Uvularization

Uvularization is a secondary articulation of consonants or vowels by which the back of the tongue is constricted toward the uvula and upper pharynx during the articulation of a sound with its primary articulation elsewhere.

IPA symbols

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, uvularization can be indicated by one of two methods:

1. A tilde or swung dash through the letter indicates velarization, uvularization or pharyngealization, as in [ɫ] ("dark l"). However, apart from a few pre-composed characters, this diacritic is deprecated by Unicode.
2. The symbol ⟨ʶ⟩ (a superscript voiced uvular approximant (inverted small capital R)) after the letter standing for the consonant that is uvularized, as in [tʶ] (the uvularized equivalent of [t])

Occurrence

Uvularized consonants are often not distinguished from pharyngealized consonants, and they may be transcribed as if they were pharyngealized.

In Arabic several other Semitic and Berber languages, uvularization is the defining characteristic of the series of "emphatic" coronal consonants.^[2][3]

Uvularized consonants in standard Arabic are /sʶ/, /dʶ/, /tʶ/, /ðʶ/, /lʶ/. Regionally there is also /zʶ/ and /rʶ/. Other consonants, and vowels, may be phonetically uvularized.

In Greenlandic, long vowels are uvularized before uvular consonants.^[4]

References