Pharyngeal Consonants Research Articles

The Phonology of Pharyngeals and Pharyngealization in Pre-Modern Aramaic

When the method of comparative reconstruction is applied to modern Aramaic dialects, it affords a glimpse at a variety of Aramaic which existed between the latest classical Aramaic and the appearance of the modern dialects. In that variety of pre-modern Aramaic, the pharyngeal consonants (h and r) interacted with the pharyngealized consonants (the emphatics) according to regular, conditioned sound changes. Such a regular interaction of pharyngeals with pharyngealized sounds is unknown in other languages, although a similar interaction occurs in the same geographical region in Kurdish.

The epiglottis as an articulator

We believe that the importance of the epiglottis in speech has been generally underestimated in the phonetic literature. Our evidence leads us to conclude that the epiglottis is an active and independent articulator in the production of pharyngeal consonants and that it is involved in the production of the vowel [a] and in whisper. In earlier phonetic works that we have examined, to the extent that the epiglottis is mentioned at all, it is generally said to have no speech function. An exception to this is the work of Russell (1931), Appelman (1967) and Wilson (1976), where they suggest that the epiglottis is crucial to the production of [a], but because they rely on lateral x-rays, they are unable to complete a convincing case.

The epiglottis as an articulator

We find that the epiglottis functions as an articulator in the production of (1) pharyngeals, (2) the vowel [a], (3) whisper. In pharyngeals we find the epiglottis articulates against the posterior pharyngeal wall: The constriction varies from a full closure (pharyngeal stop) in the extreme case of [ʕ] in slow careful speech, through narrow opening (fricative [ħ,ʕ] in connected speech to fairly open glide [ʕ]. The epiglottis folds toward the pharyngeal wall independently of the tongue root in these consonants. In the vowel [a] the opening is of the same shape as for the pharyngeal consonants, but the opening is substantially larger. The opening allowing the escape of air is between the epiglottis and the pharynx (never between the tongue and the pharynx lateral to the epiglottis). The independence of the epiglottis from the tongue is seen in some cases and not in others for [a]. In whisper the epiglottis is in general more retracted than during normal speech. These observations are based on approximately 100 minutes of videotape made using a fiberscope positioned in the upper pharynx, spectrograms, and dissection of cadaver materials. [This work was supported in part by the UCLA Phonetics Laboratory, NIH grant NS9780, and by Faculty of Humanities of Hebrew University of Jerusalem.]

A Cinefluorographic Study of the Emphatic-Nonemphatic Feature in Arabic as a Correlate of the English Tense-Lax Feature

Previous investigations [Klatt and Stevens, “Pharyngeal Consonants,” QPR 93, 207–216 (1969)] show that there are well-defined places of articulation with distinctive acoustic properties which take place when the vocal tract constriction is made within the regions between the velum and the glottis. These sounds are traditionally known as emphatic and are found in the Semitic languages, in particular, Arabic. The high-speed cinefluorographic films made of three native speakers of Arabic answer several questions concerning the fine details of physiological activities which involve the tongue root with respect to the velum and the interior pharyngeal wall during articulating certain sounds, namely the emphatic and their nonemphatic counterparts in Arabic. The study also investigates the timing differences for other major articulator movements which serve to differentiate classes of sounds. [This project was supported, in part, by a Public Health Service research grant, the National Institute of Dental Research.]