Voiced velar fricative
ɣ
IPA Number141
Audio sample
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ɣ
Unicode (hex)U+0263
X-SAMPAG
Braille
⠨ (braille pattern dots-46)
⠛ (braille pattern dots-1245)

The voiced velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound that is used in various spoken languages. It is not found in Modern English but existed in Old English.[1] The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ɣ⟩, a Latinized variant of the Greek letter gamma, ⟨γ⟩, which has this sound in Modern Greek. It should not be confused with the graphically-similar ⟨ɤ⟩, the IPA symbol for a close-mid back unrounded vowel, which some writings[2] use for the voiced velar fricative.

The symbol ⟨ɣ⟩ is also sometimes used to represent the velar approximant, which, however, is more accurately written with the lowering diacritic: [ɣ̞] or [ɣ˕]. The IPA also provides a dedicated symbol for a velar approximant, [ɰ].

There is also a voiced post-velar fricative, also called pre-uvular, in some languages. For the voiced pre-velar fricative, also called post-palatal, see voiced palatal fricative.

Features

Features of the voiced velar fricative:

Occurrence

Some of the consonants listed as post-velar may actually be trill fricatives.

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Abaza бгъьы/bg"'ı [bɣʲə] 'leaf'
Adyghe чъыгы/ch"'gy [t͡ʂəɣə] (help·info) 'tree'
Albanian Arbëresh

