Velar

Here we have information about velars. We will define what a velar is, show you some examples of words that contain a velar, and even provide audio recordings so that you can listen to these examples, solidifying your overall understanding of velars.

Velar refers to your soft palate, so velar sounds are produced when the back part of your tongue articulates with your soft palate. You can feel your soft palate with your tongue if you begin by placing your tongue on your hard palate. Trace it towards the back of your mouth and you should eventually feel a slight change in texture as your tongue hits the softer surface of your soft palate. It should feel like a “drop off,” except your soft palate is actually higher than your hard palate.

Two sounds that are classified as velars include k and g, which are both notated on the IPA chart of American English consonants.

A couple of examples of words that contain these sounds are “Cap” and “Gasp.” Below you can see their IPA transcriptions with the velar indicated by a color.

We have also recorded these words for your convenience. For each example, you will first hear the pronunciation of the velar, followed by the word.

Cap = [kæp]

Gasp = [gæsp]

More Information

American English IPA Consonants
Go here to view all of the American English IPA consonants in their sound classification chart.

Glottal
Go here to learn about the next place of articulation on our list.