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Voiceless velar plosive
Voiceless velar plosive
k
IPA number	109
Audio sample
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Encoding
Entity (decimal)	k
Unicode (hex)	U+006B
X-SAMPA	k
Braille

The voiceless velar plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in almost all 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]. Only a few languages lack a voiceless velar plosive, e.g. Tahitian and Mongolian.

Some languages have the voiceless 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 voiceless 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.

Features

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 plosive.
Its place of articulation is velar, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) 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.
Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Varieties

IPA	Description
k	plain k
kʰ	aspirated k
kʲ	palatalized k
kʷ	labialized k
k̚	k with no audible release
k̬	voiced k
k͈	tense k
kʼ	ejective k

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abkhaz		ақалақь/ak̇halak̇h'	[ˈakalakʲ]	'the city'	See Abkhaz phonology
Adyghe	Shapsug	кьэт/k′ėt	[kʲat]^ⓘ	'chicken'	Dialectal; corresponds to [t͡ʃ] in other dialects.
Adyghe	Temirgoy	пскэн/pskėn	[pskan]	'to cough'	Dialectal; corresponds to [t͡ʃ] in other dialects.
Ahtna		gistaann	[kɪstʰɐːn]	'six'
Aleut^[3]		kiikax̂	[kiːkaχ]	'cranberry bush'
Arabic	Modern Standard^[4]	كتب/kataba	[ˈkatabɐ]	'he wrote'	See Arabic phonology
Armenian	Eastern^[5]	քաղաք/ k'aġak'/k'aghak	[kʰɑˈʁɑkʰ]	'town'	Contrasts with unaspirated form.
Assamese		কম/kom	[kɔm]	'less'
Assyrian		ܟܬܒ̣ܐ ctava	[ktava]	'book'	Used in most varieties, with the exception of the Urmia and Nochiya dialects where it corresponds to [t͡ʃ].
Basque		katu	[kat̪u]	'cat'
Bengali		কম/kom	[kɔm]	'less'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Bengali phonology
Bulgarian		как/kak	[kak]	'how'	See Bulgarian phonology
Cantonese		家/gā	[kaː˥]^ⓘ	'home'	See Cantonese phonology
Cantonese		橋/桥/kìuh	[kʰi:u˨˩]	'bridge'	See Cantonese phonology
Catalan^[6]		cors	[ˈkɔ(ɾ)s]	'hearts'	See Catalan phonology
Chuvash		кукка	[ku'kːɑ]	'mother's brother'
Czech		kost	[kost]	'bone'	See Czech phonology
Danish	Standard^[7]	gås	[ˈkɔ̽ːs]	'goose'	Usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨ɡ̊⟩ or ⟨ɡ⟩. Contrasts with aspirated form, which is usually transcribed in IPA with ⟨kʰ⟩ or ⟨k⟩. See Danish phonology
Dutch^[8]		koning	[ˈkoːnɪŋ]	'king'	See Dutch phonology
English		kiss	[kʰɪs]^ⓘ	'kiss'	See English phonology
Esperanto		rakonto	[raˈkonto]	'tale'	See Esperanto phonology
Estonian		kõik	[kɤik]	'all'	See Estonian phonology
Filipino		kuto	[ˈkuto]	'lice'
Finnish		kakku	[kɑkːu]	'cake'	See Finnish phonology
French^[9]		cabinet	[kabinɛ]	'office'	See French phonology
Georgian^[10]		ქვა/kva	[kʰva]	'stone'
German		Käfig	[ˈkʰɛːfɪç]	'cage'	See Standard German phonology
Greek		καλόγερος / kalógeros	[kaˈlo̞ʝe̞ro̞s̠]	'monk'	See Modern Greek phonology
Gujarati		કાંદો/kaṃde	[kɑːnd̪oː]	'onion'	See Gujarati phonology
Hebrew		כסף / kesef	[ˈkesef]	'money'	See Modern Hebrew phonology
Hiligaynon		kadlaw	[kad̪law]	'laugh'
Hindustani		काम / کام	[kɑːm]	'work'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Hindustani phonology
Hokkien		歌/koa	[kua˧˨]	'song'	See Hokkien phonology
Hokkien		區/区/khu	[kʰu˧˨]	'district'	See Hokkien phonology
Hungarian		akkor	[ɒkkor]	'then'	See Hungarian phonology
Italian^[11]		casa	[ˈkäːzä]	'house'	See Italian phonology
Japanese^[12]		鞄 / kaban	[kabaɴ]	'handbag'	See Japanese phonology
Kagayanen^[13]		kalag	[kað̞aɡ]	'spirit'
Khmer		កម្ពុជា / kâmpŭchéa	[kampuciːə]	'Cambodia'	See Khmer phonology
Korean		감자 / kamja	[kamdʑa]	'potato'	See Korean phonology
Lakota		kimímela	[kɪˈmɪmela]	'butterfly'
Luxembourgish^[14]		geess	[ˈkeːs]	'goat'	Less often voiced [ɡ]. It is usually transcribed in IPA as ⟨ɡ⟩, and it contrasts with aspirated form, which is usually transcribed ⟨k⟩.^[14] See Luxembourgish phonology
Macedonian		кој	[kɔj]	'who'	See Macedonian phonology
Marathi		कवच	[kəʋət͡s]	'armour'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Marathi phonology
Malay		kaki	[käki]	'leg'	Unreleased in syllable codas in some words, See Malay phonology
Malayalam		കഥ/kada	[käd̪ʰä]	'story'	See Malayalam phonology
Mandarin		高/gāo	[kɑʊ˥]^ⓘ	'high'	See Mandarin phonology
Mandarin		烤/kǎo	[kʰɑʊ˨˩˦]	'roast' (v.)	See Mandarin phonology
Nepali		केरा	[keɾä]	'banana'	Contrasts with aspirated form. See Nepali phonology
Norwegian		kake	[kɑːkə]	'cake'	See Norwegian phonology
Odia		କାମ/kāma	[kämɔ]	'work'	Contrasts with aspirated form.
Pashto		كال/kal	[kɑl]	'year'
Persian		کارد/kārd	[kɑrd]	'knife'
Polish^[15]		buk	[ˈbuk]^ⓘ	'beech tree'	See Polish phonology
Portuguese^[16]		corpo	[ˈkoɾpu]	'body'	See Portuguese phonology
Punjabi		ਕਰ/کر/kar	[kəɾ]	'do'	Contrasts with aspirated form.
Romanian^[17]		când	[ˈkɨnd]	'when'	See Romanian phonology
Russian^[18]		короткий/korotkiy	[kɐˈrotkʲɪj]^ⓘ	'short'	See Russian phonology
Serbo-Croatian^[19]		кост / kost	[kȏːs̪t̪]	'bone'	See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Slovak		kosť	[kɔ̝sc]	'bone'	See Slovak phonology
Slovene		kost	[ˈkôːs̪t̪]	'bone'	Aspirated before close vowels. See Slovene phonology
Spanish^[20]		casa	[ˈkäsä]	'house'	See Spanish phonology
Swedish		ko	[ˈkʰuː]	'cow'	See Swedish phonology
Sylheti		ꠇꠤꠔꠣ/kita	[kɪt̪à]	'what'
Tamil		கை/kai	[kəɪ̯]	'hand'	See Tamil phonology
Telugu		కాకి/kāki	[kāki]	'crow'	Contrasts with aspirated form.
Thai		ไก่/kị̀	[kaj˨˩]	'chicken'	Contrasts with an aspirated form.
Turkish		kulak	[kʰuɫäk]	'ear'	See Turkish phonology
Ubykh		кауар/kawar	[kawar]	'slat'	Found mostly in loanwords. See Ubykh phonology
Ukrainian^[21]		колесо/koleso	[ˈkɔɫɛsɔ]	'wheel'	See Ukrainian phonology
Vietnamese^[22]		cam	[kam]	'orange'	See Vietnamese phonology
Welsh		calon	[kalɔn]	'heart'	See Welsh phonology
West Frisian		keal	[kɪəl]	'calf'	See West Frisian phonology
Yi		ꇰ / ge	[kɤ˧]	'foolish'	Contrasts aspirated and unaspirated forms.
Zapotec	Tilquiapan^[23]	canza	[kanza]	'walking'

