Velar stops

Velar stops are produced by the back of the tongue being raised to form a full closure against the velum. The sounds occur as the closure is abruptly released as an explosion or puff of air. The velar stops are Fortis or Lenis. The fortis stop /k/ is never voiced, and the lenis stop /g/ is generally devoiced when not surrounded by other voiced sounds. Devoicing is therefore most common in the end position of a word. The lenis stop generally has a marked lengthening effect on the preceding sound(s).