Variable laryngeals and vowel lowering

Abstract

The group of guttural consonants consists of those consonants articulated at the back of the vocal tract or with some constriction of the pharynx: uvulars, pharyngeals, laryngeals and emphatics, or pharyngealised/uvularised consonants. These consonants pattern together in terms of several phonological properties, as extensively documented by McCarthy (1989, 1991, 1994). He argues that this natural class can be captured in a model of feature geometry by a node dependent on the Place node: the Pharyngeal node. However, the status of the laryngeal consonants within this class of segments is unresolved. While it is clear that the laryngeals [? h] pattern with the other guttural consonants in Semitic languages, these sounds have also been argued to lack Place specification altogether (Steriade 1987; Bessell 1992). McCarthy (1991, 1994) suggests that languages may in fact stipulate whether laryngeal consonants are specified with a Pharyngeal node, or are Placeless. Bessell & Czaykowska-Higgins (1992) and Bessell (1992), based on data from Interior Salish languages, argue that this selection is independent of the inventory of guttural segments within a language.