| Ipa Symbol: | ɡ |
| Ipa Number: | 110 |
| Decimal: | 609 |
| X-Sampa: | g |
| Braille: | g |
| Imagefile: | IPA Unicode 0x0261.svg |
The voiced velar plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages.
Some languages have the voiced pre-velar plosive,[1] which is articulated slightly more front compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical velar plosive, though not as front as the prototypical palatal plosive.
Conversely, some languages have the voiced post-velar plosive,[2] which is articulated slightly behind the place of articulation of the prototypical velar plosive, though not as back as the prototypical uvular plosive.
The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is (IPA|ɡ), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is g. Strictly, the IPA symbol is the so-called single-storey G, but the double-storey G is considered an acceptable alternative. The Unicode character renders as either a single-storey G or a double-storey G depending on font; the character is always a single-storey G, but it is generally available only in fonts with the IPA Extensions Unicode character block.
Features of the voiced velar stop:
| IPA | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /ɡ/ | plain ɡ | |
| pronounced as /ɡʱ/ | breathy ɡ | |
| pronounced as /ɡʲ/ | palatalized ɡ | |
| pronounced as /ɡʷ/ | labialized ɡ | |
| pronounced as /ɡ̚/ | ɡ with no audible release | |
| pronounced as /ɡ̥/ | voiceless ɡ | |
| pronounced as /ɡ͈/ | tense ɡ |
Of the six stops that would be expected from the most common pattern worldwide—that is, three places of articulation plus voicing (pronounced as /[p b, t d, k ɡ]/)—pronounced as /[p]/ and pronounced as /[ɡ]/ are the most frequently missing, being absent in about 10% of languages that otherwise have this pattern. Absent stop pronounced as /[p]/ is an areal feature (see also Voiceless bilabial stop). Missing pronounced as /[ɡ]/, (when the language uses voicing to contrast stops) on the other hand, is widely scattered around the world, for example /ɡ/ is not a native phoneme of Belarusian, Dutch, Czech, or Slovak and occurs only in borrowed words in those languages. A few languages, such as Modern Standard Arabic and part of the Levantine dialects (e.g. Lebanese and Syrian), are missing both, although most Modern Arabic dialects have pronounced as //ɡ// in their native phonemic systems as a reflex of (ق) or less commonly of (ج).
It seems that pronounced as /[ɡ]/ is somewhat more difficult to articulate than the other basic stops. Ian Maddieson speculates that this may be due to a physical difficulty in voicing velars: Voicing requires that air flow into the mouth cavity, and the relatively small space allowed by the position of velar consonants means that it will fill up with air quickly, making voicing difficult to maintain in pronounced as /[ɡ]/ for as long as it is in pronounced as /[d]/ or pronounced as /[b]/. This could have two effects: pronounced as /[ɡ]/ and pronounced as /[k]/ might become confused, and the distinction is lost, or perhaps a pronounced as /[ɡ]/ never develops when a language first starts making voicing distinctions. With uvulars, where there is even less space between the glottis and tongue for airflow, the imbalance is more extreme: Voiced pronounced as /[ɢ]/ is much rarer than voiceless pronounced as /[q]/.[3]
In many Indo-Aryan languages, such as Hindustani, plain [g] and aspirated [g<sup>h</sup>] are in contrastive distribution.
