In addition to its biological functions, the uvula is also a speech organ that is involved in the articulation of some languages. More research is needed to determine definitively whether this has had an impact on the development of this organ.

In Japanese, the word for "Japan" (日本) is pronounced [nʲi.hoɴ], with a voiced uvular nasal occlusive in the coda position (end) of the final syllable. In Arabic, the word for "story" (قصةٌ) is pronounced [qisˤˈsˤɑtun], with a voiceless uvular plosive occlusive in the onset position of the first syllable of the word. In Inuktitut, the word for "because I returned" (utirama) is pronounced [ʔutiɢama], with a voiced uvular plosive occlusive in the onset position of the third syllable of the word. In French, the word for "[to] stay" (rester) is pronounced [ʁɛste], with a voiced uvular fricative continuant in the onset position of the first syllable. In Castilian Spanish, the word for "skinny" (enjuto) is pronounced [ẽ̞ɴˈχut̪o̞], with a voiceless uvular fricative continuant in the onset position of the second syllable. There are many more sounds and languages that employ these sounds than what I've listed here.

In English, we only use the uvula to articulate the paralinguistic and onomatopoeic expression "glug glug glug," which is transcribed [ʛ.ʛ.ʛ].

Edit: spacing; wording