The voiced velar tap is a type of consonantal sound, reported to occur in some spoken languages. There is no dedicated symbol for this sound in the IPA. As it is a very brief g-like sound, it can be specified by adding a 'short' diacritic to the letter for the voiced velar plosive, ⟨ɡ̆⟩.

The velar tap is not known to exist as a phoneme in any language. It has been reported to occur allophonically in some of the Nuristani languages and in Dàgáárè, though at least in the latter case this may in fact be a voiced palatal tap.^[1]

Features

Features of the voiced velar tap or flap:

• Its manner of articulation is tap or flap, which means it is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator (usually the tongue) is thrown against another.
• 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 voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
• 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.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the intercostal muscles and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence