Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Pharyngealisation
Pharyngealisation is a secondary feature of phonemes in a language. It refers to a constriction of the pharynx produced at the same time as a phoneme is produced.
Not every language utilises pharyngealisation; English, for instance, neglects it from a phonemic point of view. However, in Russian, the letter l represents two phonemes, one traditionally called palatalised, the other called plain. The "plain" l in Russian is realised as l with pharyngealisation.
Ubykh, another language of Russia, also uses pharyngealisation, possessing 14 pharyngealised consonants.
Arabic also uses phonemic secondary pharyngealisation, with the "emphatic" dental consonants in Arabic actually being pharyngealised.
10-26-2009 08:16:03
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The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details