Voiceless uvular plosive

Voiceless uvular plosive
q
IPA Number111
Audio sample
Encoding
Entity (decimal)q
Unicode (hex)U+0071
X-SAMPAq
Braille⠟ (braille pattern dots-12345)

The 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, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is q.

There is also the voiceless pre-uvular plosive[1] in some languages, which is articulated slightly more front compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical uvular consonant, though not as front as the prototypical velar consonant. The International Phonetic Alphabet does not have a separate symbol for that sound, though it can be transcribed as or (both symbols denote an advanced q) or (retracted k). The equivalent X-SAMPA symbols are q_+ and k_-, respectively.

Features

Features of the 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, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant 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 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 abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Abaza хъацӀа/kh"atsḥa [qat͡sʼa] 'man'
Adyghe атакъэ/ataq"ė [ataːqa] 'rooster'
Aleut[2] ҟи́гаҟъ / qiighax̂ [qiːɣaχ] 'grass'
Arabic Modern Standard[3] قط/qiṭṭ [qitˤː] 'cat' See Arabic phonology
Hejazi قِمَّة/qimma [qɪmːa] 'peak' Allophone of /g/. See Hejazi Arabic phonology
Gulf[4] غداً/ghadān [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/kh"àl [qaːl] 'human skin'
Avá-Canoeiro[5] [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.[5]
Bashkir ҡаҙ / q [qɑð] 'goose'
Chechen кхоъ / qo’ [qɔʔ] 'three'
Chukchi Нычымйыӄэн [nət͡ʃəmjəqen] 'bitter'
Dawsahak [qoq] 'dry'
English Australian[6] caught [ḵʰoːt] 'caught' Pre-uvular; allophone of /k/ before ɔ ʊə/.[6] See Australian English phonology
Multicultural London[7][8] cut [qʌt] 'cut' Allophone of /k/ before non-high back vowels.[8][9]
Non-local Dublin[10] back [bɑq] 'back' Allophone of /k/ after a retracted vowel for some speakers.[10]
Eyak u.jih [quːtʃih] 'wolf'
German Chemnitz dialect[11] Rock [qɔkʰ] 'skirt' In free variation with [ʁ̞], [ʁ], [χ] and [ʀ̥].[11] Does not occur in the coda.[11]
Greenlandic illoqarpoq [iɬːoqɑppɔq] 'he has a house' See Greenlandic phonology
Hebrew Biblical קול/qol [qol] 'voice' See Biblical Hebrew phonology
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[12][13][14]
Urdu بَرق/barq
Inuktitut ᐃᐦᐃᑉᕆᐅᖅᑐᖅ / ihipqiuqtuq [ihipɢiuqtuq] 'explore' See Inuit phonology
Iraqw qeet [qeːt] 'break'
Kabardian къэбэрдей/k"ėbėrdey [qabardej] 'Kabardian'
Kabyle ⵜⴰⴲⴰⵢⵍⵉⵜ [taqβæjliθ] 'Kabyle language' May be voiced [ɢ].
taqbaylit
ثاقبيليث
Kavalan qaqa [qaqa] 'elder brother'
Kazakh Қазақстан/Qazaqstan [qɑzɑqˈstɑn] 'Kazakhstan' An allophone of /k/ before back vowels
Kurdish Sorani قوتابخانە/qutabxane [qutɑbxɑnə] 'School' An allophone of /k/ before back vowels
Kurmanji Qalikdar [qɑlɯkdɑr] 'crustacean' An allophone of /k/ before back vowels
Kyrgyz Кыргызстан/Qırğızstan [qɯrʁɯsˈstɑn] 'Kyrgyzstan' An allophone of /k/ before back vowels
Ket қан [qan] 'begin'
Klallam qəmtəm [qəmtəm] 'iron'
Kutenai qaykiťwu [qajkitʼwu] 'nine'
Lishan Didan Urmi Dialect אקלא/aqla [aqlɑ] 'foot, leg'
Maltese Archaic Cottonera Dialect qattus [qɐˈtːuːs] 'cat'
Malto क़ा [qa:n] 'eye' Corresponds to /x/ in other North Dravidian languages.
Nez Perce ʔaw̓líwaaʔinpqawtaca [ʔawˀɪlwaːʔinpqawtat͡sa] 'I go to scoop him up in the fire'
Nivkh тяқр̆/tyaqrh [tʲaqr̥] 'three'
Ossetian Iron Дзæуджыхъæу/dzæudžiq"æu [ˈzə̹ʊ̯d͡ʒɪ̈qə̹ʊ̯] 'Vladikavkaz'
Persian Early New Persian قَاشُق / qāšuq */qaːʃuq/ 'spoon' May be allophonicly voiced to [ɢ] before a voiced stop. See Persian phonology.
Dari standard [qɑːˈʃʊq]
Tajik standard қошуқ / qošuq [qɔʃuq]
Some Iranian speakers قورباغه / qurbaġe [qurbɒɣe] 'frog' In Western Iranian dialects /q/ and /ɣ/ have merged into /ɢ/. Though some dialects in eastern Iran may preserve the distinction in some words. See Persian phonology.
Quechua[15] qallu [qaʎu] 'tongue'
Sahaptin qu [qu] 'heavy'
Seediq Seediq [ˈseˈʔediq] 'Seediq'
Seereer-Siin[16] [example needed]
Shor қам [qɑm] 'shaman'
Somali qaab [qaːb] 'shape' See Somali phonology
St’át’imcets teq [təq] 'to touch'
Tlingit ghagw [qɐ́kʷ] 'tree spine' Tlingit contrasts six different uvular stops
Tsimshian gwildma̱p'a [ɡʷildmqɑpʼa] 'tobacco'
Turkmen ak [ɑ:q] 'white' Allophone of /k/ next to back vowels
Ubykh [qʰɜ] 'grave' One of ten distinct uvular stop phonemes. See Ubykh phonology
Uyghur ئاق / aq [ɑq] 'white'
Uzbek[17] qo'l [q̟oɫ] 'arm' Pre-uvular; sometimes realized as an affricate [q͡χ˖].[17]
Western Neo-Aramaic Bakh'a [example needed] Pre-uvular, though in Ma'loula it is slightly more front.
Ma'loula [example needed]
Yup'ik meq [məq] 'fresh water'
Yukaghir Northern маарх/maarq [maːrq] 'one'
Southern атахл/ataql [ataql] 'two'
!Xóõ ǀqháá [ǀ͡qʰɑ́ː] 'to smooth'

