ɡʱ vs k

Voiced Velar Stop vs Voiceless Velar Stop

How these sounds differ

ɡʱ

Voiced Velar Stop

Voicing: voiced
Place: velar
Manner: stop
Class: consonant
In languages: 13 / 500

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Voiceless Velar Stop

Voicing: voiceless
Place: velar
Manner: stop
Class: consonant
In languages: 444 / 500

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Cross-linguistic distribution

Languages with ɡʱ

Languages with both

444

Languages with k

13 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 k, not ɡʱ (20)

Western Desert Pama-Nyungan Kaliai Austronesian Iai Austronesian Chamorro Austronesian Sa'ban Austronesian Toba-Batak Austronesian Malagasy Austronesian Atayal Austronesian Cham Austronesian Yay Tai-Kadai Lakkia Tai-Kadai Dafla Sino-Tibetan Karen Sino-Tibetan Lahu Sino-Tibetan Yao Hmong-Mien Hakka Chinese Sino-Tibetan SEDANG Austroasiatic Kota Dravidian Burushaski Language isolate Nyangumata Pama-Nyungan