Uvular consonant

Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvular consonants are less common than velars. They may be plosives, fricatives, nasal stops, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not provide a separate symbol for the approximant, and the symbol for the voiced fricative is used instead.

The uvular consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:

IPA	Description	Example
IPA	Description	Language	Orthography	IPA	Meaning
Image:Xsampa-Nslash.png	uvular nasal	Japanese	日本 Nihon	[ni.hoɴ]	Japan
Image:Xsampa-q.png	voiceless uvular plosive	Mishnaic Hebrew	קוף qôph	[qoːɸ]	The letter qoph
Image:Xsampa-Gslash.png	voiced uvular plosive
Image:Xsampa-x2.png	voiceless uvular fricative
Image:Xsampa-R2.png	voiced uvular fricative	Parisian French	Paris	[pa.ˈʁi]	Paris
Image:Xsampa-Rslash.png	uvular trill
Image:IPA uvular ejective.png	uvular ejective
Image:Xsampa-Gslash lessthan.png	voiced uvular implosive

There are no uvular consonants in English. Uvular consonants are found in many African and Middle-Eastern languages, most notably Arabic, and in Native American languages. In parts of the Caucasus mountains and northwestern North America, nearly every language has uvular stops and fricatives. Two uvular R's are found in north-western Europe, where they spread from northern French.

The voiceless uvular plosive is transcribed as [q] in both the IPA and SAMPA. It is pronounced somewhat like the voiceless velar plosive [k], but with the middle of the tongue further back, against the uvula rather than the velum. The most familiar use will doubtless be in the transliteration of Arabic place names such as Qatar and Iraq into English, though, since English lacks this sound, this is generally pronounced as its nearest equivalent, [k].

[ɢ], the voiced equivalent of [q], is much rarer. It is like the voiced velar plosive [g], but articulated in the same uvular position as [q]. No widely used language uses this sound except some varieties of Persian.

The voiceless uvular fricative [χ] is similar to the voiceless velar fricative [x], except that it is articulated on the uvula. It is found instead of [x] in some dialects of German and Arabic.

The Tlingit language of the Alaskan Panhandle has ten uvular consonants:

tenuis plosive	qákʷ	tree spine
aspirated plosive	qʰákʷ	basket
ejective stop	qʼakʷ	screech owl
labialized tenuis plosive	náaqʷ	octopus
labialized aspirated plosive	qʷʰáan	people, tribe
labialized ejective stop	qʷʼátɬ	cooking pot
voiceless fricative	χaakʷ	fingernail
ejective fricative	χʼáakʷ	freshwater sockeye salmon
labialized voiceless fricative	χʷastáa	canvas, denim
labialized ejective fricative	χʷʼáaɬʼ	down (feathers)

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The Three Uvular Rs

The uvular trill [ʀ] is used in Parisian French, Portuguese, and certain dialects of Arabic for the letter <r>.

The voiced uvular fricative [ʁ] is common in northern Europe: it is found in many French dialects as the usual value of the letter R. It also occurs in several Germanic languages to varying extents. Modern Israeli Hebrew also use the voiced uvular fricative as an r. Though not a phoneme in French, a voiceless fricative is an allophone of [ʁ] in non-Parisian French when it follows one of the voiceless stops [p], [t], or [k], as in maître [mɛtχ].

See Uvular R for more examples of uvular sounds represented by <r>.

Several other languages, including Inuktitut and some varieties of Arabic, have a voiced uvular fricative but do not treat it as an r.

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Uvular consonant

The Three Uvular Rs

See also