Notes

^ Instead of "pre-velar", it can be called "advanced velar", "fronted velar", "front-velar", "palato-velar", "post-palatal", "retracted palatal" or "backed palatal".
^ Instead of "post-velar", it can be called "retracted velar", "backed velar", "pre-uvular", "advanced uvular" or "fronted uvular".
^ Ladefoged (2005), p. 165.
^ Thelwall (1990), p. 37.
^ Dum-Tragut (2009), p. 13.
^ Carbonell & Llisterri (1992), p. 53.
^ Basbøll (2005:61)
^ Gussenhoven (1992), p. 45.
^ Fougeron & Smith (1993), p. 73.
^ Shosted & Chikovani (2006), p. 255.
^ Rogers & d'Arcangeli (2004), p. 117.
^ Okada (1999), p. 117.
^ Olson et al. (2010), pp. 206–207.
^ ^a ^b Gilles & Trouvain (2013:67–68)
^ Jassem (2003), p. 103.
^ Cruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 91.
^ DEX Online: [1]
^ Padgett (2003), p. 42.
^ Landau et al. (1999), p. 66.
^ Martínez-Celdrán, Fernández-Planas & Carrera-Sabaté (2003), p. 255.
^ Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995), p. 4.
^ Thompson (1959), pp. 458–461.
^ Merrill (2008), p. 108.

References

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Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223, S2CID 249414876
Danyenko, Andrii; Vakulenko, Serhii (1995), Ukrainian, Lincom Europa, ISBN 978-3-929075-08-3
Dum-Tragut, Jasmine (2009), Armenian: Modern Eastern Armenian, Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Fougeron, Cecile; Smith, Caroline L. (1993), "French", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 23 (2): 73–76, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004874, S2CID 249404451
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