Moresian (Pelloponesian) dialects of Arvanitika

gliata [ɣliɑtɑ] 'tall'
Alekano gamó [ɣɑmɤʔ] 'cucumber'
Aleut agiitalix [aɣiːtalix] 'with'
Angor ranihı [ɾɑniɣə] 'brother'
Angas γür [ɣyr] 'to pick up'
Arabic Modern Standard[3] غريب/ġarīb [ɣæˈriːb] 'stranger' May be velar, post-velar or uvular, depending on dialect.[4] See Arabic phonology
Aragonese augua [ˈawɣwa] 'water' Allophone of /ɡ/
Aromanian ghini [ˈɣi.ni] 'well' Allophone of /ɡ/
Aramaic Eastern ܦܓ̣ܪܐ paġrā [pʌɣrɑ] 'body' Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants.
Western [fʌɣrɔ]
Asturian gadañu [ɣaˈd̪ãɲʊ] 'scythe' Allophone of /ɡ/ in almost all positions
Azerbaijani Northern oğul [oɣul] 'son'
Southern اوغول/oghul
Basque[5] hego [heɣo] 'wing' Allophone of /ɡ/
Belarusian галава [ɣalava] 'head'
Catalan[6] agrat [ɐˈɣɾɑt] 'liking' Fricative or approximant. Allophone of /ɡ/. See Catalan phonology
Central Alaskan Yup'ik auga [ˈauːɣa] 'his/her/its blood' Never occurs in word-initial positions.
Chechen гӀала / ġala [ɣaːla] 'town'
Chinese Mandarin (Dongping dialect) 俺/Ǎn [ɣän55] 'I'
Xiang 湖南/húnán [ɣu˩˧nia˩˧] 'Hunan (province)'
Czech bych byl [bɪɣ bɪl] 'I would be' Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants. See Czech phonology
Dinka ɣo [ɣo] 'us'
Dogrib weqa [weɣa] 'for'
Dutch Standard Belgian[7][8] gaan [ɣaːn] 'to go' May be post-palatal [ʝ̠] instead.[8] See Dutch phonology
Southern accents[8]
Georgian[9] ღარიბი/ġaribi [ɣɑribi] 'poor' May actually be post-velar or uvular
German[10][11][failed verification] Austrian damalige [ˈdaːmaːlɪɣə] 'former' Intervocalic allophone of /ɡ/ in casual speech.[10][11] See Standard German phonology
Ghari cheghe [tʃeɣe] 'five'
Greek γάλα/gála [ˈɣala] 'milk' See Modern Greek phonology
Gujarati વાઘણ/vāghaṇ [ʋɑ̤̈ɣəɽ̃] 'tigress' See Gujarati phonology
Gweno ndeghe [ndeɣe] 'bird'
Gwich’in videeghàn [viteːɣân] 'his/her chest'
Haitian Creole diri [diɣi] 'rice'
Hän dëgëghor [təkəɣor] 'I am playing'
Hebrew Yemenite מִגְדָּל/miǧdel [miɣdɔl] 'tower'
Hindustani Hindi[12] ग़रीब [ɣ̄əriːb] 'poor' Post-velar,[12] conservative Hindi speakers usually replace it with /gʱ/. See Hindustani phonology
Urdu غریب
Icelandic saga [ˈsaːɣa] 'saga' See Icelandic phonology
Irish a dhorn [ə ɣoːɾˠn̪ˠ] 'his fist' See Irish phonology
Istro-Romanian[13] gură [ˈɣurə] 'mouth' Corresponds to [ɡ][in which environments?] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Iwaidja [mulaɣa] 'hermit crab'
Japanese[14] はげ/hage [haɣe] 'baldness' Allophone of /ɡ/, especially in fast or casual speech. See Japanese phonology
Kabardian гын/gyn [ɣən] (help·info) 'powder'
Lezgian гъел/ghel [ɣel] 'sleigh'
Limburgish[15][16] gaw [ɣɑ̟β̞] 'quick' The example word is from the Maastrichtian dialect.
Lishan Didan Urmi Dialect עוטג/otogh [ˠotʰoɣ] 'room' Generally post-velar
Lithuanian humoras [ˈɣʊmɔrɐs̪] 'humor' Preferred over [ɦ]. See Lithuanian phonology
Low German[17] gaan [ˈɣɔ̃ːn] 'to go' Increasingly replaced with High German [ɡ]
Malay Standard ghaib [ɣai̯b] 'unseen' Mostly in loanwords from Arabic. Indonesians tend to replace the sound with /ɡ/.
Johor-Riau ramai [ɣamai̯] 'crowded (with people)' /r/ before a vowel was traditionally a [ɣ] but now the alveolar tap [ɾ] is quite common amongst younger speakers possibly due to influence by Standard Malay. See Malay phonology
Kelantan-Pattani [ɣamaː] /r/ in Standard Malay is barely articulated in almost all of the Malay dialects in Malaysia. Usually it is uttered as guttural R at initial and medial position of a word. See Malay phonology
Terengganu
Negeri Sembilan [ɣamai̯]
Pahang [ɣamɛ̃ː]
Sarawak [ɣamɛː]
Macedonian Berovo accent дувна/duvna [ˈduɣna] 'it blew' Corresponds to etymological /x/ of other dialects, before sonorants. See Maleševo-Pirin dialect and Macedonian phonology
Bukovo accent глава/glava [ˈɡɣa(v)a] 'head' Allophone of /l/ instead of usual [ɫ]. See Prilep-Bitola dialect
Navajo ’aghá [ʔaɣa] 'best'
Neapolitan Central Lucanian (Accettura dialect) chiahäte [kjaˈɣɜ tə][18] 'wounded' Corresponds to /g/ in Standard Italian. The example "chiahäte" translates to "piagato" in Italian.
Nepali कागज [käɣʌd͡z] 'paper' Allophone of /ɡ/. See Nepali phonology
Ngwe Mmockngie dialect [nøɣə̀] 'sun'
Northern Qiang hhnesh [ɣnəʂ] 'February'
Norwegian Urban East[19] å ha [ɔ ˈɣɑː] 'to have' Possible allophone of /h/ between two back vowels; can be voiceless [x] instead.[19] See Norwegian phonology
Occitan Gascon digoc [diˈɣuk] 'said' (3rd pers. sg.)
Pashto غاتر/ghutar [ɣɑtər] 'mule'
Persian باغ/Bâġ [bɒːɣ] 'garden'
Polish niechże [ˈɲɛɣʐɛ] 'let' (imperative particle) Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants. See Polish phonology
Portuguese European[20][21] agora [ɐˈɣɔɾɐ] 'now' Allophone of /ɡ/. See Portuguese phonology
Some Brazilian dialects[22] mármore [ˈmaɣmuɾi] 'marble', 'sill' Allophone of rhotic consonant (voiced equivalent to [x], itself allophone of /ʁ/) between voiced sounds, most often as coda before voiced consonants.
Punjabi Gurmukhi ਗ਼ਰੀਬ/ġarrīb [ɣ̄əriːb] 'poor'
Shahmukhi غریب/ġarrīb
Romani γoines [ɣoines] 'good'
Russian Southern дорога/doroga [dɐˈro̞ɣə] 'road' Corresponds to /ɡ/ in standard
Standard угу/ugu [ʊˈɣu] 'uh-huh' Usually nasal, /ɡ/ is used when spoken. See Russian phonology
горох же / gorokh zhe [ɡʌˈroɣ ʐe] 'the peas' Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants. [23]
Sakha аҕа/aǧa [aɣa] 'father'
Sardinian Nuorese dialect súghere [ˈsuɣɛrɛ] 'to suck' Allophone of /ɡ/
Scottish Gaelic laghail [ɫ̪ɤɣal] 'lawful' See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Serbo-Croatian[24] ovih bi [ǒ̞ʋiɣ bi] 'of these would' Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants.[24] See Serbo-Croatian phonology
S'gaw Karen ဂ့ၤ/ghei [ɣei] 'good'
Sindhi غم/ghvmu [ɣəmʊ] 'sadness'
Slovene gajba [ɣájba] 'crate' Present in the Littoral dialect group
Spanish amigo [a̠ˈmiɣo̟] 'friend' Ranges from close fricative to approximant.[25] Allophone of /ɡ/, see Spanish phonology
Swahili ghali [ɣali] 'expensive'
Swedish Västerbotten Norrland dialects meg [mɪːɣ] 'me' Allophone of /ɡ/. Occurs between vowels and in word-final positions.[26] Here also /∅/ in Kalix.
Tadaksahak zog [zoɣ] 'war'
Tajik ғафс/ƣafs [ɣafs] 'thick'
Tamazight aɣilas (aghilas) [aɣilas] 'leopard'
Tamil Brahmin Tamil (non-standard) முகம் [muɣəm] 'face' Not very common
Turkish Non-standard ağaç [aɣat͡ʃ] 'tree' Deleted in most dialects. See Turkish phonology
Tutchone Northern ihghú [ihɣǔ] 'tooth'
Southern ghra [ɣra] 'baby'
Tyap ghan [ˈɣan] 'to hurry'
Ukrainian голка [ɣolka] 'needle' See Ukrainian phonology
Uzbek[27] ёмғир / yomgʻir [ʝɒ̜mˈʁ̟ɨɾ̪] 'rain' Post-velar.[27]
Vietnamese[28] ghế [ɣe˧˥] 'chair' See Vietnamese phonology
West Frisian drage [ˈdraːɣə] 'to carry' Never occurs in word-initial positions.
Yi ꊋ/we [ɣɤ˧] 'win'
Zhuang Lwg roegbit [lɯ˧ ɣo˧pi˥] 'Wild duckling'

