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Velarization
 
 
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Velarization is a secondary articulation
Secondary articulation

Secondary articulation refers to co-articulated consonants where the two articulations are not of the same manner of articulation. The approximant consonant-like secondary articulation is weaker than the primary, and colors it rather than obscuring it....
 of consonant
Consonant

In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper vocal tract, the upper vocal tract being defined as that part of the vocal tract that lies above the larynx....
s by which the back of the tongue
Tongue

The tongue is skeletal muscle on the floor of the mouth that manipulates food for chewing . It is the primary organ of taste. Much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds....
 is raised toward the velum
Soft palate

The soft palate is the soft biological_tissue constituting the back of the roof of the mouth. The soft palate is distinguished from the hard palate at the front of the mouth in that it does not contain bone....
 during the articulation of the consonant. In the International Phonetic Alphabet
International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic....
, velarization is transcribed by one of three diacritics:
  1. A tilde
    Tilde

    The tilde is a grapheme with several uses. The name of the character comes from Spanish language, from the Latin wikt:titulus meaning a title or superscription, though the term ?tilde? has evolved in that language and now has a different meaning in Linguistics....
     or swung dash through the letter covers both velarization and pharyngealization, as in (the velarized equivalent of )
  2. A superscript gamma
    Gamma

    Gamma is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. It was derived from the Phoenician alphabet Gimel ....
     <> after the letter standing for the velarized consonant, as in (the velarized equivalent of )
  3. A superscript double-u <> indicates either simultaneous velarization and labialization, as in , or labialization of a velar consonant, as in .
Although electropalatographic studies have shown that there is a continuum of possible degrees of velarization, the IPA offers no way to indicate degrees of velarization, for this difference has not been found to be contrastive in any language.

The velarized alveolar lateral approximant
Velarized alveolar lateral approximant

The velarized alveolar lateral approximant, which may actually be pharyngealized, also known as dark l, is a type of consonantal sound, used in some Speech communication languages....
 (or dark l) of many accents
Accent (linguistics)

In linguistics, an accent is a manner of pronunciation of a language. Accents can be confused with dialects which are varieties of language differing in vocabulary, syntax, and morphology , as well as pronunciation....
 of English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
 is an example of a velarized consonant.

In many languages, including Irish
Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic languages of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people....
 and Russian
Russian language

Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe....
, velarized consonants contrast phonemically
Phoneme

In human language, a phoneme is the smallest posited linguistically distinctive unit of sound. Phonemes carry no semantic content themselves. In theoretical terms, phonemes are not the physical segment s themselves, but cognitive abstractions or categorizations of them....
 with palatalized
Palatalization

Palatalization or palatalisation generally refers to two phenomena:*As a process or the result of a process, the effect that front vowels and the palatal approximant frequently have on consonants;...
 consonants.






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Velarization is a secondary articulation
Secondary articulation

Secondary articulation refers to co-articulated consonants where the two articulations are not of the same manner of articulation. The approximant consonant-like secondary articulation is weaker than the primary, and colors it rather than obscuring it....
 of consonant
Consonant

In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the upper vocal tract, the upper vocal tract being defined as that part of the vocal tract that lies above the larynx....
s by which the back of the tongue
Tongue

The tongue is skeletal muscle on the floor of the mouth that manipulates food for chewing . It is the primary organ of taste. Much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds....
 is raised toward the velum
Soft palate

The soft palate is the soft biological_tissue constituting the back of the roof of the mouth. The soft palate is distinguished from the hard palate at the front of the mouth in that it does not contain bone....
 during the articulation of the consonant. In the International Phonetic Alphabet
International Phonetic Alphabet

The International Phonetic Alphabet "The acronym 'IPA' strictly refers [...] to the 'International Phonetic Association'. But it is now such a common practice to use the acronym also to refer to the alphabet itself that resistance seems pedantic....
, velarization is transcribed by one of three diacritics:
  1. A tilde
    Tilde

