2307/411232, JSTOR 411232 
• Wheeler, Max W (2005), The Phonology Of Catalan, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0199258147 

External links

Recordings of the voiced and voiceless velar fricatives are also available at

• IPA Consonants.