Uvularization is a secondary articulation of

consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wi ...

s or

vowel A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (leng ...

s by which the back of the tongue is constricted toward the

uvula The palatine uvula, usually referred to as simply the uvula, is a conic projection from the back edge of the middle of the soft palate, composed of connective tissue containing a number of racemose glands, and some muscular fibers. It also conta ...

and upper

pharynx The pharynx (plural: pharynges) is the part of the throat behind the mouth and nasal cavity, and above the oesophagus and trachea (the tubes going down to the stomach and the lungs). It is found in vertebrates and invertebrates, though its st ...

during the articulation of a sound with its primary articulation elsewhere.

IPA symbols

In the

International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation ...

, uvularization can be indicated by the symbol (a superscript voiced uvular approximant (inverted small capital R)) after the letter standing for the consonant that is uvularized, as in (the uvularized equivalent of ). This is specified in

VoQS Voice Quality Symbols (VoQS) are a set of phonetic symbols used to transcribe disordered speech for what in speech pathology is known as "voice quality". This phrase is usually synonymous with phonation in phonetics, but in speech pathology encom ...

standards.

Occurrence

Uvularized consonants are often not distinguished from

pharyngealized consonant Pharyngealization is a secondary articulation of consonants or vowels by which the pharynx or epiglottis is constricted during the articulation of the sound. IPA symbols In the International Phonetic Alphabet, pharyngealization can be indicated b ...

s, and they may be transcribed as if they were pharyngealized. In

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

and several other Semitic and Berber languages, uvularization is the defining characteristic of the series of " emphatic" coronal consonants. Uvularized consonants in standard Arabic are , , , , . Regionally there is also and . Other consonants, and vowels, may be phonetically uvularized. In Greenlandic, long vowels are uvularized before

uvular consonant Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be stops, fricatives, nasals, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not p ...

s, and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

speakers retaining the Northumbrian Burr are reported to both uvularize and retract vowels followed by a rhotic.Wells, J. (1982) Accents of English, 3 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

References

{{articulation navbox Phonetics Uvular consonants Secondary articulation