Pharyngealization

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Pharyngealization is a secondary articulation of consonants or vowels by which the pharynx or epiglottis is constricted during the articulation of the sound. In the International Phonetic Alphabet, pharyngealization can be indicated by one of two methods:

  1. A tilde or swung dash through the letter indicates either velarization or pharyngealization, as in [ɫ] (the pharyngealized equivalent of [l]), or
  2. The symbol <ˤ> (a superscript reversed glottal stop) after the letter standing for the pharyngealized consonant, as in [tˤ] (the pharyngealized equivalent of [t]).

Arabic uses phonemic secondary pharyngealization for the "emphatic" coronal consonants. Ubykh, a Northwest Caucasian language formerly spoken in Russia and Turkey, uses pharyngealization in 14 pharyngealized consonants. Chilcotin has pharyngealized consonants that trigger pharyngealization of vowels. Many languages (e.g. Salishan, Sahaptian) in the Plateau culture area of North America also have pharyngealization processes triggered by pharyngeal or pharyngealized consonants that affect vowels. In Danish many of the vowel phonemes have distinct pharyngealized qualities, and in the Tuu languages epiglottalized vowels are phonemic.

For many languages, pharyngealization is generally associated with more dental articulations of coronal consonants so that dark l tends to be dental or dentoalveolar while clear l tends to be retracted to an alveolar position.[1]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Recasens & Espinosa (2005:4)

[edit] References

  • Recasens, Daniel & Aina Espinosa (2005), "Articulatory, positional and coarticulatory characteristics for clear /l/ and dark /l/: evidence from two Catalan dialects", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 35 (1): 1-25

[edit] See also