ɡʲ vs k

Voiced Velar Stop vs Voiceless Velar Stop

How these sounds differ

ɡʲ

Voiced Velar Stop

Voicing: voiced
Place: velar
Manner: stop
Class: consonant
In languages: 11 / 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 ɡʲ

Languages with both

444

Languages with k

8 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 ɡʲ, not k (3)

IRISH Indo-European Bulgarian Indo-European Mongolian Mongolic-Khitan

Has k, not ɡʲ (20)

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