pharyngealized

Pharyngealization is a secondary articulatory feature in which the pharyngeal cavity is constricted during the articulation of a sound. It is typically produced by retracting the tongue root toward the pharyngeal wall, often with a narrowing of the pharyngeal space that can give the sound a hollow, throaty quality. Pharyngealization can affect both consonants and vowels and may be contrastive in a language’s phonology.

In consonants, pharyngealization is well known in Arabic and several neighboring languages, where certain consonants are described as emphatic or pharyngealized. In these cases the constriction is integrated with the tongue root and sometimes resembles a retracted articulation that can affect neighboring vowels, tending to color them toward a more retractive quality.

For vowels, languages may have pharyngealized vowels in which the vowel quality itself is produced with a pharyngeal constriction in the oral tract. Pharyngealization of vowels is less common than for consonants but is documented in a number of languages across the Caucasus, Afroasiatic regions, and their contact areas.

Notation and analysis vary. In phonetic transcription, pharyngealization is typically marked as a secondary articulation on the segment, sometimes by a diacritic placed after the symbol. Phonologically, it can be described as a distinct feature that contrasts with non-pharyngealized segments, or as an allophonic effect conditioned by neighboring pharyngealized sounds.

See also: emphatic consonants, velarization, epiglottalization, secondary articulation.