Voiced velar affricate

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 may be omitted, yielding ⟨ɡɣ⟩ in the IPA and gG in X-SAMPA.

Voiced velar affricate
ɡɣ
IPA number	110 141
Audio sample
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Encoding
X-SAMPA	g_G

The voiced velar affricate has not been reported to occur phonemically in any language, but it is reported as an allophone of /g/ (usually realized as a voiced velar plosive) in some dialects of Anglo-English.

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 (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 that air is exclusively allowed to escape through the mouth.
• 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 intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
English	Broad Cockney[1]	good	[ˈɡ͡ɣʊˑd̥]	'good'	Occasional allophone of /ɡ/.[2][3] See English phonology
	Received Pronunciation[3]
	Scouse[4]				Possible syllable-initial and word-final allophone of /ɡ/.[4] See English phonology
Slovene		sikh gre	[ˈs̪îːɡ͡ɣ ˈɡɾěː]	'Sikh goes'	Allophone of /k͡x/ before voiced obstruents. See Slovene phonology