K (IPA)
| Voiceless velar stop | |
|---|---|
| k | |
| IPA number | 109 |
| Encoding | |
| Entity (decimal) | k |
| Unicode (hex) | U+006B |
| X-SAMPA | k |
| Kirshenbaum | k |
| Braille |  |
| Sound | |
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The voiceless velar stop or voiceless velar plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨k⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is k.
The [k] sound is a very common sound cross-linguistically. Most languages have at least a plain [k], and some distinguish more than one variety. Most Indo-Aryan languages, such as Hindi and Bengali, have a two-way contrast between aspirated and plain [k]. Only a few languages lack a voiceless velar stop, e.g. Tahitian.
Some languages have the voiceless pre-velar stop, which is articulated slightly more front compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical voiceless velar stop, though not as front as the prototypical voiceless palatal stop - see that article for more information.
Conversely, some languages have the voiceless post-velar stop, which is articulated slightly behind the place of articulation of the prototypical voiceless velar stop, though not as back as the prototypical voiceless uvular stop - see that article for more information.
Features of the voiceless velar stop:
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