Pharyngeal consonant

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A pharyngeal consonant is a

Pharyngeal/epiglottal consonants in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA):

*A voiced epiglottal stop may not be possible. When an epiglottal stop becomes voiced intervocalically in

tap

. Phonetically, however, voiceless vs voiced affricates or off-glides are attested: [ʡħ, ʡʕ] (Esling 2010: 695).

** Although traditionally placed in the fricative row of the IPA chart, [ʕ] is usually an approximant. Frication is difficult to produce or to distinguish because the voicing in the glottis and the constriction in the pharynx are so close to each other (Esling 2010: 695, after Laufer 1996). The IPA symbol is ambiguous, but no language distinguishes fricative and approximant at this place of articulation. For clarity, the lowering diacritic may used to specify that the manner is approximant ([ʕ̞]) and a raising diacritic to specify that the manner is fricative ([ʕ̝]).

The Hydaburg dialect of Haida has a trilled epiglottal [ʜ] and a trilled epiglottal affricate [ʡʜ]~[ʡʢ]. (There is some voicing in all Haida affricates, but it is analyzed as an effect of the vowel.)^{[citation needed]}

For transcribing

Place of articulation

The IPA first distinguished epiglottal consonants in 1989, with a contrast between pharyngeal and epiglottal fricatives, but advances in

The so-called "Epiglottal fricatives" are represented [here] as pharyngeal trills, [ʜ ʢ], since the place of articulation is identical to [ħ ʕ], but trilling of the aryepiglottic folds is more likely to occur in tighter settings of the laryngeal constrictor or with more forceful airflow. The same "epiglottal" symbols could represent pharyngeal fricatives that have a higher larynx position than [ħ ʕ], but a higher larynx position is also more likely to induce trilling than in a pharyngeal fricative with a lowered larynx position. Because [ʜ ʢ] and [ħ ʕ] occur at the same Pharyngeal/Epiglottal place of articulation (Esling, 1999), the logical phonetic distinction to make between them is in manner of articulation, trill versus fricative.[4]

Edmondson et al. distinguish several subtypes of pharyngeal consonant.^[5] Pharyngeal or epiglottal stops and trills are usually produced by contracting the aryepiglottic folds of the larynx against the epiglottis. That articulation has been distinguished as aryepiglottal. In pharyngeal fricatives, the root of the tongue is retracted against the back wall of the pharynx. In a few languages, such as Achumawi,^[6] Amis of Taiwan^[7] and perhaps some of the Salishan languages, the two movements are combined, with the aryepiglottic folds and epiglottis brought together and retracted against the pharyngeal wall, an articulation that has been termed epiglotto-pharyngeal. The IPA does not have diacritics to distinguish this articulation from standard aryepiglottals; Edmondson et al. use the ad hoc, somewhat misleading, transcriptions ⟨ʕ͡ʡ⟩ and ⟨ʜ͡ħ⟩.^[5] There are, however, several diacritics for subtypes of pharyngeal sound among the Voice Quality Symbols.

Although upper-pharyngeal plosives are not found in the world's languages, apart from the rear closure of some click consonants, they occur in disordered speech. See voiceless upper-pharyngeal plosive and voiced upper-pharyngeal plosive.

Distribution

Pharyngeals are known primarily from three areas of the world:

1. the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa, in the Semitic (e.g. Arabic, Hebrew, Tigrinya, and Tigre), Berber (mostly in borrowings from Arabic^[8]) and Cushitic (e.g. Somali, Afar, Dahalo and Iraqw) branches of the Afroasiatic language family
2. the Caucasus, in the Northwest, and Northeast Caucasian language families
3. British Columbia, in the Northern Haida dialects, in the Interior Salish branch of the Salishan language family, and in the southern branch of the Wakashan language family.

There are scattered reports of pharyngeals elsewhere, as in:

• Indo-European languages:
  • According to the
    Proto-Indo-European
    might have had pharyngeal consonants.
  • Indo-Iranian languages:
    • Iranian languages:
      • the
        Kurdish languages
      • the Zaza–Gorani languages
      • Yaghnobi (borrowed from Arabic)
      • Judeo-Tat (borrowed from Arabic and Hebrew)
      • Kumzari
    • Nuristani languages:
      • Kalasha-ala (borrowed from Arabic)
      • the Kamviri dialect of the Kamkata-vari language (borrowed from Arabic)
    • Indo-Aryan languages:
      • Kullui
      • some Bengali dialects
      • Domari (borrowed from Arabic)
      • Luwati (borrowed from Arabic)
  • Slavic languages:
    • According to some linguists, Ukrainian may have a pharyngeal [ʕ]^[9] (when devoiced, [ħ] or sometimes [x] in weak positions).^[9] According to others, it is glottal [ɦ].^[10][11][12]
  • Germanic languages:
    • the approximant is a realization of /r/ in such Germanic languages as Danish and Swabian German.
  • Romance languages:
    • some dialects of Galician (Gheada)
    • Haketia (borrowed from Arabic and Hebrew^[13])
• Austronesian languages:
  • Formosan languages:
    • Atayal
    • Amis
    • Pazeh
  • Malayo-Polynesian languages:
    • Kedah Malay
    • Mambai
    • Dhao
• Niger–Congo languages:
  • Ewe
  • Minyanka
• Nilo-Saharan languages:
  • Daatsʼiin
  • Zaghawa (borrowed from Arabic)
  • Northern Songhay languages:
    • Tadaksahak
    • Tagdal^[14]
    • Korandje
• Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages:
  • Koryak
  • Alyutor
• the language isolate Kusunda of Nepal
• the Papuan language Teiwa
• the Guaicuruan language Pilagá
• the Mayan language Achi
• the Siouan language Stoney (Nakoda)
• the Achumawi language of California

The fricatives and trills (the pharyngeal and epiglottal fricatives) are frequently conflated with pharyngeal fricatives in literature. That was the case for Dahalo and Northern Haida, for example, and it is likely to be true for many other languages. The distinction between these sounds was recognized by IPA only in 1989, and it was little investigated until the 1990s.

See also

• Pharyngealization
• Strident vowel
• Ayin
• Heth
• Guttural

Notes