Pharyngeal consonant

Encyclopedia : P : PH : PHA : Pharyngeal consonant

Places of articulation
Labial
Bilabial
Labial-velar
Labial-alveolar
Labiodental
Coronal
Linguolabial
Interdental
Dental
Alveolar
Apical
Laminal
Postalveolar
Alveolo-palatal
Retroflex
Dorsal
Palatal
Labial-palatal
Velar
Uvular
Uvular-epiglottal
Radical
Pharyngeal
Epiglotto-pharyngeal
Epiglottal
Glottal
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A pharyngeal consonant is a type of consonant which is articulated with the root of the tongue against the pharynx.

Pharyngeal consonants in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA):

IPA Description Example
Language Orthography IPA Meaning
pharyngeal approximant Mishnaic Hebrew עין [ˈʕaː.jin̪] the letter {{IPA
voiceless pharyngeal fricative Mishnaic Hebrew חית [ħeːθ] the letter {{IPA

IPA	Description	Example
Language	Orthography	IPA	Meaning
	pharyngeal approximant	Mishnaic Hebrew	עין	[ˈʕaː.jin̪]	the letter {{IPA
	voiceless pharyngeal fricative	Mishnaic Hebrew	חית	[ħeːθ]	the letter {{IPA

Pharyngeal plosives are thought to be impossible. Note that when they are posited, they are sometimes transcribed with a small capital cue, [Q].
Although traditionally placed in the fricative row of the IPA chart, [ʕ] is usually an approximant. The IPA symbol itself is ambiguous, but no language has a distinct fricative and approximant at this place of articulation. Sometimes the lowering diacritic is used to specify that the manner is approximant: [ʕ̞].

Pharyngeals are known primarily from two areas of the world: in North-Africa/Mideast (in the Semitic, Berber, Cushitic, Circassian, and Dagestanian families) and in British Columbia (in the Wakashan and Salish families). There are scattered reports of pharyngeals elsewhere, such as in the Nilo-Saharan Tama language and in Nenets in Siberia. In Finnish, a weak pharyngeal fricative is the realization of /h/ next to the vowel /a/, but since this is mere allophony, it is transcribed as /h/. According to the Laryngeal theory the Proto-Indo-European language might also have contained Pharyngeal consonants.

Note that reported pharyngeals frequently turn out to be epiglottals. Such was the case for Dahalo and northern Haida, for example, and is likely to be true for many if not most of the others. This is perhaps because 'epiglottal' was only recently recognized as a distinct place of articulation, rather than a variant of 'pharyngeal'. The only language known to have contrastive pharyngeals and epiglottals is Agul, a Lezgian language of Dagestan.

Recently, a possible new place of articulation, epiglotto-pharyngeal, was reported.

Pharyngeal consonant

See also