    The tilde is a grapheme with several uses. The name of the character comes from Spanish language, from the Latin wikt:titulus meaning a title or superscription, though the term ?tilde? has evolved in that language and now has a different meaning in Linguistics....
     or swung dash through the letter covers both velarization and pharyngealization, as in (the velarized equivalent of )
  2. A superscript gamma
    Gamma

    Gamma is the third letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals it has a value of 3. It was derived from the Phoenician alphabet Gimel ....
     <> after the letter standing for the velarized consonant, as in (the velarized equivalent of )
  3. A superscript double-u <> indicates either simultaneous velarization and labialization, as in , or labialization of a velar consonant, as in .
Although electropalatographic studies have shown that there is a continuum of possible degrees of velarization, the IPA offers no way to indicate degrees of velarization, for this difference has not been found to be contrastive in any language.

The velarized alveolar lateral approximant
Velarized alveolar lateral approximant

The velarized alveolar lateral approximant, which may actually be pharyngealized, also known as dark l, is a type of consonantal sound, used in some Speech communication languages....
 (or dark l) of many accents
Accent (linguistics)

In linguistics, an accent is a manner of pronunciation of a language. Accents can be confused with dialects which are varieties of language differing in vocabulary, syntax, and morphology , as well as pronunciation....
 of English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
 is an example of a velarized consonant.

In many languages, including Irish
Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic languages of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people....
 and Russian
Russian language

Russian is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, and the largest native language in Europe....
, velarized consonants contrast phonemically
Phoneme

In human language, a phoneme is the smallest posited linguistically distinctive unit of sound. Phonemes carry no semantic content themselves. In theoretical terms, phonemes are not the physical segment s themselves, but cognitive abstractions or categorizations of them....
 with palatalized
Palatalization

Palatalization or palatalisation generally refers to two phenomena:*As a process or the result of a process, the effect that front vowels and the palatal approximant frequently have on consonants;...
 consonants. The palatalized/velarized contrast is known by other names, especially in language pedagogy: in Irish language teaching, the terms slender (for palatalized) and broad (for velarized) are often used, while in Russian language teaching, the terms soft (for palatalized) and hard (for velarized) are usual. The terms light (for palatalized) and dark (for velarized) are also widespread. For many languages, velarization is generally associated with more dental articulations of coronal consonants so that dark l tends to be dental or dentoalveolar while clear l tends to be retracted to an alveolar position.

In some accents of English, such as Received Pronunciation
Received Pronunciation

Received Pronunciation is a form of pronunciation of the English language which has long been perceived as uniquely prestigious amongst British Accent ....
, the phoneme
Phoneme

In human language, a phoneme is the smallest posited linguistically distinctive unit of sound. Phonemes carry no semantic content themselves. In theoretical terms, phonemes are not the physical segment s themselves, but cognitive abstractions or categorizations of them....
  has "dark" and "light" allophones: the "dark" allophone appears in syllable coda
Syllable coda

In phonology, a syllable coda comprises the consonant sounds of a syllable that follow the syllable nucleus, which is usually a vowel. The combination of a nucleus and a coda is called a syllable rime....
 position (e.g. in full), while the "light" allophone ("light" meaning "non-velarized" rather than "palatalized" here) appears in syllable onset
Syllable onset

In phonetics and phonology, a syllable onset is the part of a syllable that precedes the syllable nucleus....
 position (e.g. in lawn). Other accents of English, such as Scottish English
Scottish English

Scottish English refers to the Variety of English language spoken in Scotland. It may or may not include Scots language depending on the observer....
 and Australian English
Australian English

Australian English is the form of the English language spoken in Australia....
, have "dark L" in all positions, while Hiberno-English
Hiberno-English

Hiberno-English also known as Anglo-Irish and Irish English is English language as spoken in Ireland, partly the result of the interaction of the English and Irish languages....
 has "clear L" in all positions.