Voiceless velar nasal

Voiceless velar nasal
ŋ̊

The voiceless velar nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ŋ̊⟩, a combination of the letter for the voiced velar nasal and a diacritic indicating voicelessness. (For reasons of legibility, the ring is usually placed above the letter, rather than regular ⟨ŋ̥⟩). The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is N_0.

Features

Features of the voiceless velar nasal:

• Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Because the consonant is also nasal, the blocked airflow is redirected through the nose.

• Its place of articulation is velar, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue at the soft palate.

• Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.

• It is a nasal consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the nose, either exclusively (nasal stops) or in addition to through the mouth.

• Because the sound is not produced with airflow over the tongue, the central–lateral dichotomy does not apply.

• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Burmese[1]		ငှါး	[ŋ̊á]	'borrow'
Central Alaskan Yup'ik[2]		calisteńguciquq	[tʃaˈlistəˈŋ̊utʃɪquq]	'he will be a worker'
Faroese[3]		onkur	[ˈɔŋ̊kʰʊɹ]	'anybody'	Allophone of /n/ before an aspirated velar.
Welsh[4]		fy nghot	[və ŋ̊ɔt]	'my coat'	See Welsh phonology
Xumi	Lower[5]	[^EPŋ̊ɑmõ]		'camel'	Occurs mostly in loanwords from Tibetan.[5]

See also

• Index of phonetics articles

References

1. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996), p. 111.
2. Jacobson (1995), p. 3.
3. Þráinsson et al. (2012).
4. Jones (1984), p. 51.
5. Chirkova & Chen (2013), pp. 365, 367.

Bibliography

• Chirkova, Katia; Chen, Yiya (2013), "Xumi, Part 1: Lower Xumi, the Variety of the Lower and Middle Reaches of the Shuiluo River" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association 43 (3): 363–379, doi:10.1017/S0025100313000157
• Jacobson, Steven (1995), A Practical Grammar of the Central Alaskan Yup'ik Eskimo Language, Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center, ISBN 978-1-55500-050-9
• Jones, Glyn E. (1984), "The distinctive vowels and consonants of Welsh", in Martin J. Ball and Glyn E. Jones, Welsh Phonology: Selected Readings, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, pp. 40–64, ISBN 0-7083-0861-9
• Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19814-8.
• Þráinsson, Höskuldur; Petersen, Hjalmar P.; Jacobsen, Jógvan í Lon; Hansen, Zakaris Svabo (2012), Faroese – An Overview and Reference Grammar, Tórshavn: Føroya fróðskaparfelag, ISBN 9789991841854