Guttural

Template:Short description Guttural speech sounds are those with a primary place of articulation near the back of the oral cavity, where it is difficult to distinguish a sound's place of articulation and its phonation. In popular usage it is an imprecise term for sounds produced relatively far back in the vocal tract, such as the German ch or the Arabic ayin, but not simple glottal sounds like h. The term 'guttural language' is used for languages that have such sounds.

As a technical term used by phoneticians and phonologists, guttural has had various definitions. The concept always includes pharyngeal consonants, but may include velar, uvular or laryngeal consonants as well. Guttural sounds are typically consonants, but murmured, pharyngealized, glottalized and strident vowels may be also considered guttural in nature.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Some phonologists argue that all post-velar sounds constitute a natural class.<ref>Scott Moisik, Ewa Czaykowska-Higgins & John Esling (2021) Phonological potentials and the lower vocal tract</ref>

Meaning and etymology

The word guttural literally means 'of the throat' (from Latin guttur, meaning throat), and was first used by phoneticians to describe the Hebrew glottal Template:IPAblink (א) and Template:IPAblink (ה), uvular Template:IPAblink (ח), and pharyngeal Template:IPAblink (ע).<ref>See Oxford English Dictionary entry</ref>

The term is commonly used non-technically by English speakers to refer to sounds that subjectively appear harsh or grating. This definition usually includes a number of consonants that are not used in English, such as epiglottal Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink, uvular {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink, and velar fricatives Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink. However, it usually excludes sounds used in English, such as the velar stops Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink, the velar nasal Template:IPAblink, and the glottal consonants {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.<ref>McCarthy, John J. 1989. 'Guttural Phonology', ms., University of Massachusetts, Amherst.</ref><ref>McCarthy, John J. Forthcoming. 'Guttural Transparency', ms., University of Massachusetts, Amherst.</ref>

Guttural languages

In popular consciousness, languages that make extensive use of guttural consonants are often considered to be guttural languages. English-speakers sometimes find such languages strange and even hard on the ear.<ref>Hayward, K. M. and Hayward, R. J. 1989. '"Guttural": Arguments for a New Distinctive Feature', Transactions of the Philological Society 87: 179-193.</ref>

Examples of significant usage

Languages that extensively use [x], [χ], [ʁ], [ɣ] and/or [q] include:

• Afrikaans<ref name="wellsblog">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Arabic
• Armenian<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
• Assamese
• Assyrian<ref>Beyer, Klaus (1986). The Aramaic language: its distribution and subdivisions. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. Template:ISBN.</ref><ref>Brock, Sebastian (2006). An Introduction to Syriac Studies. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press. Template:ISBN.</ref>
• Azerbaijani<ref>Shiraliyev, Mammadagha. The Baku Dialect. Azerbaijan SSR Academy of Sciences Publ.: Baku, 1957; p. 41</ref>
• Crimean Tatar<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>
• Dutch<ref>Friedrich Maurer uses the term Istvaeonic instead of Franconian; see Friedrich Maurer (1942), Nordgermanen und Alemannen: Studien zur germanischen und frühdeutschen Sprachgeschichte, Stammes- und Volkskunde, Bern: Verlag Francke.</ref>
• French
• German<ref>For a history of the German consonants see Fausto Cercignani, The Consonants of German: Synchrony and Diachrony, Milano, Cisalpino, 1979.</ref>
• Greek
• Hebrew
• Hindustani (Hindi, Urdu)
• Irish
• Lakota
• Manx
• Mongolian
• Kartvelian languages (i.e. Georgian, Mingrelian, Laz, Svan)<ref name="Boe02">Boeder (2002), p. 3</ref><ref name="Boe05">Boeder (2005), p. 6</ref><ref>Gamkrelidze (1966), p. 69</ref><ref>Fähnrich & Sardzhveladze (2000)</ref>
• Kazakh
• Kurdish
• Kyrgyz
• Pashto<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Persian<ref name="Lazard, Gilbert 1971">Lazard, Gilbert, "Pahlavi, Pârsi, dari: Les langues d'Iran d'apès Ibn al-Muqaffa" in R.N. Frye, Iran and Islam. In Memory of the late Vladimir Minorsky, Edinburgh University Press, 1971.</ref>
• Punjabi
• Russian
• Scottish Gaelic<ref>Bauer, Michael Blas na Gàidhlig - The Practical Guide to Gaelic Pronunciation (2011) Akerbeltz Template:ISBN</ref>
• Sindhi
• Spanish
• Tajik Persian<ref>A Beginners' Guide to Tajiki by Azim Baizoyev and John Hayward, Routledge, London and New York, 2003, p. 3</ref>
• Tswana
• Turkmen
• Uzbek
• Uyghur
• Welsh<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

