Voiced pharyngeal fricative

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IPA – number	145
IPA – text	ʕ
IPA – image
Entity	ʕ
X-SAMPA	?\
Kirshenbaum	H<vcd>
Sound sample (help·info)

The voiced pharyngeal approximant/fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents it is ʕ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is ?\.

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 is known to have a distinct fricative and approximant at this place of articulation.

Contents 1 Features 2 Occurrence 3 See also 4 References 5 Bibliography

[edit] Features

Features of the voiced pharyngeal approximant/fricative:

• Its manner of articulation is approximant, or occasionally fricative, which means it is produced by constricting air flow through a channel at the place of articulation that is not usually narrow enough to cause turbulence.
• Its place of articulation is pharyngeal which means it is articulated with the root of the tongue against the pharynx.
• Its phonation type is voiced, which means the vocal cords are vibrating during the articulation.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
• Because it is pronounced in the throat, without a component in the mouth, the central/lateral dichotomy does not apply.
• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis or the mouth.

[edit] Occurrence

Pharyngeal consonants are not widespread. Many languages claiming to have pharyngeal fricatives or approximants turn out on closer inspection to have epiglottal consonants instead. For example, the candidate ʕ sound in Arabic and standard Hebrew (Israelis of eastern European background generally pronounce this as a glottal stop) has been variously described as a voiced epiglottal fricative, an epiglottal approximant, or a pharyngealized glottal stop.

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Avar		гIоркь	[ʕortɬʼː]	'handle'
Chechen		Iан/jan	[ʕan]	'winter'
Hebrew		עִבְרִית	[ʕivˈɾit]	'Hebrew language'	Sephardic pronunciation. See Hebrew phonology
Kabyle		ɛemmi	[ʕəmmi]	'my (paternal) uncle '
Kurdish		‘ewr	[ʕɑwr]	'cloud'	Kurmanji dialect
Occitan	southern Auvergnat	pala	[ˈpaʕa]	'shovel'
Somali		caadi	[ʕaːdi]	'cane'
Sioux	Nakota	?	[maʕazud]	'rain'

Thelwall (1990) argues that Arabic descriptions of a voiced pharyngeal fricative are incorrect and that Arabic varieties instead possess a pharyngealized glottal stop ([ʔˤ]. An epiglottal fricative has also been reported.^[1]

[edit] See also

• List of phonetics topics

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Ladefoged, Peter & Ian Maddieson (1996), The Sounds of the World's Languages, Blackwell, ISBN 0-631-19815-6
• Thelwall, Robin (1990), "Illustrations of the IPA: Arabic", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 20 (2): 37-41

v • d • e Consonants List · Table Pulmonics Bila​bial Labio​d. Den​tal Alv. Post. Retro​fl. Pal​a​tal Ve​lar Uvu​lar Pha​ryn. Epi​glot​t. Glot​tal Non-pulmonics and other symbols [edit • talk] Nasals m ɱ n̪ n ɳ ɲ ŋ ɴ  Clicks  ʘ ǀ ǃ ǂ ǁ Plosives p b p̪ b̪ t̪ d̪ t d ʈ ɖ c ɟ k ɡ q ɢ ʡ ʔ  Impl.  ɓ ɗ ʄ ɠ ʛ Fricatives ɸ β f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ ʂ ʐ ç ʝ x ɣ χ ʁ ħ ʕ ʜ ʢ h ɦ  Eject.  pʼ tʼ kʼ qʼ sʼ Approxim. ʋ ɹ ɻ j ɰ  Affr.  p̪͡f t͡s d͡z t͡ʃ d͡ʒ t͡ɕ d͡ʑ ʈ͡ʂ ɖ͡ʐ t͡ɬ d͡ɮ Trills ʙ r • ʀ • Other laterals  ɺ • ɫ Flaps / taps ⱱ̟ ⱱ ɾ ɽ • • Co-art. fricatives  ɕ ʑ ɧ Lateral Fric. ɬ ɮ • • • Co-art. approxim.  ʍ w ɥ Lateral Appr. l ɭ ʎ ʟ Co-articulated stops  k͡p ɡ͡b ŋ͡m This table contains phonetic information in IPA, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help] Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant. Shaded areas denote pulmonic articulations judged to be impossible. See also IPA · Vowels