Voiced velar tap

Voiced velar tap
ɡ̆
Audio sample
Entity (decimal)
N/A
Unicode (hex)
U+0261 U+0306

The voiced velar tap is a rare type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages.

IPA convention

The International Phonetic Alphabet does not have a dedicated symbol for this sound, as it is deemed impossible on the IPA chart (where areas for impossible articulations are shaded gray), but the Kiel Convention of the IPA recommended that for taps and flaps where no independent symbol is provided, a homorganic consonant, such as a stop or trill, should be used with a breve diacritic:

"Tap or flaps: where no independent symbol for a tap is provided, the breve diacritic should be used, e.g. [ʀ̆] or [n̆]."^[6]

So, following the conventions of the IPA, it can be represented by the voiced velar stop with a breve diacritic: [ɡ̆].

Features

Features of the voiced velar tap:

• Its manner of articulation is tap or flap, which means it is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator (in this case the back of the tongue) is thrown against another (the soft palate).
• Its place of articulation is velar, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) 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.
• Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Though deemed "impossible" on the IPA chart, a velar tap has been reported to occur allophonically in the Kamviri dialect of the Kamkata-vari language^[1] and in Dàgáárè^[2][3], though at least in the latter case this may in fact be a palatal tap. A recent study has also identified a voiced velar tapped fricative in Dàgáárè, which was previously unattested in human language.^[4]

The rarity of the velar tap is explained by the physical limitations of the articulators: like a velar trill, a central velar flap or tap is difficult to produce because the tongue and soft palate cannot move together easily enough to produce the sound.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• While a voiced velar central tap is considered extremely rare, a voiced velar lateral tap has been documented as an allophone in some languages of New Guinea, such as Kanite and Melpa. The extremely short duration of the [ʟ] in intervocalic position (20–30 ms) warrants calling it a tap, according to Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996).^[5]

• Voiced alveolar tap
• Labiodental flap
• List of phonetics topics

References

1. Grimes, B. (2000). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (14th ed.). SIL International.
2. Akinbo, Samuel; Angsongna, Alexander; Ozburn, Avery; Schellenberg, Murray; Pulleyblank, Douglas (2022). "Dàgáárè (Central)". In Sibanda, Galen; Ngonyani, Deo; Choti, Jonathan; Biersteker, Ann (eds.). Descriptive and theoretical approaches to African linguistics: Selected papers from the 49th Annual Conference on African Linguistics. Berlin: Language Science Press. pp. 1–8. doi:10.5281/zenodo.6393732. ISBN 978-3-96110-369-3.
3. Angsongna, Alexander; Akinbo, Samuel (2022). "Dàgáárè (Central)". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 52 (2): 341–367. doi:10.1017/S0025100320000225. S2CID 243402135.
4. From an article on voiced velar fricative: "A voiced velar tapped fricative has been reported in Dàgáárè, which is a previously unattested sound in human language."
5. Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-631-19815-4.
6. International Phonetic Association (1999). Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the International Phonetic Alphabet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-65236-0.

External links

• IPA chart with sounds