Guttural Explained
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.[1] [2] Some phonologists argue that all post-velar sounds constitute a natural class.[3]
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 pronounced as /link/ (א) and pronounced as /link/ (ה), uvular pronounced as /link/ (ח), and pharyngeal pronounced as /link/ (ע).[4]
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 pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/, uvular pronounced as /[χ]/, pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/, and velar fricatives pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/. However, it usually excludes sounds used in English, such as the velar stops pronounced as /link/ and pronounced as /link/, the velar nasal pronounced as /link/, and the glottal consonants pronounced as /[h]/ and pronounced as /[ʔ]/.[5] [6]
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.[7]
Examples of significant usage
Languages that extensively use [x], [χ], [ʁ], [ɣ] and/or [q] include:
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)
- Cushitic languages (i.e. Somali and Oromo)[22] [23] [24]
- Some Kurdish dialects (as a result of borrowings from Arabic)[25]
- Northeast Caucasian languages (i.e. Chechen, Lezgian, Avar)[26] [27]
- Northwest Caucasian (i.e. Abkhaz, Adyghe, Kabardian).[28] [29]
- Salishan and Wakashan language families in British Columbia[30] [31]
- Semitic languages (i.e. Arabic, Chaldean Neo-Aramaic, Tigre, Tigrinya, Turoyo, Hebrew, Ge’ez)[32] [33]
Examples of partial usage
In French, the only truly guttural sound is (usually) a uvular fricative (or the guttural R). In Portuguese, pronounced as /[ʁ]/ is becoming dominant in urban areas. There is also a realization as a pronounced as /[χ]/, and the original pronunciation as an pronounced as /[r]/ also remains very common in various dialects.
In Russian, pronounced as //x// is assimilated to the palatalization of the following velar consonant: лёгких . It also has a voiced allophone pronounced as /[ɣ]/, which occurs before voiced obstruents.[34] In Romanian, pronounced as //h// becomes the velar pronounced as /[x]/ in word-final positions (duh 'spirit') and before consonants (hrean 'horseradish').[35] In Czech, the phoneme pronounced as //x// followed by a voiced obstruent can be realized as either pronounced as /[ɦ]/ or pronounced as /[ɣ]/, e.g. abych byl .[36]
In Kyrgyz, the consonant phoneme pronounced as //k// has a uvular realisation (pronounced as /[q]/) in back vowel contexts. In front-vowel environments, pronounced as //ɡ// is fricativised between continuants to pronounced as /[ɣ]/, and in back vowel environments both pronounced as //k// and pronounced as //ɡ// fricativise to pronounced as /[χ]/ and pronounced as /[ʁ]/ respectively.[37] In Uyghur, the phoneme pronounced as //ʁ// occurs with a back vowel. In the Mongolian language, pronounced as //x// is usually followed by pronounced as //ŋ//.[38]
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 pronounced as /link/ is an allophone of pronounced as //ʁ// in nucleus and coda positions.[39] In onsets, it is pronounced as a uvular approximant.[39] In Danish, pronounced as //ʁ// may have slight frication, and, according to, it may be a pharyngeal approximant pronounced as /link/. In Finnish, a weak pharyngeal fricative is the realization of pronounced as //h// after the vowels pronounced as //ɑ// or pronounced as //æ// in syllable-coda position, e.g. tähti pronounced as /[tæħti]/ 'star'.
See also
Bibliography
- Book: Abdel-Massih, Ernest T. . A Reference Grammar of Tamazight . 1971b . University of Michigan . Ann Arbor . 0-932098-05-3.
- Bauer, Michael Blas na Gàidhlig - The Practical Guide to Gaelic Pronunciation (2011), Akerbeltz.
- Beyer, Klaus (1986). The Aramaic language: its distribution and subdivisions. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. .
- Book: Brenzinger, Matthias . Language Diversity Endangered . 2007 . Mouton de Gruyter . Berlin . 978-3-11-017049-8.
- Chaker . Salem . Salem Chaker . Tira n Tmaziɣt – propositions pour la notation usuelle a base latine du berbere . 1996 . Problèmes en suspens de la notation usuelle à base latine du berbère . . Paris . December 20, 2009 . fr . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20081129231121/http://www.inalco.fr/crb/docs_pdf/notation.pdf . November 29, 2008.
- Creissels . Denis . 2006 . The construct form of nouns in African languages: a typological approach . 36th Colloquium on African Languages and Linguistics . http://www.hum.leidenuniv.nl/tca/onderzoek/call/call2006.html . 2010-03-21 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110728031837/http://www.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/fulltext/Creissels/Creissels_2006c.pdf . 2011-07-28 . dead.
- An Introduction to Syriac Studies. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press. .
- Book: Kavitskaya . Darya . Crimean Tatar . 2010 . Munich . Lincom Europa.
- Kyzlasov I.L. Runic scripts of Eurasian steppes, Восточная литература (Eastern Literature), Moscow, 1994, pp. 80 on,
Notes and References
- Miller . Amanda . Guttural vowels and guttural co-articulation in Juǀʼhoansi . Journal of Phonetics . 35 . 1 . 56 - 84 . 2007 . 10.1016/j.wocn.2005.11.001.
