Encyclopedia
Voiceless uvular plosive
Consonantal sound represented by ⟨q⟩ in IPA
A voiceless uvular plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. It is pronounced like a voiceless velar plosive [k], except that the tongue makes contact not on the soft palate but on the uvula. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨q⟩.
01Features
Features of a voiceless uvular 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, it is a plosive.
- Its place of articulation is uvular, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) at the uvula.
- 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 that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
- It is a median consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream down the midline of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
- Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air only with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most speech sounds.
02Occurrence
Uvular
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abaza | хъацӀа/qac’a | [qat͡sʼa] | 'man' | ||
| Adyghe | атакъэ/atáqa | [ataːqa]ⓘ | 'rooster' | ||
| Aleut | ԟи́гаԟъ/qiighax̂ | [qiːɣaχ] | 'grass' | ||
| Arabic | Modern Standard | قـط/qiṭṭ | [qitˤː]ⓘ | 'cat' | See Arabic phonology |
| Hejazi | قِـمَّة/qimma | [qɪmːa] | 'peak' | Allophone of /g/. See Hejazi Arabic phonology | |
| Gulf | غـداً/qaden | [qədæn] | 'tomorrow' | Corresponds to /ɣ/ in other dialects. | |
| Algerian | |||||
| Assyrian | ܩܐ/qa | [qa] | 'for' | Often realized as a tense /k/ rather than uvular /q/. | |
| Archi | хъал/q"ál | [qaːl] | 'human skin' | ||
| Avá-Canoeiro | [ˈqɔːtõ] | 'this' | Possible realisation of /k/. In the speech of people aged 40 to 80 years, the consonant is in free variation with [qˤ], [qʰ] and [k] in post-tonic or primarily or secondarily stressed syllables. | ||
| Bashkir | ҡаҙ/qađ | [qɑð]ⓘ | 'goose' | ||
| Chechen | кхоъ/qo’ | [qɔʔ] | 'three' | ||
| Chukchi | Нычымйыӄэн/nyčymjyḳèn | [nət͡ʃəmjəqen] | 'bitter' | ||
| Crimean Tatar | Къырым/Qırım | [qɯ.rɯm] | 'Crimea' | ||
| Dawsahak | [qoq] | 'dry' | |||
| English | Multicultural London | cut | [qʌt] | 'cut' | Allophone of /k/ before non-high back vowels. |
| Non-local Dublin | back | [bɑq] | 'back' | Allophone of /k/ after a retracted vowel for some speakers. | |
| Eyak | g̣u:jih | [qʊːtʃɪ̤] | 'wolf' | ||
| German | Chemnitz dialect | rau | [qaɵ̯] | 'rough' | In free variation with [ʁ̞], [ʁ], [ʁ̥] and [ʀ̥]. Does not occur in the coda. |
| Greenlandic | illoqarpoq | [iɬːoqɑppɔq] | 'he has a house' | See Greenlandic phonology | |
| Hebrew | Biblical | קול/qol | [qol] | 'voice' | See Biblical Hebrew phonology |
| Mizrahi | See Mizrahi Hebrew | ||||
| Shar'ab Temani | קול/qöl | [qøːl] | See Yemenite Hebrew | ||
| Hmong | White Hmong | 𖬆𖬰𖬦𖬵 / qub | [qu˦] | 'old', 'ancient', 'outdated' or 'archaic' | |
| Hungarian | korom | [qorom] | 'soot' | Possible allophone of ⟨/k/⟩ before back vowels. See Hungarian phonology | |
| Hindustani | Hindi | बर्क़ / barq | [bərq] | 'lightning' | Mostly in Hindi-Urdu loanwords from Arabic, pronounced mainly in Urdu and by educated Hindi speakers, with rural Hindi speakers often pronouncing it as a [k]. See Hindustani phonology |
| Urdu | بَرق / barq | ||||
| Ibaloi | kolpot | 'cloud' | |||
| Inuktitut | ᐃᐦᐃᑉᕆᐅᖅᑐᖅ/ihipqiuqtuq’ | [ihipɢiuqtuq] | 'explore' | See Inuit phonology | |
| Iraqw | qeet | [qeːt] | 'break' | ||
| Kabardian | къэбэрдей/qabardey | [qabardej]ⓘ | 'Kabardian' | ||
| Kabyle | ⵜⴰⵇⴲⴰⵢⵍⵉⵜ | [θɐqβæjlɪθ]ⓘ | 'Kabyle language' | May be voiced [ɢ]. | |
| taqbaylit | |||||
| ثاقـبيليث | |||||
| Kavalan | qaqa | [qaqa] | 'elder brother' | ||
