Uvular
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Uvular consonants are those articulated using the uvula, a small lump of flesh at the back of the throat. Most uvular consonants are produced by moving the back of the tongue towards the uvula, but there is also a uvular trill, in which the uvula is made to vibrate.
Uvular consonants are much rarer than velars; most languages that have them have just a couple. The voiced and unvoiced fricatives and the unvoiced plosive are the most commonly found.
Since English completely lacks uvulars, they are difficult to learn for many English-speaking conlangers. One way to learn to pronounce them is to start with a velar sound (for instance /k/) and gradually move the tongue backwards. When it reaches the uvular position, the phone will sound about a fifth lower.
The IPA has symbols for the following uvular consonants:
| IPA | X-Sampa | |
| Unvoiced plosive | /q/ | /q/ |
| Voiced plosive | /ɢ/ | /G\/ |
| Unvoiced fricative | /χ/ | /X/ |
| Voiced fricative | /ʁ/ | /R/ |
| Voiced nasal stop | /ɴ/ | /N\/ |
| Voiced trill | /ʀ/ | /R\/ |
Do not get the voiced fricative and the trill mixed up; this is a very easy and common mistake to make!
Z-Sampa additionally has the following symbols for uvular sounds:
- Voiced tap or flap: /4\/
- Voiced approximant: /y\/
- Unvoiced lateral fricative: /q\/
- Voiced lateral fricative: /Q\/
- Voiced lateral approximant: /Y\/
