Guttural sound

Common card · No. 448438

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 heth and 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 also include velar, uvular, or laryngeal consonants. Guttural sounds are typically consonants, but murmured, pharyngealized, glottalized and strident vowels may also be considered guttural in nature. Some phonologists argue that all post-velar sounds constitute a natural class.

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