Labialized velar consonant should not be confused with Labial–velar consonant.
pronounced as /notice/A labialized velar or labiovelar is a velar consonant that is labialized, with a pronounced as //w//-like secondary articulation. Examples are pronounced as /[kʷ, ɡʷ, xʷ, ɣʷ, ŋʷ]/, which are pronounced like a pronounced as /[k, ɡ, x, ɣ, ŋ]/, with rounded lips, such as the labialized voiceless velar plosive pronounced as /[kʷ]/ and labialized voiced velar plosive pronounced as /[ɡʷ]/, obstruents being common among the sounds that undergo labialization.
The most common labiovelar consonant is the voiced approximant pronounced as /[w]/. It is normally a labialized velar, as is its vocalic cousin pronounced as /[u]/. (Labialization is called rounding in vowels, and a velar place is called back.)
pronounced as /[w]/ and its voiceless equivalent are the only labialized velars with dedicated IPA symbols:
| IPA | Description | Example | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language | Orthography | IPA | Meaning | ||
| Voiceless labialized velar approximant | English | which | pronounced as /[ʍɪtʃ]/1 | 'which' | |
| Labio-velar approximant | witch | pronounced as /[wɪtʃ]/ | 'witch' | ||
The voiceless approximant is traditionally called a "voiceless labial–velar fricative", but true doubly articulated fricatives are not known to be used in any language, as they are quite difficult to pronounce and even more difficult to distinguish.
Labialized velars frequently derive from a plain velar followed by a rounded (labialized) vowel, such as pronounced as /[u]/ or pronounced as /[o]/. In turn, they may sometimes develop into simple bilabial consonants. An example of this is the development of Proto-Indo-European *kʷ, *gʷ before *a or *o into Greek /p, b/, producing cognates as different as English come and basis. The full sequence is demonstrated by the Satsuma dialect of Japanese: in northern Satsuma, Standard Japanese pronounced as /[kue]/ 'eat!' has contracted to pronounced as /[kʷe]/; in southern Satsuma, it has proceeded further to pronounced as /[pe]/.
A notable development is the initial *kʷ in Proto-Indo-European interrogative words. In English, it developed into wh or h (how), pronounced /w/ in most dialects and /h/, respectively, via Grimm's law followed by wh-cluster reductions. By contrast, in Latin and its descendants, the Romance languages, that developed into qu (later Spanish cu (cuando) and c (como)), pronounced as /kʷ/ in Latin and variously as /kw/ or /k/ in the Romance languages. See etymology of English interrogative words for details. The English phonemic spelling kw for qu (as in kwik) echoes its origin.