Velar stop

phonetics Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...

and

phonology Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...

, a velar stop is a type of consonantal sound, made with the back of the tongue in contact with the

soft palate The soft palate (also known as the velum, palatal velum, or muscular palate) is, in mammals, the soft tissue constituting the back of the roof of the mouth. The soft palate is part of the palate of the mouth; the other part is the hard palat ...

(also known as the velum, hence

velar Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth (known also as the velum). Since the velar region of the roof of the mouth is relatively extensive a ...

), held tightly enough to block the passage of air (hence a

stop consonant In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or simply a stop, is a pulmonic consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases. The occlusion may be made with the tongue tip or blade (, ), tongue body (, ), li ...

). The most common sounds are the stops and , as in English ''cut'' and ''gut''. More generally, several kinds are distinguished: * , voiceless velar plosive * ,

voiced velar plosive The voiced velar plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. Some languages have the voiced pre-velar plosive, which is articulated slightly more front compared with the place of articulation of the prototyp ...

* , voiced velar nasal * , voiceless velar nasal * , velar ejective * , voiced velar implosive (rare) * or ,

voiceless velar implosive A voiceless velar implosive is a rare consonantal sound, used in some oral languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primaril ...

(unattested in normal words; some English speakers use it to imitate the " glug-glug" sound of liquid being poured from a bottle) {{IPA navigation Velar consonants Plosives