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Baker, Peter Stuar (2012). Introduction to Old English (3rd ed.). pp. 15. ISBN 9781444354195. OCLC 778433078 – via Internet Archive. Between voiced sounds dotless g is pronounced [ɣ], a voiced velar spirant. This sound became [w] in Middle English, so English no longer has it.
  2. ^ Such as Booij (1999) and Nowikow (2012).
  3. ^ Watson (2002), pp. 17 and 19-20.
  4. ^ Watson (2002), pp. 17, 19–20, 35-36 and 38.
  5. ^ Hualde (1991), pp. 99–100.
  6. ^ Wheeler (2005), p. 10.
  7. ^ Verhoeven (2005:243)
  8. ^ a b c Collins & Mees (2003:191)
  9. ^ Shosted & Chikovani (2006), p. 255.
  10. ^ a b Krech et al. (2009:108)
  11. ^ a b Sylvia Moosmüller (2007). "Vowels in Standard Austrian German: An Acoustic-Phonetic and Phonological Analysis" (PDF). p. 6. Retrieved March 9, 2013.[failed verification]
  12. ^ a b Kachru (2006), p. 20.
  13. ^ Pop (1938), p. 30.
  14. ^ Okada (1999), p. 118.
  15. ^ Gussenhoven & Aarts (1999:159)
  16. ^ Peters (2006:119)
  17. ^ R.E. Keller, German Dialects. Phonology and Morphology, Manchester 1960
  18. ^ Volpi, Luigi (2011). La lingua dei Masciaioli - Dizionario del dialetto di Accettua cittadina lucana in Prov. di Matera (in Italian). Potenza (Italy): EditricErmes. p. 92.[ISBN missing]
  19. ^ a b Vanvik (1979), p. 40.
  20. ^ Cruz-Ferreira (1995), p. 92.
  21. ^ Mateus & d'Andrade (2000), p. 11.
  22. ^ Barbosa & Albano (2004), p. 228.
  23. ^ Jones, Daniel & Ward, Dennis (1969) The Phonetics of Russian. Cambridge University Press.
  24. ^ a b Landau et al. (1999:67)
  25. ^ Phonetic studies such as Quilis (1981) have found that Spanish voiced stops may surface as spirants with various degrees of constriction. These allophones are not limited to regular fricative articulations, but range from articulations that involve a near complete oral closure to articulations involving a degree of aperture quite close to vocalization
  26. ^ "685-686 (Nordisk familjebok / 1800-talsutgåvan. 17. V - Väring)". 1893.
  27. ^ a b Sjoberg (1963), p. 13.
  28. ^ Thompson (1959), pp. 458–461.

References

  • Barbosa, Plínio A.; Albano, Eleonora C. (2004), "Brazilian Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 34 (2): 227–232, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001756
  • Booij, Geert (1999), The phonology of Dutch, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-823869-X
  • Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003) [First published 1981], The Phonetics of English and Dutch (5th ed.), Leiden: Brill Publishers, ISBN 9004103406
  • Cruz-Ferreira, Madalena (1995), "European Portuguese", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25 (2): 90–94, doi:10.1017/S0025100300005223, S2CID 249414876
  • Gussenhoven, Carlos; Aarts, Flor (1999), "The dialect of Maastricht" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, University of Nijmegen, Centre for Language Studies, 29 (2): 155–166, doi:10.1017/S0025100300006526, S2CID 145782045
  • Hualde, José Ignacio (1991), Basque phonology, New York: Routledge, ISBN 9780203168004
  • Kachru, Yamuna (2006), Hindi, John Benjamins Publishing, ISBN 90-272-3812-X
  • Krech, Eva Maria; Stock, Eberhard; Hirschfeld, Ursula; Anders, Lutz-Christian (2009), Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch, Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3-11-018202-6
  • Landau, Ernestina; Lončarić, Mijo; Horga, Damir; Škarić, Ivo (1999), "Croatian", Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 66–69, ISBN 0-521-65236-7
  • Mateus, Maria Helena; d'Andrade, Ernesto (2000), The Phonology of Portuguese, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-823581-X
  • Nowikow, Wieczysław (2012) [First published 1992], Fonetyka hiszpańska (3rd ed.), Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, ISBN 978-83-01-16856-8
  • Okada, Hideo (1999), "Japanese", in International Phonetic Association (ed.), Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet, Cambridge University Press, pp. 117–119, ISBN 978-0-52163751-0
  • Peters, Jörg (2006), "The dialect of Hasselt", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (1): 117–124, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002428
  • Pop, Sever (1938), Micul Atlas Linguistic Român, Muzeul Limbii Române Cluj
  • Quilis, Antonio (1981), Fonética acústica de la lengua española, Gredos, ISBN 9788424901325
  • Shosted, Ryan K.; Chikovani, Vakhtang (2006), "Standard Georgian" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 36 (2): 255–264, doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659
  • Sjoberg, Andrée F. (1963), Uzbek Structural Grammar, Uralic and Altaic Series, vol. 18, Bloomington: Indiana University
  • Thompson, Laurence (1959), "Saigon phonemics", Language, 35 (3): 454–476, doi:10.2307/411232, JSTOR 411232
  • Vanvik, Arne (1979), Norsk fonetikk, Oslo: Universitetet i Oslo, ISBN 82-990584-0-6
  • Verhoeven, Jo (2005), "Belgian Standard Dutch", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 35 (2): 243–247, doi:10.1017/S0025100305002173
  • Watson, Janet C. E. (2002), The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic, New York: Oxford University Press
  • Wheeler, Max W (2005), The Phonology Of Catalan, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-925814-7

External links

International Phonetic Alphabet (chart)
Categories