Gutturalspeech 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.
The word guttural literally means 'of the throat' (from
Latinguttur, meaning
throat), and was first used by phoneticians to describe the Hebrew glottal [
ʔ] (א) and [
h] (ה), uvular [
χ] (ח), and pharyngeal [
ʕ] (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 [
ʜ] and [
ʡ], uvular [χ], [
ʁ] and [
q], and velar fricatives [
x] and [
ɣ]. However, it usually excludes sounds used in English, such as the velar stops [
k] and [
ɡ], the velar nasal [
ŋ], and the glottal consonants [h] and [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
French, the only truly guttural sound is (usually) a
uvular fricative (or the
guttural R). In
Portuguese, [ʁ] is becoming dominant in urban areas. There is also a realization as a [χ], and the original pronunciation as an [r] also remains very common in various dialects.
In
Russian, /x/ is assimilated to the
palatalization of the following velar consonant: лёгких [ˈlʲɵxʲkʲɪx]ⓘ. It also has a voiced
allophone[ɣ], which occurs before voiced obstruents.[41] In
Romanian, /h/ becomes the velar [x] in word-final positions (duh 'spirit') and before consonants (hrean 'horseradish').[42] In
Czech, the phoneme /x/ followed by a voiced obstruent can be realized as either [ɦ] or [ɣ], e.g. abych byl[abɪɣ.bɪl]ⓘ.[43]
In
Kyrgyz, the consonant phoneme /k/ has a uvular realisation ([q]) in back vowel contexts. In front-vowel environments, /ɡ/ is fricativised between continuants to [ɣ], and in back vowel environments both /k/ and /ɡ/ fricativise to [χ] and [ʁ] respectively.[44] In
Uyghur, the phoneme /ʁ/ occurs with a back vowel. In the
Mongolian language, /x/ is usually followed by /ŋ/.[45]
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.
^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.
^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
ISBN978-1-907165-00-9
^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
^Savà, Graziano; Tosco, Mauro (2003). "The classification of Ongota". In Bender, M. Lionel; et al. (eds.). Selected comparative-historical Afrasian linguistic studies. LINCOM Europa.
^Haig, Geoffrey; Yaron Matras (2002).
"Kurdish linguistics: a brief overview"(PDF). Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung. 55 (1). Berlin: 5. Archived from
the original(PDF) on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
^Hewitt, George (2004). Introduction to the Study of the Languages of the Caucasus. Munich: Lincom Europaq. p. 49.
^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.
^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,
ISBN5-02-017741-5, with further bibliography.