Voiced pharyngeal fricative
| Voiced pharyngeal fricative | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ʕ | |||
| ʕ̝ | |||
| IPA number | 145 | ||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) |
ʕ | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+0295 | ||
| X-SAMPA |
?\ | ||
| Kirshenbaum |
H<vcd> | ||
| Braille |
  | ||
| |||
| Sound | |||
 source · help | |||
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| Voiced pharyngeal approximant | |
|---|---|
| ʕ̞ | |
| ɑ̯ |
The voiced pharyngeal approximant or fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is [ʕ], and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is ?\. Epiglottals and epiglotto-pharyngeals are often mistakenly taken to be pharyngeal.
Although traditionally placed in the fricative row of the IPA chart, [ʕ] is usually an approximant. The IPA symbol itself is ambiguous, but no language is known to make a phonemic distinction between fricatives and approximants at this place of articulation. The approximant is sometimes specified as [ʕ̞] or as [ɑ̯].
Features
Features of the voiced pharyngeal approximant fricative:
- Its manner of articulation varies between approximant and fricative, which means it is produced by narrowing the vocal tract at the place of articulation, but generally not enough to produce much turbulence in the airstream. Languages do not distinguish voiced fricatives from approximants produced in the throat.
- Its place of articulation is pharyngeal, which means it is articulated with the tongue root against the back of the throat (the pharynx).
- Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
- It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
- Because the sound is not produced with airflow over the tongue, the central–lateral dichotomy does not apply.
- The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.
Occurrence
Pharyngeal consonants are not widespread. Sometimes, a pharyngeal approximant develops from a uvular approximant. Many languages that have been described as having pharyngeal fricatives or approximants turn out on closer inspection to have epiglottal consonants instead. For example, the candidate /ʕ/ sound in Arabic and standard Hebrew (not modern Hebrew – Israelis of eastern European background generally pronounce this as a glottal stop) has been variously described as a voiced epiglottal fricative, an epiglottal approximant,[1] or a pharyngealized glottal stop.[2]
| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abaza | гӀапынхъамыз | [ʕaːpənqaːməz] | 'March' | ||
| Assyrian Neo-Aramaic | tar'a | [tər'ʕɑː] | 'door' | Only upheld in educated and religious speech. Majority of the speakers will utter the word as [tərɑː]. | |
| Avar | гӀоркь | [ʕortɬʼː] | 'handle' | ||
| Berber | Kabyle[3] | ɛemmi | [ʕəmːi] | 'my (paternal) uncle' | |
| Chechen | Ӏан / jan |  [ʕan] | 'winter' | ||
| Danish | Standard[4] | ravn | [ʕ̞ɑʊ̯ˀn] | 'raven' | An approximant;[4] also described as uvular [ʁ].[5] See Danish phonology |
| Dutch | Limburg[6] | rad | [ʕ̞ɑt] | 'wheel' | An approximant.[6] Realization of /r/ varies considerably among dialects. See Dutch phonology |
| English | African American | I | [ʕaː] | 'I' | Some speakers. |
| German | Swabian[7] | ändard | [ˈend̥aʕ̞d̥] | 'changes' | An approximant.[7] It's an allophone of /ʁ/ in nucleus and coda positions;[7] pronounced as a uvular approximant in onsets.[7] |
| Hebrew | Iraqi | עברית | [ʕibˈriːθ] | 'Hebrew language' | See Modern Hebrew phonology |
| Sephardi | [ʕivˈɾit] | ||||
| Yemenite | [ʕivˈriːθ] | ||||
| Kurdish | ‘ewr | [ʕæwr] | 'cloud' | Both Sorani and Kurmanji dialects have this sound. | |
| Marshallese | enana | [ɛ̯ɛnæ͡ɑʕnæ͡ɑʕ] | 'it is bad' | See Marshallese phonology | |
| Occitan | southern Auvergnat | pala | [ˈpaʕa] | 'shovel' | See Occitan phonology |
| Portuguese | Fluminense | armando | [ɐʕˈmɜ̃du] | 'arming' | In free variation with [ɣ], [ʁ] and [ɦ], before voiced consonants. Does not occur in onset position. See Portuguese phonology |
| Somali | caadi | [ʕaːdi] | 'normal' | See Somali phonology | |
| Sioux | Stoney | marazhud | [maʕazud] | 'rain' | |
| Syriac | Turoyo | ܐܰܪܥܳܐ | [arʕo] | 'Earth' | Tends to be absent from Eastern Syriac varieties. |
| Ukrainian[8] | гора | [ʕoˈrɑ] | 'mountain' | Also described as [ɦ]. See Ukrainian phonology | |
See also
References
- ↑ Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:167–168)
- ↑ Thelwall (1990)
- ↑ Bonafont (2006:9)
- 1 2 Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:323)
- ↑ Basbøll (2005:62)
- 1 2 Collins & Mees (2003:201) Note that authors do not specify the area where this sound is used and whether it is confined to Dutch or Belgian Limburg, or it is used in both areas.
- 1 2 3 4 Markus Hiller. "Pharyngeals and "lax" vowel quality" (PDF). Mannheim: Institut für Deutsche Sprache.
- ↑ Danyenko & Vakulenko (1995:12)
Bibliography
- Basbøll, Hans (2005), The Phonology of Danish, ISBN 0-203-97876-5
- Bonafont, Door Rosa (2006), Guia de conversa universitaria amazic-catala/Tamazight-Takatalant amalal usiwel asdawan, University of Barcelona
- Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003), The Phonetics of English and Dutch, Fifth Revised Edition (PDF), ISBN 9004103406
- Danyenko, Andrii; Vakulenko, Serhii (1995), Ukrainian, Lincom Europa, ISBN 9783929075083
- Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19814-8.
- Thelwall, Robin (1990), "Arabic", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 20 (2): 37–41, doi:10.1017/S0025100300004266
