Now we’ll move a bit further back again into the mouth for the next pair of sounds. We’ll talk about the velar K-sound today.

THE SOUND

The K-sound /k/ is produced when air is briefly stopped from leaving the vocal tract when the tip of the tongue presses against the velum while the sides of the tongue press against the upper side teeth. Instead of the tongue tip being used, it’s the tongue body or middle of the tongue.

Now it is very important to recognize the significant differences between the K-sound and T-sound. The tongue position for the two sounds is radically different. The /t/ sound is made by the tongue thrusting forward in the oral cavity and the tongue tip touching the alveolar ridge just behind the top teeth.

In contrast, the /k/ sound is made by the tongue pushing firmly to the back of the oral cavity which blocks the flow of air in the mouth, until the tongue is lowered and the breath stream is released.

The sound can be aspirated when the air is released as a puff of air. The aspiration for a /k/ is greater than the aspiration for a /g/, especially when it is the first sound of a word or the first sound of a stressed syllable. At the end of a word, the K-sound may not be aspirated (just like other plosives), which is why at ends of words like break, it may seem like a native English speaker doesn’t fully finish the sound.

The 'K sound' /k/ is unvoiced (the vocal cords do not vibrate while producing it), and is the counterpart to the voiced 'G sound' /g/.

THE SOUND IN DIFFERENT POSITIONS.

Here's the sound in different positions of a word.

BEGINNING OF THE WORD - kit, kite, cat, cool, Kyle, Kim, caught, cope, quick

MIDDLE OF THE WORD - okay, poker, maker, bicker, local

END OF THE WORD - book, take, tech, toque, dark, black

Notice how the K-sound can be made by C-letter, a CH combination or even a QU combination.

SITUATIONS THAT SEEM LIKE THE SOUND BUT AREN'T

knight, knowledge, know, knew - Notice how at the beginning of words, when KN- consonant combinations are present, the K-letter is silent. There is no K-sound.

WHY IT MAY BE HARD

You Are Shaping to K-sound from the T-sound.
Resist the urge to simply try to move your tongue further back in the mouth from the T-sound. It’s a different part of the tongue involved. To stop, push the front of your tongue towards your lower teeth. Keep it there. Explore using the back of your tongue. Some visuals to engage the back of your tongue including, horking or hacking popcorn husks from your throat, or imaging you have a hairball in your throat.
You are producing the G-sound instead of the K-sound.
You may be adding voicing when you shouldn’t be. Put a hand on your neck to feel if there is a vibration when you are making the K-sound. Try your best experimenting with the sound and ways or cues that can eliminate that voicing when you are saying the K-sound. A good way is to try alternating between K and G words to contrast between the two.
Some example words you can practice with include: cash - gash, kill - gill, coal - goal, cool - ghoul, caught - got

WHAT TO DO

So let's say you do have trouble with your K-sound. What can you do about it.

Well here are the features of the K-sound.

Place of articulation - The back of the tongue raises to contact the velum
Manner of articulation - Airflow is temporarily blocked by the tongue. This produces a brief blockage of air and build up of pressure before is allowed to burst when the back of the tongue is dropped.
Voiced or unvoiced - voiceless (this means the vocal cords do not vibrate while producing the K-sound).

TIPS & EXTRA CONSIDERATIONS

Think about the position of the letter to help figure out the pronunciation.

If the K appears as the last sound of a word, it does not need to be aspirated (a.k.a. you don’t need to release the K-sound. It just stops)

Example words and phrases include: quick, snack, take, I’ll be back,

If the K-letter is followed by a N-letter at the beginning of the word, it is likely silent.

Example words include: knife, knowledge, knew

I’m breaking down every single sound down for you so that you can learn how to produce each sound in English accurately. Sometimes, we’ll have easier sounds and sometimes we’ll have harder sounds.

If you’ve grasped this sound, then great! But if you’ve got a tip that might work for others, or you took a while to produce this sound correct but something clicked for you, let me know down below in the comments. My goal is to have a community know what to do when they’re stuck!

The K-Sound