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abkhazian: [[Abkhaz alphabet|ажы'''г'''а]]/ažëga | pronounced as /[aˈʐəɡa]/ | 'shovel' | See Abkhaz phonology | |||
| Adyghe; Adygei: [[Cyrillic script|'''гь'''эгуалъэ]]/gägwaĺa | 'toy' | Dialectal. Corresponds to pronounced as /[d͡ʒ]/ in other dialects. | ||||
| Adyghe; Adygei: [[Cyrillic script|чъы'''г'''ы]]/ čëgë | 'tree' | Dialectal. Corresponds to pronounced as /[ɣ]/ in other dialects. | ||||
| Albanian: [[Albanian alphabet|'''g'''omar]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈɡomaɾ]/ | 'donkey' | ||||
| Arabic | Moroccan | /'agaadiir | pronounced as /[ʔaɡaːdiːr]/ | 'Agadir' | ||
| /gafs'a | 'Gafsa' | (ڨ) is also used in Algeria | ||||
| Arabic: [[Arabic alphabet|قمر]]|rtl=yes/gamar | pronounced as /[ɡamar]/ | 'moon' | Corresponds to pronounced as /link/ in Classical and Modern Standard Arabic. | |||
| Najdi | pronounced as /[ɡəmar]/ | |||||
| Sa'idi | pronounced as /[ɡɑmɑr]/ | |||||
| Arabic: [[Arabic alphabet|قال]]|rtl=yes/gääl | pronounced as /[gæːl]/ | '(he) said' | Pronunciation of (ق) in San'ani dialect in the North and Center and Hadhrami in the East | |||
| Arabic: [[Arabic alphabet|جمل]]|rtl=yes/gämäl | pronounced as /[gæmæl]/ | 'camel' | Pronunciation of (ج) in Ta'izzi-Adeni dialects in the South and Tihami in the West | |||
| Egyptian | Arabic: [[Arabic alphabet|راجل]]|rtl=yes/raagel | pronounced as /[ˈɾɑːɡel]/ | 'man' | Standard pronunciation of (ج) in Egypt and corresponds to pronounced as /link/, pronounced as /link/ or pronounced as /link/ in other pronunciations. | ||
| Armenian: [[Armenian alphabet|'''գ'''անձ]]/gandz | 'treasure' | |||||
| Assyrian | ܓܢܐ [[Syriac alphabet|'''ɡ'''ana]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ɡaːna]/ | 'self' | Used predominantly in Urban Koine. Corresponds to pronounced as /[dʒ]/ in Urmia, some Tyari and Jilu dialects. | ||
| Azerbaijani | Azerbaijani: [[Azerbaijani alphabet|'''q'''ara]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ɡɑɾɑ]/ | 'black' | |||
| Basque | Basque: [[Basque alphabet|'''g'''aldu]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ɡaldu]/ | 'lose' | |||
| Bengali | গান/gan | pronounced as /[ɡan]/ | 'song' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology | ||
| Bulgarian | гора/gora | pronounced as /[ɡora]/ | 'forest' | See Bulgarian phonology | ||
| Catalan; Valencian: [[Catalan orthography|'''g'''uant]] | pronounced as /[ˈɡwɑnt]/ | 'glove' | See Catalan phonology | |||
| Chechen | Chechen: [[Cyrillic script|'''г'''овр]]/gowr | pronounced as /[ɡɔʊ̯r]/ | 'horse' | |||
| Czech: [[Czech orthography|'''g'''ram]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ɡram]/ | 'gram' | See Czech phonology | |||
| Standard | Danish: [[Danish alphabet|ly'''kk'''e]] | pronounced as /[ˈløɡə]/ | 'happiness' | Only partially voiced; possible allophone of pronounced as //ɡ// in the intervocalic position. More often voiceless pronounced as /link/. See Danish phonology | ||
| All dialects | Dutch; Flemish: [[Dutch alphabet|za'''k'''doek]]|italic=yes | 'tissue' | Allophone of pronounced as //k//, occurring only before voiced consonants in native words. See Dutch phonology | |||
| Standard | ||||||
| Many speakers | 'goal' | Only in loanwords. Some speakers may realize it as pronounced as /link/ ~ pronounced as /link/ ~ pronounced as /link/ ~ pronounced as /link/ (like a normal Dutch (g)), or as pronounced as /link/. | ||||
