Voiceless velar affricate

The voiceless velar affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbols in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound are ⟨k͡x⟩ and ⟨k͜x⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is k_x. The tie bar may be omitted, yielding ⟨kx⟩ in the IPA and kx in X-SAMPA.

Voiceless velar affricate
kx
IPA number	109 140
Audio sample
source · help
Encoding
X-SAMPA	k_x

Some languages have the voiceless pre-velar affricate,^[1] which is articulated slightly more front compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical voiceless velar affricate, though not as front as the prototypical voiceless palatal affricate - see that article for more information.

Conversely, some languages have the voiceless post-velar affricate,^[2] which is articulated slightly behind the place of articulation of the prototypical voiceless velar affricate, though not as back as the prototypical voiceless uvular affricate - see that article for more information.

Features

Features of the voiceless 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 voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.
• 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
Cimbrian	Luserna dialect	khes	[kxɛːʂ]	'cheese'
	Sette Comuni dialect	khèmman	[kxɛː.mɐn]	'to come'
Dutch	Orsmaal-Gussenhoven dialect[3]	blik	[ˈblɪk͡x]	'plate'	Optional pre-pausal allophone of /k/.[3]
Modern Greek	Ancient Greek borrowings[citation needed]	σάκχαρο	[ˈsak͡xaro]	'(blood) sugar'
English	Broad Cockney[4]	cab	[ˈk͡xɛˑb̥]	'cab'	Possible word-initial, intervocalic and word-final allophone of /k/.[5] See English phonology
	New Zealand[6]				Word-initial allophone of /k/.[6] See English phonology
	North Wales[7]		[ˈk͡xaˑb̥]		Word-initial and word-final allophone of /k/; in free variation with a strongly aspirated stop [kʰ].[7] See English phonology
	Received Pronunciation[8]				Occasional allophone of /k/.[8] See English phonology
	Scouse[9]				Possible syllable-initial and word-final allophone of /k/.[9] See English phonology
German	Standard Austrian[10]	Kübel	[ˈk͡xyːbœl]	'bucket'	Possible realization of /k/ before front vowels.[10] See Standard German phonology
	Bavarian dialects of Tyrol	Kchind	[ˈk͡xind̥]	'child'
	Swiss dialects and Alemannic of southern Baden-Württemberg	Sack	[z̥ɑk͡x]	'bag'	May be actually uvular [q͡χ] in some dialects.
Korean[11]		크다 (keuda)	[k͡xɯ̽da]	'big'	Allophone of /kʰ/ before /ɯ/.[11] See Korean phonology
Lakota		lakhóta	[laˈk͡xota]	'Lakota'	Allophone of /kʰ/ before /a/, /ã/, /o/, /ĩ/, and /ũ/.
Navajo		kǫʼ	[k͡xõʔ˩]	'fire'	Allophone of /kʰ/ before the back vowels /o, a/. See Navajo phonology
Slovene		sikh	[ˈs̪îːk͡x]	'Sikh'	Very rare, occurring only in loanwords. See Slovene phonology
Xhosa		[example needed]			Represented by <krh>. Contrasts /kʼ, kʰ, ɡ̊ʱ, kxʼ, kxʰ, x, ɣ̈/. See Xhosa phonology.
!Xóõ		[ǁ͡kxʼâã]		'grass'	Used in pulmonic-contour clicks.

See also

• Index of phonetics articles