Voiced velar fricative

"ɣ (IPA)" redirects here. For consonants followed by superscript ˠ, see Velarization. For the Greek letter gamma, see Gamma.

The voiced velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound that is used in various spoken languages. It is not found in most varieties of 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.

Voiced velar fricative
ɣ
IPA number	141
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
Entity (decimal)	ɣ
Unicode (hex)	U+0263
X-SAMPA	G
Braille
Image

Voiced velar tapped fricative
ɡ̞̆
ɣ̆

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.

A voiced velar tapped fricative has been reported in Dàgáárè, which is a previously unattested sound in human language.

Features

Features of the voiced velar fricative:

• Its manner of articulation is fricative, which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a narrow channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence.
• 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.
• 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.

Occurrence

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

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abaza		бгъьы/bğë	[bɣʲə]	'leaf'
Adyghe		чъыгы/čëğë	[t͡ʂəɣə]ⓘ	'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/ğarīb	[ɣæˈriːb]ⓘ	'strange'	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/oğul
Basque[5]		hego	[heɣo]	'wing'	Allophone of /ɡ/
Belarusian		галава/ğalava	[ɣalaˈva]	'head'
Catalan[6]		agrat	[əˈɣɾat]	'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 / ğala	[ɣaːla]	'town'
Czech		bych byl	[bɪɣ bɪl]	'I would be'	Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants. See Czech phonology. Occurs only in few Moravian dialects and even there it is rather /ɦ/
Dàgáárè		[pɔ́ɣ̆ɔ́]		'woman'	May be a velar with strong tap-like features.[7]
Dinka		ɣo	[ɣo]	'us'
Dogrib		weqa[clarification needed]	[weɣa]	'for'
Dutch	Standard Belgian[8][9]	gaan	[ɣaːn]	'to go'	May be post-palatal [ʝ̠] instead.[9] See Dutch phonology
	Southern accents[9]
English	Scouse	grass	[ɣrɑ:s]	'grass'	Allophone of /g/. See British English phonology[10]
	Northumbrian	[example needed]			Burr[11]
Georgian[12]		ღარიბი/ğaribi	[ɣɑribi]	'poor'	May actually be post-velar or uvular
German[13][14]	Austrian	damalige	[ˈdaːmaːlɪɣə]	'former'	Intervocalic allophone of /ɡ/ or /r/ in casual speech.[13][14][15] See Standard German phonology
Ghari		cheghe	[tʃeɣe]	'five'
Greek		γάλα/gála	[ˈɣala]	'milk'	See Modern Greek phonology
Gujarati		વાઘણ/vağaŕn	[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	Classical	מִגְדָּל/miğdol	[miɣdɔl]	'[a] tower'
	Some Modern speakers (usually with a difficulty pronouncing [ʁ])	שׁוֹמֵר/shomer	[ʃo̞ˈme̞ɣ]	'[a male] guard', '[he] guards'	[ʃo̞ˈme̞ʁ] by other Modern speakers
Hindustani	Hindi[16]	ग़रीब/garib	[ɣ̄əriːb]ⓘ	'poor'	Post-velar,[16] conservative Hindi speakers usually replace it with /g/. See Hindustani phonology
	Urdu	غریب/gharib
Icelandic		saga	[ˈsaːɣa]	'saga'	See Icelandic phonology
Irish		a dhorn	[ə ɣoːɾˠn̪ˠ]	'his fist'	See Irish phonology
Istro-Romanian[17]		gură	[ˈɣurə]	'mouth'	Corresponds to [ɡ][in which environments?] in standard Romanian. See Romanian phonology
Iwaidja		[mulaɣa]		'hermit crab'
Japanese[18]		はげ/hage	[haɣe]	'baldness'	Allophone of /ɡ/, especially in fast or casual speech. See Japanese phonology
Judeo-Spanish		gato	[ˈɣ̞ato̪][19]	'cat'
	Haketia	gher	[ɣeɾ]	'only'	appears as a phoneme in words from Arabic[20]
Kabardian		гын/gyn	[ɣən]ⓘ	'powder'
