If you want more information on the photos in this video, which have parts of the mouth drawn in, see this video on the parts of the mouth.

How to make this sound:

Video Text:

The kk and gg consonant sounds. These sounds are paired together because they take the same mouth position. The K consonant is unvoiced, that means you let only air pass through your mouth. The G consonant sound, gg, is voiced, meaning you actually make a sound with your vocal cords. The position: the tongue raises in the back and touches the soft palate back here and stops the flow of air. The sound is then made when the tongue pulls back down and releases the air. Kk, gg. The rest of the mouth remains relaxed.

The lip positions for these sounds can be influenced by the sounds that follow it. Take for example gate and grate. Gate is followed by the 'ay' as in 'say' diphthong [], gate, and you can see the lips begin to take that position even before the G is made. Grape. Here it is followed by the R [] and again the lips have taken the position for the R before the tongue releases, gg, for the gg sound. Because the front of the mouth is not involved in making this sound, it can start to form the sound that comes next. Grate.

Here we see the g/k consonant sounds on the right compared with the mouth at rest. Here parts of the mouth are drawn in. The soft palate is raised on this sound, and the tongue stretches in the back all the way up towards it, touching the raised soft palate. The tip of the tongue remains down and forward, lightly touching the bottom front teeth.

Sample words: cap/gap, curl/girl, kill/gill. Sample sentence: Chris carried the gray crate to the gate. Now you will see this sentence up close and in slow motion, both straight on and from an angle, so you can really study how these sounds are made.

Chris with the C-R so the lips are taking the position of the R as the back of the tongue is raised. Chris, teeth together and up towards the front for the S. Carried, there you see the front part of the tongue coming down as the back is raised. Tongue tip up for the D. Tongue tip through the teeth for the TH [], the. Gray, again, the lips are taking the position of the R as the back of the tongue is raised. And here again, crate, tongue is back touching the soft palate and the lips are rounded for the R. Tongue tip up for the T. To the, tongue tip quickly through the teeth for the TH in the. Gate, you see the front part of the tongue as it is coming back down from it being raised in the back for the G consonant sound in gate.

Chris, again, you see the tongue moving back, but the lips are coming forward for the R position. Chris. Tongue forward again for the S and the teeth together. Carried, lips form the R position. Tongue tip up for the D. And through the teeth for the TH. The gray, again the tongue is moving back to raise at the back while the lips form the R. Crate, watch the tongue move back as the lips close over it. Crate. Tongue up and teeth together to make the T. To the, tongue tip through the teeth for the, gate. Now here the back of the tongue is raised, touching the soft palate, and then the tongue tip comes forward to make the T sound.

International Phonetic Alphabet symbols: [], []

For more detailed information and a list of these sounds' occurrences in other languages, see the Wikipedia pages here for [] and here for [].

Miss the old sound video? See it here.