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Instead of "pre-uvular", it can be called "advanced uvular", "fronted uvular", "post-velar", "retracted velar" or "backed velar". For simplicity, this article uses only the term "pre-uvular".
  2. ^ Ladefoged (2005), p. 165.
  3. ^ Watson (2002), p. 13.
  4. ^ Qafisheh (1977), p. 266.
  5. ^ a b Silva (2015), p. 39.
  6. ^ a b Mannell, Cox & Harrington (2009).
  7. ^ Torgersen, Kerswill & Fox (2007).
  8. ^ a b "John Wells's phonetic blog: k-backing". 27 July 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  9. ^ Cheshire, Jenny; Kerswill, Paul; Fox, Sue; Torgersen, Eivind (2011-04-01). "Contact, the feature pool and the speech community: The emergence of Multicultural London English" (PDF). Journal of Sociolinguistics. 15 (2): 151–196. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9841.2011.00478.x. ISSN 1467-9841. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 March 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  10. ^ a b "Glossary". Retrieved 10 February 2015.
  11. ^ a b c Khan & Weise (2013), p. 235.
  12. ^ Shapiro, Michael C. (1989). A Primer of Modern Standard Hindi. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 20. ISBN 978-81-208-0508-8. In addition to the basic consonantal sounds discussed in sections 3.1 and 3.2, many speakers use any or all five additional consonants (क़ , ख़ ḳh,ग़ ġ, ज़ z, फ़ f) in words of foreign origin (primarily from Persian, Arabic, English, and Portuguese). The last two of these, ज़ z and फ़ f, are the initial sounds in English zig and fig respectively. The consonant क़ is a voiceless uvular stop, somewhat like k, but pronounced further back in the mouth. ख़ ḳh is a voiceless fricative similar in pronunciation to the final sound of the German ach. ग़ ġ is generally pronounced as a voiceless uvular fricative, although it is occasionally heard as a stop rather than a fricative. In devanāgari each of these five sounds is represented by the use of a subscript dot under one of the basic consonant signs. In practice, however, the dot is often omitted, leaving it to the reader to render the correct pronunciation on the basis of his prior knowledge of the language.
  13. ^ Morelli, Sarah (20 December 2019). A Guru's Journey: Pandit Chitresh Das and Indian Classical Dance in Diaspora. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-05172-2. Hindi has a nasal sound roughly equivalent to the n in the English sang, transliterated here as or , and has two slightly differing sh sounds, transliterated as ś and . ... A few words contain consonants…from Arabic, Persian, Portuguese, and English: क़ (ق) is transliterated as q, ख़ (خ) as kh, ग़ (غ) as g, ज़ (ظ ,ز, or ض) as z, झ़ (ژ) as zh, and फ़ (ف) as f.
  14. ^ Kulshreshtha, Manisha; Mathur, Ramkumar (24 March 2012). Dialect Accent Features for Establishing Speaker Identity: A Case Study. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 19. ISBN 978-1-4614-1137-6. A few sounds, borrowed from the other languages like Persian and Arabic, are written with a dot (bindu or nukta) as shown in Table 2.2. …those who come from rural backgrounds and do not speak really good Khariboli, pronounce these sounds as the nearest equivalents in Hindi.
  15. ^ Ladefoged (2005), p. 149.
  16. ^ Mc Laughlin (2005), p. 203.
  17. ^ a b Sjoberg (1963), p. 11.