In addition to their usage of [q], [x], [χ], [ʁ] and [ɣ], these languages also have the pharyngeal consonants of [ʕ] and [ħ]:

• Berber languages (i.e. Kabyle, Tamasheq)<ref name="ReferenceC">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref name="tira">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref><ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>
• Cushitic languages (i.e. Somali and Oromo)<ref name=Hayward>Richard Hayward, "Afroasiatic", in Heine & Nurse, 2000, African Languages</ref><ref name=Sava2003>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Sands2009>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Anatolian Turkish dialects (as a result of borrowings from Arabic)<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
• Northeast Caucasian languages (i.e. Chechen, Lezgian, Avar)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Plaster">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Northwest Caucasian (i.e. Abkhaz, Adyghe, Kabardian).<ref>Nichols, J. 1997 Nikolaev and Starostin's North Caucasian Etymological Dictionary and the Methodology of Long-Range Comparison: an assessment Paper presented at the 10th Biennial Non-Slavic Languages (NSL) Conference, Chicago, 8–10 May 1997.</ref><ref name=RC2010>Row 7 in {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• Salishan and Wakashan language families in British Columbia<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

• Semitic languages (i.e. Arabic, Sureth, Tigre, Tigrinya, Turoyo, Hebrew, Ge’ez)<ref>Template:Citation.</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Examples of partial usage

In French, the only truly guttural sound is (usually) a uvular fricative (or the guttural R). In Portuguese, {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is becoming dominant in urban areas. There is also a realization as a {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, and the original pronunciation as an {{#invoke:IPA|main}} also remains very common in various dialects.

In Russian, {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is assimilated to the palatalization of the following velar consonant: лёгких Template:Audio-IPA. It also has a voiced allophone {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, which occurs before voiced obstruents.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In Romanian, {{#invoke:IPA|main}} becomes the velar {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in word-final positions (duh 'spirit') and before consonants (hrean 'horseradish').<ref name="draghici">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Dead link</ref> In Czech, the phoneme {{#invoke:IPA|main}} followed by a voiced obstruent can be realized as either {{#invoke:IPA|main}} or {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, e.g. abych byl Template:Audio-IPA.<ref>Kučera, H. (1961). The Phonology of Czech. s’ Gravenhage: Mouton & Co.</ref>

In Kyrgyz, the consonant phoneme {{#invoke:IPA|main}} has a uvular realisation ({{#invoke:IPA|main}}) in back vowel contexts. In front-vowel environments, {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is fricativised between continuants to {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, and in back vowel environments both {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} fricativise to {{#invoke:IPA|main}} and {{#invoke:IPA|main}} respectively.<ref>Кызласов И. Л., Рунические письменности евразийских степей (Kyzlasov I.L. Runic scripts of Eurasian steppes), Восточная литература (Eastern Literature), Moscow, 1994, pp. 80 on, Template:ISBN, with further bibliography.</ref> In Uyghur, the phoneme {{#invoke:IPA|main}} occurs with a back vowel. In the Mongolian language, {{#invoke:IPA|main}} is usually followed by {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Tuu and Juu (Khoisan) languages of southern Africa have large numbers of guttural vowels. These sounds share certain phonological behaviors that warrant the use of a term specifically for them. There are scattered reports of pharyngeals elsewhere, such as in the Nilo-Saharan, Tama language.

In Swabian German, a pharyngeal approximant Template:IPAblink is an allophone of {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in nucleus and coda positions.<ref name="Hiller">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In onsets, it is pronounced as a uvular approximant.<ref name="Hiller"/> In Danish, {{#invoke:IPA|main}} may have slight frication, and, according to Template:Harvcoltxt, it may be a pharyngeal approximant Template:IPAblink.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> In Finnish, a weak pharyngeal fricative is the realization of {{#invoke:IPA|main}} after the vowels {{#invoke:IPA|main}} or {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in syllable-coda position, e.g. tähti {{#invoke:IPA|main}} 'star'.

See also

• Guttural R
• Laryngeal consonant

Bibliography

• Template:Cite book
• Bauer, Michael Blas na Gàidhlig - The Practical Guide to Gaelic Pronunciation (2011), Akerbeltz. Template:ISBN
• Beyer, Klaus (1986). The Aramaic language: its distribution and subdivisions. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. Template:ISBN.
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite conference
• Template:Cite conference
• Template:Citation
• An Introduction to Syriac Studies. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press. Template:ISBN.
• Template:Cite book
• Kyzlasov I.L. Runic scripts of Eurasian steppes, Восточная литература (Eastern Literature), Moscow, 1994, pp. 80 on, Template:ISBN
• Template:SOWL