Voiceless velar plosive

Voiceless velar plosive
k
Image
IPA number	109
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	k
Unicode (hex)	U+006B
X-SAMPA	k
Kirshenbaum	k
Sound

The voiceless velar stop or voiceless velar plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨k⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is k.

The [k] sound is a very common sound cross-linguistically. Most languages have at least a plain [k], and some distinguish more than one variety. Most Indo-Aryan languages, such as Hindi and Bengali, have a two-way contrast between aspirated and plain [k].

Features

Features of the voiceless velar stop:

• Its manner of articulation is stop, or plosive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. (The term plosive contrasts with nasal stops, where the blocked airflow is redirected through the nose.)
• Its place of articulation is velar, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue 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 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.

Varieties

IPA	Description
k	plain k
kʰ	aspirated k
kʲ	palatalized k
kʷ	labialized k
k˺	unreleased k
k̬	voiced k
kʼ	ejective k

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abkhaz		ақалақь	[ˈakalakʲ]	'the city'	See Abkhaz phonology
Ahtna		gistaann	[kɪstʰɐːn]	'six'
Aleut		kiikax̂	[kiːkaχ]	'cranberry bush'
Arabic	Standard	كتب	[ˈkatabɐ]	'he wrote'	See Arabic phonology
Basque		katu	[kat̪u]	'cat'
Bengali		কম	[kɔm]	'less'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology
Bulgarian		как	[kak]	'how'
Catalan		quinze	[ˈkinzə]	'fifteen'	See Catalan phonology
Chinese	Cantonese	家/gaa1	[kaː˥]	'home'	Contrasts with aspirated and/or labialized forms. See Cantonese phonology
	Mandarin	高/gāo	[kɑʊ˥]	'high'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Mandarin phonology
Czech		kost	[kost]	'bone'	See Czech phonology
Dutch		koning	[ˈkonɪŋ]	'king'	See Dutch phonology
English		kiss	[kʰɪs]	'kiss'	See English phonology
Estonian		kõik	[kɤik]	'all'
Finnish		kakku	[kɑkːu]	'cake'	See Finnish phonology
French		cabinet	[kabinɛ]	'office'	See French phonology
Georgian		ქვა	[kʰva]	'stone'
German		Käfig	[ˈkʰɛːfɪç]	'cage'	See German phonology
Greek		καλόγερος/kalógeros	[kaˈlo̞ʝe̞ro̞s̠]	'monk'	See Modern Greek phonology
Guajarati		કાંદો/kāndo	{{}}	'onion'	See Gujarati phonology
Hebrew		כסף/kesef	[ˈkesef]	'money'	See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hindi		काम	[kɑːm]	'work'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Hungarian		akkor	[ɒkkor]	'then'	See Hungarian phonology
Italian		casa	[ˈkaza]	'house'	See Italian phonology
Japanese		鞄/kaban	[kabaɴ]	'handbag'	See Japanese phonology
Kagayanen		?	[kað̞aɡ]	'spirit'
Korean		키조개/kijogae	[kʰid͡ʑoɡɛ]	'Atrina pectinata'	See Korean phonology
Lakota		kimímela	[kɪˈmɪmela]	'butterfly'
Malay		kaki	[kaki]	'leg'
Norwegian		kake	[kɑːkɛ]	'cake'	See Norwegian phonology
Pashto		كال	[kɑl]	'year'
Polish		buk	[ˈbuk]	'beech tree'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese		corno	[ˈkoɾnu]	'horn'	See Portuguese phonology
Romanian		când	[ˈkɨnd]	'when'	See Romanian phonology
Russian		короткий	[kɐˈrotkʲɪj]	'short'	See Russian phonology
Slovak		kosť	[kosc]	'bone'
Spanish		casa	[ˈkasa]	'house'	See Spanish phonology
Swedish		ko	[ˈkʰuː]	'cow'	See Swedish phonology
Turkish		kulak	[kʰuɫäk]	'ear'	See Turkish phonology
Ubykh		/kawar/		'slat'	Found mostly in loanwords. See Ubykh phonology
Ukrainian		колесо	[ˈkɔlɛsɔ]	'wheel'	See Ukrainian phonology
Urdu		کتاب	[kɪtɑːb]	'book'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Vietnamese		cam	[kaːm]	'orange'	See Vietnamese phonology
West Frisian		keal	[kɪəl]	'calf'
Yi		ꇰ/ge	[kɤ˧]	'foolish'	Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms
Zapotec	Tilquiapan	canza	[kanza]	'walking'

See also

• List of phonetics topics

Bibliography

• Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (1-2): 53–56, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004618 
• Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223 
• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "Illustrations of the IPA:French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (2): 73–76, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004874 
• Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), "Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (2): 45–47, doi:10.1017/S002510030000459X 
• Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (1): 103–107, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001191 
• Ladefoged, Peter (2005), Vowels and Consonants (Second ed.), Blackwell 
• Martínez-Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández-Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera-Sabaté, Josefina (2003), "Castilian Spanish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (2): 255–259, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001373 
• Merrill, Elizabeth (2008), "Tilquiapan Zapotec", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 38 (1): 107–114 
• Okada, Hideo (1991), "Phonetic Representation:Japanese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 21 (2): 94–97 
• Olson, Kenneth; Mielke, Jeff; Sanicas-Daguman, Josephine; Pebley, Carol Jean; Paterson, Hugh J., III (2010), "The phonetic status of the (inter)dental approximant", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 40 (2): 199–215, doi:10.1017/S0025100309990296 
• Padgett, Jaye (2003), "Contrast and Post-Velar Fronting in Russian", Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 21 (1): 39–87, doi:10.1023/A:1021879906505 
• Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (1): 117–121, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001628 
• Shosted, Ryan K.; Vakhtang, Chikovani (2006), "Standard Georgian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 36 (2): 255–264, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659 
• Thelwall, Robin (1990), "Illustrations of the IPA: Arabic", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 20 (2): 37–41 
• Thompson, Laurence (1959), "Saigon phonemics", Language 35 (3): 454–476, doi:10.2307/411232, JSTOR 411232