pharyngeal (adj./n.)

A term used in the PHONETIC classification of CONSONANT sounds on the basis of their PLACE OF ARTICULATION: it refers to a sound made in the pharynx, the tubular cavity which constitutes the throat above the LARYNX. Pharyngeal consonants occur in Arabic, for example. They do not occur as speech sounds in English, but similar effects can be heard in stage whispers, as when hey, said forcefully in a whisper, is produced with a pharyngeal ‘rasp’. The general term pharyngealization refers to any articulation involving a constriction of the pharynx. A pharyngealized [s], for example, is a SECONDARY ARTICULATION produced by simultaneously constricting the pharynx while making the [s] articulation; the auditory result would be a sound with a somewhat central and husky resonance (transcribed ). Pharyngealized sounds are transcribed with [~] placed through the letter.