postvelars

Postvelars are a class of sounds in phonetics. They are consonants produced with the back of the tongue touching or near the velum, which is the soft part of the roof of the mouth. The "post-" prefix indicates that the articulation occurs further back in the mouth compared to standard velars. Specifically, postvelar sounds are often described as being articulated in the uvular region, further back than the velum.

Examples of postvelar sounds include the uvular stop [q] and the uvular fricative [χ]. These sounds are found in various languages around the world. For instance, Arabic has the sound [q] as in the word "qalb" (heart). The uvular fricative [χ] is present in languages like German as in "Bach" and Hebrew as in "chanukah".

The distinction between velar and postvelar sounds can be subtle but is phonemically significant in some languages, meaning it can differentiate word meanings. For example, a language might distinguish between a word with a velar 'k' and a word with a uvular 'q'. The precise location of articulation can vary slightly between speakers and languages, leading to some overlap in phonetic descriptions. However, the general consensus is that postvelars represent a posterior articulation relative to typical velar consonants.