| Kazakh | Қазақстан/Qazaqstan | [qɑzɑqˈstɑn] | 'Kazakhstan' | An allophone of /k/ before back vowels | |
| Ket | қан/qan | [qan] | 'begin' | ||
| Klallam | qəmtəm | [qəmtəm] | 'iron' | ||
| Kurdish | Sorani | قـوتابخانە/qutabxane | [qutɑbxɑnə] | 'School' | An allophone of /k/ before back vowels |
| Kurmanji | Qalikdar | [qɑlɯkdɑr] | 'crustacean' | An allophone of /k/ before back vowels | |
| Kutenai | qaykiťwu | [qajkitʼwu] | 'nine' | ||
| Kyrgyz | Кыргызстан/Qırğızstan | [qɯrʁɯsˈstɑn] | 'Kyrgyzstan' | An allophone of /k/ before back vowels | |
| Lishan Didan | Urmi Dialect | אקלא/aqla | [aqlɑ] | 'foot, leg' | |
| Maltese | Archaic Cottonera Dialect | qattus | [qɐˈtːuːs] | 'cat' | |
| Malto | क़ान/qán | [qa:n] | 'eye' | Corresponds to /x/ in other North Dravidian languages. See Malto language#Phonology. | |
| Nez Perce | ʔaw̓líwaaʔinpqawtaca | [ʔawˀɪlwaːʔinpqawtat͡sa] | 'I go to scoop him up in the fire' | ||
| Nivkh | тяқр̆/täqŕ | [tʲaqr̥] | 'three' | ||
| Ossetian | Iron | Дзæуджыхъæу/Dzæwĝyqæw | [ˈd͡zæwd͡ʒəqæw] | 'Vladikavkaz' | |
| Persian | Early New Persian | قَـاشُق/qaşuq | */qaːʃuq/ | 'spoon' | May be allophonicly voiced to [ɢ] before a voiced stop. See Persian phonology. |
| Dari standard | [qɑːˈʃʊq] | ||||
| Tajik standard | қошуқ/qoşuq | [qɔʃuq] | |||
| Some Iranian speakers | قـورباغه/qurbağe | [qurbɒɣe] | 'frog' | In Western Iranian dialects, /q/ is realized as /ɢ/, converging with /ɣ/ into a single phoneme. Though some dialects in eastern Iran may still realize the distinction in some words. See Persian phonology. | |
| Quechua | qallu | [qaʎu] | 'tongue' | ||
| Sahaptin | qu | [qu] | 'heavy' | ||
| Seediq | Seediq | [ˈseˈʔediq] | 'Seediq' | ||
| Seereer-Siin | , | , | |||
| Shor | қам/qam | [qɑm] | 'shaman' | ||
| Somali | qaab | [qaːb] | 'shape' | See Somali phonology | |
| St’át’imcets | teq | [təq] | 'to touch' | ||
| Tlingit | g̱agw | [qɐ́kʷ] | 'tree spine' | Tlingit contrasts six different uvular stops | |
| Tatar | кайдан/qaydan | [qɑj.dɑn] | 'from where?' | ||
| Tsimshian | gwildmḵa̱p'a | [ɡʷildmqɑpʼa] | 'tobacco' | ||
| Turkmen | ak | [ɑ:q] | 'white' | Allophone of /k/ next to back vowels | |
| Ubykh | qhë | [qʰɜ] | 'grave' | One of ten distinct uvular stop phonemes. See Ubykh phonology | |
| Uyghur | ئاق/aq | [ɑq] | 'white' | ||
| Yup'ik | meq | [məq] | 'fresh water' | ||
| Yukaghir | Northern | маарх/márq | [maːrq] | 'one' | |
| Southern | атахл/ataql | [ataql] | 'two' | ||
| !Xóõ | ǀqháá | [ǀ͡qʰɑ́ː]ⓘ | 'to smooth' | ||
Pre-uvular
| Voiceless post-velar or pre-uvular plosive | |
|---|---|
| q᫈ | |
| k̠ | |
| Audio sample | |
| source · help |
There is also a voiceless post-velar or pre-uvular plosive in some languages, which is more fronted compared to the prototypical uvular plosive, though further back than the prototypical velar plosive. The International Phonetic Alphabet does not have a separate symbol for that sound, though it can be transcribed as ⟨q̟⟩ or ⟨q᫈⟩ (both symbols denote an advanced ⟨q⟩) or ⟨k̠⟩ (a retracted ⟨k⟩).
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Australian | caught | [ḵʰoːt] | 'caught' | Allophone of /k/ before /ʊ, oː, ɔ, oɪ, ʊə/. See Australian English phonology |
| Uzbek | qol | [q̟oɫ] | 'arm' | Sometimes realized as an affricate [q͡χ˖]. | |
| Western Neo-Aramaic | Bakh'a | Pre-uvular, though in Ma'loula it is slightly more front (post-velar). | |||
| Ma'loula | |||||
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Voiceless uvular plosive”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- IPA Unicode 0x0071.svg by Kwamikagami, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Voiceless uvular plosive.svg by Tavin, Nardog, CC BY-SA 4.0
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