Velarization's a secondary articulation of consonants by which the back of the tongue's raised toward the velum during the articulation of the consonant. In the International Phonetic Alphabet, velarization's transcribed by one of three diacritics: A tilde or swung dash through the letter covers both velarization and pharyngealization, as in [ɫ] (the velarized equivalent of [l]) A superscript gamma after the letter standing for the velarized consonant, as in [tˠ] (the velarized equi… (More on Velarization)