References

  • Khan, Sameer ud Dowla; Weise, Constanze (2013), "Upper Saxon (Chemnitz dialect)" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 43 (2): 231–241, doi:10.1017/S0025100313000145
  • Ladefoged, Peter (2005), Vowels and Consonants (2nd ed.), Blackwell, ISBN 9781405124591
  • Mannell, R.; Cox, F.; Harrington, J. (2009), An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology, Macquarie University
  • Qafisheh, Hamdi A. (1977), A short reference grammar of Gulf Arabic, Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, ISBN 0-8165-0570-5
  • Mc Laughlin, Fiona (2005), "Voiceless implosives in Seereer-Siin", Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 35 (2): 201–214, doi:10.1017/S0025100305002215, S2CID 145717014
  • Silva, Ariel Pheula do Couto e (2015). "Elementos de fonologia, morfossintaxe e sintaxe da língua Avá-Canoeiro do Tocantins" (Master's dissertation). University of Brasília. doi:10.26512/2015.03.D.18519. hdl:10482/18519. Archived from the original on 2018-06-04.
  • Sjoberg, Andrée F. (1963), Uzbek Structural Grammar, Uralic and Altaic Series, vol. 18, Bloomington: Indiana University
  • Torgersen, Eivind; Kerswill, Paul; Fox, Susan (2007). Phonological innovation in London teenage speech (PDF). 4th Conference on Language Variation in Europe. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-01-31.
  • Watson, Janet C. E. (2002), The Phonology and Morphology of Arabic, The Phonology of the World's Languages, New York: Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780199257591

External links

  • List of languages with [q] on PHOIBLE
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Voiceless_uvular_plosive&oldid=1209985189"