| pronounced as /[ɡuə̯d]/ | 'good' | |||||
| English: [[English orthography|'''g'''a'''gg'''le]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈɡæɡɫ̩]/ | 'gaggle' | See English phonology | |||
| Filipino; Pilipino: [[Filipino alphabet|'''g'''ulo]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ɡulɔ]/ | 'commotion' | ||||
| French: [[French orthography|'''g'''ain]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ɡɛ̃]/ | 'earnings' | See French phonology | |||
| Georgian: [[Georgian alphabet|'''გ'''ული]]/guli | pronounced as /[ˈɡuli]/ | 'heart' | ||||
| German: [[German orthography|Lü'''g'''e]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈlyːɡə]/ | 'lie' | See Standard German phonology | |||
| Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Greek alphabet|'''γκ'''άρισμα]] / Greek, Modern (1453-);: [[Romanization of Greek|'''gk'''árisma]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈɡɐɾizmɐ]/ | 'donkey's bray' | See Modern Greek phonology | |||
| Gujarati: [[Gujarati alphabet|'''ગા'''વું]]/gávu | pronounced as /[gaːʋʊ̃]/ | 'to sing' | See Gujarati phonology | |||
| Hebrew: [[Hebrew alphabet|גב]]|rtl=yes/gav | pronounced as /[ɡav]/ | 'back' | See Modern Hebrew phonology | |||
| Hindi: [[Devanāgarī|गाना/gáná]] / Urdu: [[nasta'liq|gáná/گانا]]|rtl=yes | pronounced as /[ɡɑːnɑː]/ | 'song' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindustani phonology | |||
| Hungarian: [[Hungarian orthography|en'''g'''edély]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ɛŋɡɛdeːj]/ | 'permission' | See Hungarian phonology | |||
| Irish: [[Irish orthography|'''g'''aineamh]] | pronounced as /[ˈɡanʲəw]/ | 'sand' | See Irish phonology | |||
| Italian: [[Italian alphabet|'''g'''are]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈɡäːre]/ | 'competitions' | [g] is represented by letter G when followed by vowels [a], [o] [u], while when in front of vowels [i], [e] and [ɛ], the pronunciation changes to d͡ʒ, for the phoneme [g] to appear on the vowels [i], [e] and [ɛ], the GH digraph is used. | |||
| Japanese: [[kanji|外套]] / Japanese: [[Romanization of Japanese|'''g'''aito]] | pronounced as /[ɡaitoː]/ | 'overcoat' | See Japanese phonology | |||
| Kabardian: [[Cyrillic alphabet|'''гь'''анэ]]/ gäna | 'shirt' | Dialectal. Corresponds to pronounced as /[dʒ]/ in other dialects. | ||||
| kala'''g'''|italic=yes | pronounced as /[kað̞aɡ]/ | 'spirit' | ||||
| Central Khmer: [[Khmer script|ហ្គាស]] / | pronounced as /[gaːh]/ | 'gas' | See Khmer phonology | |||
| Korean: [[Hangul|메기]] / Korean: [[Revised Romanization of Korean|me'''g'''i]] | pronounced as /[meɡi]/ | 'catfish' | See Korean phonology | |||
| Limburgish | zegke | pronounced as /[zεgə]/ | 'say' | Common. Example from the Weert dialect. | ||
| Lithuanian | pronounced as /[ɡɐrɐɪ̯ˑ]/ | 'steam' | See Lithuanian phonology | |||
| Luxembourgish; Letzeburgesch: a'''g'''epack|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈɑɡəpaːk]/ | 'gone about' | More often voiceless pronounced as /link/. See Luxembourgish phonology | |||
| Macedonian: [[Macedonian alphabet|'''г'''ром]]/grom | pronounced as /[ɡrɔm]/ | 'thunder' | See Macedonian phonology | |||
| Malay: [[Malay alphabet|'''g'''uni]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ɡuni]/ | 'sack' | ||||
| Marathi: [[Devanāgarī|'''ग'''वत/gëvët]] | pronounced as /[ɡəʋət]/ | 'grass' | See Marathi phonology | |||
