ɢ vs q

Voiced Uvular Stop vs Voiceless Uvular Stop

How these sounds differ

Voiced Uvular Stop

Voicing: voiced
Place: uvular
Manner: stop
Class: consonant
In languages: 14 / 500

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Voiceless Uvular Stop

Voicing: voiceless
Place: uvular
Manner: stop
Class: consonant
In languages: 58 / 500

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Cross-linguistic distribution

Languages with ɢ

Languages with both

Languages with q

4 languages in our database contrast both sounds as distinct phonemes. Languages that have one but not the other tend to merge them into a single phoneme — meaning speakers of those languages often struggle to hear the distinction when learning a language that contrasts them.

Has ɢ, not q (10)

RUTUL Nakh-Daghestanian EYAK Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit KLAMATH Language isolate Lak Nakh-Daghestanian Kunimaipa Kunimaipan Kwakiutl Wakashan Persian Indo-European AHTNA Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit Somali Afro-Asiatic Mongolian Mongolic-Khitan

Has q, not ɢ (20)

Moroccan Arabic Afro-Asiatic Iraqw Afro-Asiatic Aymara Aymaran Quechua Quechuan Hopi Uto-Aztecan Digueno Cochimi-Yuman Pomo Pomoan Totonac Totonacan Nootka Wakashan Salish Salishan Squamish Salishan Haida Haida Hupa Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit Ket Yeniseian Kabardian Abkhaz-Adyge Lahu Sino-Tibetan Atayal Austronesian Aleut Eskimo-Aleut Inuit Eskimo-Aleut Tundra Yukaghir Yukaghir