Advanced tongue root

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In phonetics, advanced tongue root, abbreviated ATR or +ATR, or expanded, is the expansion of the pharyngeal cavity by moving the base of the tongue forward, and often lowering the larynx, during the pronunciation of a vowel. The lowering of the larynx sometimes adds a breathy quality to the vowel.

The diacritic for ATR in the International Phonetic Alphabet is the left tack, [ ̘].

In languages where they occur, advanced tongue root vowels very often contrast with retracted tongue root vowels in a system of vowel harmony. This is ubiquitous in large parts of West Africa.

ATR vowels involve a certain tension in the tongue, and often in the lips and jaw as well. The term was invented to describe the articulation of this literal case of "tense" vowels, since the word "tense" had been so over used in European phonetics that it had lost any real meaning. This tension can often be heard as a "brightness" (narrow formants) compared to RTR vowels.