guttural

Guttural is an adjective used in linguistics and general speech to describe sounds that are produced in the throat or toward the back of the vocal tract. The term comes from the Latin guttur, meaning throat. In modern phonetics, guttural is a broad, somewhat informal label that groups several distinct places of articulation, so it is less precise than the specific terms glottal, pharyngeal, uvular, or velar.

In phonetic description, guttural consonants typically include those produced with the glottis (glottal) or deeper in the throat (pharyngeal and sometimes uvular). Glottal sounds involve the vocal folds themselves, as in the glottal stop or glottal fricatives. Pharyngeal sounds are articulated with the pharynx, and uvulars involve the region near the velum at the back of the mouth. Velars, formed with the back of the tongue against the soft palate, are related but are usually treated as a separate category from gutturals in contemporary terminology.

Many languages feature a notable set of guttural consonants, particularly among Semitic languages such as Arabic, and in various Caucasian and Berber languages. The precise inventory and phonetic status of gutturals can vary by language and linguistic tradition, and some descriptions emphasize the throat-centered quality rather than a single place of articulation.

Beyond consonants, guttural is also used descriptively in music and voice to denote a rough, throaty, or harsh timbre. In everyday language, it can carry evaluative or aesthetic connotations, but in linguistic use it remains a technical label for a family of throat-focused articulations.