From Indo-European Languages

Places of articulation

Labial

Bilabial

Labial-velar

Labial-alveolar

Labiodental

Coronal

Linguolabial

Interdental

Dental

Alveolar

Apical

Laminal

Postalveolar

Alveolo-palatal

Retroflex

Dorsal

Palatal

Labial-palatal

Velar

Uvular

Uvular-epiglottal

Radical

Pharyngeal

Epiglotto-pharyngeal

Epiglottal

Glottal

This page contains phonetic information in IPA, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help]

Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).

Since the velar region of the roof of the mouth is relatively extensive and the movements of the dorsum are not very precise, velars easily undergo assimilation, shifting their articulation back or to the front depending on the quality of adjacent vowels. They often become automatically fronted, that is partly or completely palatal before a following front vowel, and retracted before back vowels.

Palatalised velars (like English /k/ in keen or cube) are sometimes referred to as palatovelars. Many languages also have labialized velars, such as [kʷ], in which the articulation is accompanied by rounding of the lips. There are also labial-velar consonants, which are doubly articulated at the velum and at the lips, such as [k͡p]. This distinction disappears with the approximant [w], since labialization involves adding of a labial approximant articulation to a sound, and this ambiguous situation is often called labiovelar.

The velar consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:

IPA	Description	Example
		Language	Orthography	IPA	Meaning
File:Xsampa-N2.png	velar nasal	English	riTemplate:Bold dark red	[ɹɪTemplate:IPA bold dark red]	ring
File:Xsampa-k.png	voiceless velar plosive	English	sTemplate:Bold dark redip	[sTemplate:IPA bold dark redɪp]	skip
File:Xsampa-g.png	voiced velar plosive	English	Template:Bold dark redet	[Template:IPA bold dark redɛt]	get
File:Xsampa-x.png	voiceless velar fricative	German	BauTemplate:Bold dark red	[baʊTemplate:IPA bold dark red]	abdomen
File:Xsampa-G2.png	voiced velar fricative	Margi	Template:Bold dark redàfə́	[Template:IPA bold dark redàfə́]	arrow
File:Xsampa-X.png	voiceless labial-velar approximant	English	Template:Bold dark redichTemplate:Footnote	[Template:IPA bold dark redɪtʃ]	which
File:Xsampa-Mslash.png	velar approximant	Spanish	paTemplate:Bold dark redarTemplate:Footnote	[paTemplate:IPA bold dark redaɾ]	to pay
File:Xsampa-Lslash.png	velar lateral approximant	Mid-Waghi	aTemplate:Bold dark redaTemplate:Bold dark rede	[aTemplate:IPA bold dark redaTemplate:IPA bold dark rede]	dizzy
File:Xsampa-w2.png	labial-velar approximant	English	Template:Bold dark reditch	[Template:IPA bold dark redɪtʃ]	witch

¹In dialects that distinguish between which and witch.

²Intervocalic g in Spanish often described instead as a very lightly articulated voiced velar fricative.

See also

• Place of articulation
• List of phonetics topics

Consonants (List, table)	See also: IPA, Vowels
Pulmonics Bilabial Lab'den. Dental Alveolar Postalv. Retroflex Palatal Velar Uvular Pharyn. Epiglottal Glottal Non-pulmonics and other symbols Nasals m ɱ n̪ n ɳ ɲ ŋ ɴ Clicks  ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ ǁ Plosives p b p̪ b̪ t̪ d̪ t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ Implo­­sives  ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ ʛ Fricatives  ɸ β f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ ʜ ʢ h ɦ Ejec­­tives  pʼ tʼ kʼ qʼ sʼ Approximants  β̞ ʋ ð̞ ɹ ɻ j ɰ Other laterals  ɺ ɫ Trills ʙ r • ʀ • Co-articulated approximants ʍ w ɥ Flaps & Taps ѵ̟ ѵ ɾ ɽ • Co-articulated fricatives ɕ ʑ ɧ Lat. Fricatives ɬ ɮ • • • Affricates  ʦ ʣ ʧ ʤ Lat. Appr'mants l ɭ ʎ ʟ Co-articulated stops  k͡p ɡ͡b ŋ͡m
This page contains phonetic information in IPA, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help] Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant. Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged impossible.

References

• Wikipedia