| [[Devanagari|'''गा'''उँ]] | pronounced as /[ɡä̃ũ̯]/ | 'village' | Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nepali phonology | |||
| Norwegian: [[Norwegian alphabet|'''g'''ull]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ɡʉl]/ | 'gold' | See Norwegian phonology | |||
| Odia | ଗଛ/gočho | pronounced as /[ɡɔtʃʰɔ]/ | 'tree' | Contrasts with aspirated form. | ||
| گوشت/guşt | pronounced as /[guʃt]/ | 'meat' | ||||
| Polish: [[Polish orthography|'''g'''min]]|italic=yes | 'plebs' | See Polish phonology | ||||
| Portuguese: [[Portuguese orthography|lín'''g'''ua]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈɫĩɡwɐ]/ | 'tongue' | See Portuguese phonology | |||
| ਗਾਂ/gaa | pronounced as /[ɡɑ̃ː]/ | 'cow' | ||||
| Romanian[4] | Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: [[Romanian alphabet|'''g'''ând]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ɡɨnd]/ | 'thought' | See Romanian phonology | ||
| Russian: [[Russian orthography|'''г'''олова]]/golova | 'head' | See Russian phonology | ||||
| [[Serbian Cyrillic alphabet|'''г'''ост]] / [[Gaj's Latin alphabet|'''g'''ost]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[gȏ̞ːs̪t̪]/ | 'guest' | See Serbo-Croatian phonology | |||
| Slovak: [[Slovak alphabet|miaz'''g'''a]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈmjäzɡä]/ | 'lymph' | See Slovak phonology | |||
| Slovene | Slovenian: [[Slovene orthography|'''g'''ost]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈɡɔ̂s̪t̪]/ | 'guest' | See Slovene phonology | ||
| Somali: '''g'''aabi|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ɡaːbi]/ | 'to shorten' | See Somali phonology | |||
| Southern Min | Hokkien | 我/góa | pronounced as /[ɡua˥˧]/ | 'I' | ||
| Spanish; Castilian: [[Spanish orthography|'''g'''ato]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈɡät̪o̞]/ | 'cat' | See Spanish phonology | |||
| Swahili: [[Swahili orthography|'''g'''iza]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ˈɡīzɑ]/ | 'darkness' | See Swahili phonology | |||
| Swahili: [[Swedish alphabet|'''g'''od]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ɡuːd̪]/ | 'tasty' | May be an approximant in casual speech. See Swedish phonology | |||
| Telugu: [[Telugu script|'''గ'''చ్చు/gacu]] | pronounced as /[ɡat͡sːu]/ | 'Floor' | contrasts with aspirated form (which is articulated as breathy consonant). | |||
| Turkish: [[Turkish alphabet|sal'''g'''ın]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[säɫˈɡɯn]/ | 'epidemic' | See Turkish phonology | |||
| Ukrainian: [[Ukrainian alphabet|'''ґ'''анок]] / ganok | pronounced as /[ˈɡɑn̪ok]/ | 'porch' | See Ukrainian phonology | |||
| Welsh | gwyn | [ɡwɪn] or [ɡwɨ̞n] | 'white' | See Welsh phonology | ||
| West Frisian | Western Frisian: '''g'''asp|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ɡɔsp]/ | 'buckle' (n.) | See West Frisian phonology | ||
| Wu | Shanghainese | 狂/guaon6 | [ɡuɑ̃<sup>23</sup>] | 'crazy' | ||
| Xiang | 共/wong | pronounced as /[ɡoŋ]/ | 'together' | |||
| Sichuan Yi; Nuosu: [[Yi script|ꈨ]] / Sichuan Yi; Nuosu: [[Yi script|'''gg'''e]]|italic=yes | pronounced as /[ɡɤ˧]/ | 'hear' | ||||
| Zapotec | gan | pronounced as /[ɡaŋ]/ | 'will be able' | Depending on speaker and carefulness of speech, pronounced as /[ɡ]/ may be lenited to pronounced as /[ɣ]/ | ||
pronounced as /navigation/