- Book: Pullum . Geoffrey K. . Geoffrey K. Pullum . Ladusaw . William . Phonetic Symbol Guide . University of Chicago Press . Second . 1996 . Chicago . 978-0226685359. Phonetic Symbol Guide .
- Scott Moisik, Ewa Czaykowska-Higgins & John Esling (2021) Phonological potentials and the lower vocal tract
- See Oxford English Dictionary entry
- McCarthy, John J. 1989. 'Guttural Phonology', ms., University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
- McCarthy, John J. Forthcoming. 'Guttural Transparency', ms., University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
- Hayward, K. M. and Hayward, R. J. 1989. '"Guttural": Arguments for a New Distinctive Feature', Transactions of the Philological Society 87: 179-193.
- Web site: John Wells's phonetic blog: velar or uvular?. 5 December 2011. 12 February 2015.
- Beyer, Klaus (1986). The Aramaic language: its distribution and subdivisions. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht. .
- [Sebastian Brock|Brock, Sebastian]
- Shiraliyev, Mammadagha. The Baku Dialect. Azerbaijan SSR Academy of Sciences Publ.: Baku, 1957; p. 41
- 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.
- For a history of the German consonants see Fausto Cercignani, The Consonants of German: Synchrony and Diachrony, Milano, Cisalpino, 1979.
- Boeder (2002), p. 3
- Boeder (2005), p. 6
- Gamkrelidze (1966), p. 69
- Fähnrich & Sardzhveladze (2000)
- Book: Habib, Abdul . The Two Thousand Years Old Language of Afghanistan or The Mother of Dari Language (An Analysis of the Baghlan Inscription) . Historical Society of Afghanistan. 1967 . 6.
- 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.
- Bauer, Michael Blas na Gàidhlig - The Practical Guide to Gaelic Pronunciation (2011) Akerbeltz
- A Beginners' Guide to Tajiki by Azim Baizoyev and John Hayward, Routledge, London and New York, 2003, p. 3
- Richard Hayward, "Afroasiatic", in Heine & Nurse, 2000, African Languages
- Book: Savà. Graziano. Tosco. Mauro. Selected comparative-historical Afrasian linguistic studies. 2003. LINCOM Europa. Bender. M. Lionel. The classification of Ongota. etal.
- Sands. Bonny. 2009. Africa's Linguistic Diversity. Language and Linguistics Compass. 3. 2. 559–580. 10.1111/j.1749-818x.2008.00124.x.
- Haig. Geoffrey. Yaron Matras. 2002. Kurdish linguistics: a brief overview. Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung. Berlin. 55. 1. 5. 27 April 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20131014172019/http://www.uni-bamberg.de/fileadmin/aspra/bib-haig/kurdish_linguistics_a_brief.pdf. 14 October 2013. dead.
- Book: Hewitt, George. Introduction to the Study of the Languages of the Caucasus. 2004. Lincom Europaq. Munich. 49.
- Book: Plaster, Keith. Noun classes grow on trees: noun classification in the North-East Caucasus. Language and Representations (Tentative). 20 April 2013. etal.
- 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.
- Row 7 in Web site: ru:Приложение 6: Население Российской Федерации по владению языками . Appendix 6: Population of the Russian Federation by languages used . http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/population/demo/per-itog/tab6.xls . ru . XLS . 2015-02-21 . 2021-10-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211006173252/http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/population/demo/per-itog/tab6.xls . dead .
- Web site: First Nations Culture Areas Index . the Canadian Museum of Civilization.
- Book: Jorgensen
, Joseph G.
. Indiana University. Salishan language and culture. Bloomington, IN. Language science monographs. 1969. 105.
- .
- Garnier. Romain. Jacques. Guillaume. A neglected phonetic law: The assimilation of pretonic yod to a following coronal in North-West Semitic. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 75. 135–145. 2012. 1. 10.1017/s0041977x11001261. 10.1.1.395.1033. 16649580 .
- Book: Аванесов, Р. И.. Русское литературное произношение. 1984. Просвещение. М.. 145–167.
- Web site: Ovidiu Drăghici. Limba Română contemporană. Fonetică. Fonologie. Ortografie. Lexicologie. April 19, 2013.
- Kučera, H. (1961). The Phonology of Czech. s’ Gravenhage: Mouton & Co.
- Кызласов И. Л., Рунические письменности евразийских степей (Kyzlasov I.L. Runic scripts of Eurasian steppes), Восточная литература (Eastern Literature), Moscow, 1994, pp. 80 on,, with further bibliography.
- Web site: Vowels in Mongolian speech: deletions and epenthesis . Anastasia Mukhanova Karlsson . 2014-07-26.
- Web site: Pharyngeals and "lax" vowel quality. Markus Hiller. Institut für Deutsche Sprache. Mannheim. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140528010540/http://www.ncl.ac.uk/linguistics/assets/documents/MarcusHiller.pdf. 2014-05-28.