Voiceless velar plosive

IPA – number	109
IPA – text	k
IPA – image
Entity	k
X-SAMPA	k
Kirshenbaum	k
Sound sample (help·info)

The 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. Many Indian languages, such as Hindi, have a two-way contrast between aspirated and plain [k].

Features

Features of the voiceless velar plosive:

• Its manner of articulation is plosive or stop, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract.
• Its place of articulation is velar which means it is articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the velum).
• Its phonation type is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the middle of the tongue, rather than the sides.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis or the mouth.

Varieties

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abkhaz		ақалақь	[ˈakalakʲ]	'the city'	See Abkhaz phonology
Ahtna		gistaann	[kɪstʰɐːn]	'six'
Aleut[1]		kiikax̂	[kiːkaχ]	'cranberry bush'
Arabic	Standard[2]	كتب	[ˈkatabɐ]	'he wrote'	See Arabic phonology
Bulgarian		как	[kak]	'how'
Chinese	Cantonese	家/gaa1	[kaː˥˥]	'home'
	Mandarin	高/gāo	[kɑʊ˥]	'tall, high'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Standard Mandarin
Catalan[3]		clenxa	[ˈklɛnʲɕə]	'hair parting'	See Catalan phonology
Czech		kost	[kost]	'bone'	See Czech phonology
Dutch[4]		koning	[ˈkonɪŋ]	'king'	See Dutch phonology
English		kiss	[kʰɪs]	'kiss'	See English phonology
Finnish		kakku	[kɑkːu]	'cake'	See Finnish phonology
French[5]		cabinet	[kabinɛ]	'office'	See French phonology
Georgian[6]		ქვა	[kʰva]	'stone'
German		Käfig	[ˈkʰɛːfɪç]	'cage'	See German phonology
Greek		καλόγερος	[kaˈlo̞ɡe̞ro̞s̠]	'monk'	See Modern Greek phonology
Hindi		काम	[kɑːm]	'work'	See Hindi-Urdu phonology
Hungarian		akkor	[ɒkkor]	'then'	See Hungarian phonology
Italian[7]		casa	[ˈkaza]	'house'	See Italian phonology
Japanese[8]		鞄/kaban	[kabaɴ]	'handbag'	See Japanese phonology
Korean		가다/kada	[kada]	'to go'	See Korean phonology
Lakota		kimímela khuté kȟáta k’á	[kɪˈmɪmela] [kʰʊˈte] [ˈkˣata] [kʼa]	'butterfly' 'to shoot' 'hot' 'to dig'
Norwegian		kake	[kɑːkɛ]	'cake'	See Norwegian phonology
Pashto		كال	[kɑl]	'year'
Polish[9]		buk	[ˈbuk] (help·info)	'beech tree'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese[10]		corno	[ˈkoɾnu]	'horn'	See Portuguese phonology
Russian[11]		короткий	[kɐˈrotkʲɪj]	'short'	See Russian phonology
Slovak		kosť	[kosc]	'bone'
Spanish[12]		casa	[ˈkasa]	'house'	See Spanish phonology
Swedish		ko	[ˈkʰuː]	'cow'	See Swedish phonology
Turkish		kulak	[kuläk]	'ear'	See Turkish phonology
Ubykh		/kawar/		'slat'	Found mostly in loanwords. See Ubykh phonology
Vietnamese		cô	[ko]	'aunt; Miss'	See Vietnamese phonology
Zapotec	Tilquiapan[13]	canza	[kanza]	'walking'

See also

• List of phonetics topics

References

Bibliography

• Carbonell, Joan F.; Llisterri, Joaquim (1992), "Catalan", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (1-2): 53-56 
• Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 25 (2): 90-94 
• Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L (1993), "Illustrations of the IPA:French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 23 (2): 73-76 
• Gussenhoven, Carlos (1992), "Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 22 (2): 45-47 
• Jassem, Wiktor (2003), "Polish", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 33 (1): 103-107 
• 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 
• Merrill, Elizabeth (2008), "Tilquipan 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 
• Padgett, Jaye (2003), "Contrast and Post-Velar Fronting in Russian", Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 21 (1): 39-87 
• Rogers, Derek; d'Arcangeli, Luciana (2004), "Italian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (1): 117-121 
• Shosted, Ryan K.; Vakhtang, Chikovani (2006), "Standard Georgian", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 36 (2): 255-264 
• Thelwall, Robin (1990), "Illustrations of the IPA: Arabic", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 20 (2): 37-41