Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Voiced velar affricate

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X-SAMPA
  
g_G

The voiced velar affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in very few spoken languages. The symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represent this sound are ⟨ɡ͡ɣ⟩ and ⟨ɡ͜ɣ⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is g_G. The tie bar is sometimes omitted, yielding ⟨ɡɣ⟩ in the IPA and gG in X-SAMPA. This is potentially problematic in case of at least some affricates, because there are languages that contrast certain affricates with stop-fricative sequences. Polish words czysta ('clean (f.)', pronounced with an affricate /t͡ʂ/) and trzysta ('three hundred', pronounced with a sequence /tʂ/) are an example of a minimal pair based on such a contrast.

The voiced velar affricate has not been reported to occur phonemically in any language.

Features

Features of the voiced velar affricate:

  • Its manner of articulation is affricate, which means it is produced by first stopping the airflow entirely, then allowing air flow through a constricted 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 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 lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

    • References

    Voiced velar affricate Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA