Voiceless velar stop
k
IPA number	109
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	k
Unicode (hex)	U+006B
X-SAMPA	k
Kirshenbaum	k
Braille
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 [edit]

Features of the voiceless velar stop:

• Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no nasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is a stop.
• 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 [edit]

Occurrence [edit]

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abkhaz		ақалақь	[ˈakalakʲ]	'the city'	See Abkhaz phonology
Adyghe	Shapsug	кӀэт	[kʲat]	'chicken'	Dialectal. Corresponds to [t͡ʃ] in other dialects.
Ahtna		gistaann	[kɪstʰɐːn]	'six'
Aleut[1]		kiikax̂	[kiːkaχ]	'cranberry bush'
Arabic	Standard[2]	كتب	[ˈkatabɐ]	'he wrote'	See Arabic phonology
Armenian	Eastern[3]	քաղաք	[kʰɑˈʁɑkʰ]	'town'	Contrasts with unaspirated version
Basque		katu	[kat̪u]	'cat'
Bengali		কম	[kɔm]	'less'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology
Bulgarian		как	[kak]	'how'
Catalan[4]		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[5]		koning	[ˈkoːnɪŋ]	'king'	See Dutch phonology
English		kiss	[kʰɪs]	'kiss'	See English phonology
Estonian		kõik	[kɤik]	'all'
Finnish		kakku	[kɑkːu]	'cake'	See Finnish phonology
French[6]		cabinet	[kabinɛ]	'office'	See French phonology
Georgian[7]		ქვა	[kʰva]	'stone'
German		Käfig	[ˈkʰɛːfɪç]	'cage'	See German phonology
Greek		καλόγερος kalógeros	[kaˈlo̞ʝe̞ro̞s̠]	'monk'	See Modern Greek phonology
Gujarati		કાંદોkāndo		'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[8]		casa	[ˈkaza]	'house'	See Italian phonology
Japanese[9]		鞄 kaban	[kabaɴ]	'handbag'	See Japanese phonology
Kagayanen[10]		?	[kað̞aɡ]	'spirit'
Korean		키조개 kijogae	[kʰid͡ʑoɡɛ]	'Atrina pectinata'	See Korean phonology
Macedonian		кој	[kɔj]	'who'	See Macedonian phonology
Marathi		कवच	[kəʋət͡s]	'armour'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Marathi phonology
Lakota		kimímela	[kɪˈmɪmela]	'butterfly'
Malay		kaki	[käki]	'leg'
Norwegian		kake	[kɑːkɛ]	'cake'	See Norwegian phonology
Pashto		كال	[kɑl]	'year'
Polish[11]		buk	[ˈbuk] (help·info)	'beech tree'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese[12]		corpo	[ˈkoɾpu]	'body'	See Portuguese phonology
Romanian[13]		când	[ˈkɨnd]	'when'	See Romanian phonology
Russian[14]		короткий	[kɐˈrotkʲɪj] (help·info)	'short'	See Russian phonology
Slovak		kosť	[kosc]	'bone'
Spanish[15]		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[16]		cam	[kaːm]	'orange'	See Vietnamese phonology
West Frisian		keal	[kɪəl]	'calf'
Yi		ꇰ ge	[kɤ˧]	'foolish'	Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms
Zapotec	Tilquiapan[17]	canza	[kanza]	'walking'

See also [edit]

• List of phonetics topics

References [edit]

Bibliography [edit]

• 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 
• Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009), Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company 
• 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, doi:10.1017/S0025100308003344 
• Okada, Hideo (1991), "Phonetic Representation:Japanese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 21 (2): 94–97, doi:10.1017/S002510030000445X 
• 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, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004266 
• Thompson, Laurence (1959), "Saigon phonemics", Language 35 (3): 454–476, doi:10.2307/411232, JSTOR 411232 

v t e   International Phonetic Alphabet   IPA topics IPA International Phonetic Association History of the IPA Extensions to the IPA Kiel convention (1989) Journal of the IPA (JIPA) Naming conventions Phonetics Diacritics Segments Tone letter Place of articulation Manner of articulation Special topics Case variants of IPA letters Handwritten IPA Obsolete and nonstandard symbols IPA chart for English dialects Encodings SAMPA X-SAMPA Conlang X-SAMPA Kirshenbaum TIPA Phonetic symbols in Unicode WorldBet IPA Braille   Consonants v t e IPA pulmonic consonantschart image • audio Place → Labial Coronal Dorsal Radical Glottal ↓ Manner Bila­bial Labio-​dental Den​tal Alve​olar Post­alveolar Retro​flex Alveolo-​palatal Pal​a​tal Ve​lar Uvu​lar Pha​ryn​geal Epi​glot​tal Glot​tal Nasal m̥ m ɱ n̪ n̥ n n̠ ɳ̊ ɳ ɲ̟ ɲ̊ ɲ ŋ̊ ŋ ɴ Stop p b p̪ b̪ t̪ d̪ t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ Sibilant fricative s̪ z̪ s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ɕ ʑ Non-sibilant fricative ɸ β f v θ ð θ̱ ð̠ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ ʜ ʢ h ɦ Approximant ʋ ɹ ɻ j̊ j ɰ Flap or tap ⱱ̟ ⱱ ɾ ɽ ɢ̆ ʡ̯ Trill ʙ r̥ r ɽ͡r ʀ ᴙ * Lateral fricative ɬ ɮ ꞎ * ʎ̝̊ ʟ̝̊ ʟ̝ Lateral approximant l̥ l ɭ ʎ̟ ʎ ʟ Lateral flap ɺ ɺ̢ * ʎ̯ ʟ̆ Non-pulmonic consonants Clicks ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ ǁ ʘ̃ ʘ̃ˀ ʘ͡q ʘ͡qʼ ‼ Implosives ɓ ɗ ʄ ᶑ ɠ ʛ Ejectives pʼ t̪ʼ tʼ cʼ ʈʼ kʼ qʼ fʼ θʼ sʼ ɬʼ ʃʼ ʂʼ ɕʼ xʼ χʼ tsʼ tɬʼ cʎ̝̥ʼ tʃʼ ʈʂʼ kxʼ kʟ̝̊ʼ qχʼ Affricates p̪f b̪v ts dz t̪s̪ d̪z̪ tθ dð tʃ dʒ tɕ dʑ ʈʂ ɖʐ tɬ dɮ cç ɟʝ cʎ̥˔ kx ɡɣ kʟ̝̊ ɡʟ̝ qχ ɢʁ Co-articulated consonants Continuants ʍ w ɥ ɧ Occlusives k͡p ɡ͡b ŋ͡m — These tables contain phonetic symbols, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help] — Where symbols appear in pairs, left–right represent the voiceless–voiced consonants. — Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged to be impossible. — Symbols marked with an asterisk (*) are not defined in the IPA. Chart image Pulmonics Non-pulmonics Affricates Co-articulated   Vowels Front Near-​front Central Near-​back Back Close •iy •ɨʉ •ɯu •ɪʏ •ɪ̈ʊ̈ ʊ •eø •ɘɵ •ɤo •e̞ø̞ ə •ɤ̞o̞ •ɛœ •ɜɞ •ʌɔ æ ɐ •aɶ ä •ɑɒ Near-close Close-mid Mid Open-mid Near-open Open IPA help • chart •  chart with audio • view

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