Komering		harong	[haɣoŋ]	'charcoal'
Lezgian		гъел/ğel	[ɣel]	'sleigh'
Lhaovo	Dago’	qid	[ɣìt]	'water'
	Yunnan		[ɣək˧˩]
Limburgish[21][22]		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[23]		gaan	[ˈɣɔ̃ːn]	'to go'	Increasingly replaced with High German [ɡ]
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
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]
Mandarin Chinese	Central Mandarin (Dongping dialect)	俺/ngǎn	[ɣän˥]	'I'
Mi'kmaq		nisaqan	[nisaɣan]	'weir'	Allophone of /x/ between sonorants. See Mi'kmaq language § Phonology.
Navajo		’aghá	[ʔaɣa]	'best'
Neapolitan	Central Lucanian (Accettura dialect)	chiahäte	[kjaˈɣɜ tə][24]	'wounded'	Corresponds to /g/ in Standard Italian. The example "chiahäte" translates to "piagato" in Italian.
Nepali		कागज/kağdz	[käɣʌ(d)z]	'paper'	Allophone of /ɡ/ and /ɡʱ/ in intervocalic positions. See Nepali phonology
Ngwe	Mmockngie dialect		[nøɣə̀]	'sun'
Northern Qiang		hhnesh	[ɣnəʂ]	'February'
Norwegian	Urban East[25]	å ha	[ɔ ˈɣɑː]	'to have'	Possible allophone of /h/ between two back vowels; can be voiceless [x] instead.[25] See Norwegian phonology
Occitan	Gascon	digoc	[diˈɣuk]	'said' (3rd pers. sg.)
Okanagan		ɣəɣicɣc	[ɣəɣitʃɣtʃ]	'Sparrow hawk'
Pashto		غاتر/ğatër	[ɣɑtər]	'mule'
Pela		[ɣɔ˥]		'to rain'
Persian		باغ/bāq	[bɒːɣ]	'garden'
Polish		niechże	[ˈɲɛɣʐɛ]	'let' (imperative particle)	Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants. See Polish phonology
Portuguese	European[26][27]	agora	[ɐˈɣɔɾɐ]	'now'	Allophone of /ɡ/. See Portuguese phonology
	Some Brazilian dialects[28]	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/carib	[ɣ̄əriːb]	'poor'	Less frequent in Gurmukhi varieties where it may be replaced by /ɡ/.
	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 / goroh že	[ɡʌˈroɣ ʐe]	'the peas'	Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants.[29]
Sakha		аҕа/ağa	[aɣa]	'father'
Sardinian	Nuorese dialect	súghere	[ˈsuɣɛrɛ]	'to suck'	Allophone of /ɡ/
Scottish Gaelic		laghail	[ɫ̪ɤɣal]	'lawful'	More advanced than other velars. See Scottish Gaelic phonology
Serbo-Croatian[30]		ovih bi	[ǒ̞ʋiɣ bi]	'of these would'	Allophone of /x/ before voiced consonants.[30] See Serbo-Croatian phonology
S'gaw Karen		ဂ့ၤ/ghei	[ɣei]	'good'
Sindhi		غم/camu	[ɣəmʊ]	'sadness'
Slovene	Standard	h gori	[ˈɣ‿ɡɔ̀ːɾí]	'to the mountain'	Allophone of /x/ before voiced obstruents. See Slovene phonology
	Some dialects	gajba	[ˈɣáːjbà]	'crate'	Corresponds to /ɡ/ in Standard Slovene. See Slovene phonology
Spanish		amigo	[a̠ˈmiɣo̟]	'friend'	Ranges from close fricative to approximant.[31] Allophone of /ɡ/, see Spanish phonology
	Standard European[32]	Predrag	[ˈpɾe̞ð̞ɾäɣ̞̊]	'Predrag'	Also described as an approximant. Allophone of /ɡ/ before a pause.[32] 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.[33] Here also /∅/ in Kalix.
Tadaksahak		zog	[zoɣ]	'war'
Tajik		ғафс/cafs	[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		чахохбі́лі	[tʃɐxoɣˈbil⁽ʲ⁾i]	‘chakhokhbili’	Occurs in specific rare cases only.
Uzbek[34]		ёмғир / yomgʻir/yamğır	[ʝɒ̜mˈʁ̟ɨɾ̪]	'rain'	Post-velar.[34]
Vietnamese[35]		ghế	[ɣe˧˥]	'chair'	See Vietnamese phonology
West Frisian		drage	[ˈdraːɣə]	'to carry'	Never occurs in word-initial positions.
Wu Chinese	Northern Wu (Jinsha variety [zh])	合	[ɣuoʔ˨˦]	'to join'
Xiang Chinese	Old Xiang (Loudi variety [zh])	湖南	[ɣu˩˧nia˩˧]	'Hunan (province)'
Yi		ꊋ/we	[ɣɤ˧]	'win'
Zhuang		Lwg roegbit	[lɯ˧ ɣo˧pi˥]	'Wild duckling'

See also

• Index of phonetics articles
• Voiceless velar fricative
• Guttural