A study of the laryngeal and pharyngeal consonants in Jordanian Arabic using nasoendoscopy, videofluoroscopy and spectrography

Instrumental data from seven speakers of Jordanian Arabic are analysed to gain further understanding of the production of the laryngeal and pharyngeal phonemes and their phonetic and phonological relationships. Results from nasoendoscopy and videofluoroscopy show that the extent of retraction of the epiglottis into the pharynx and over the glottis is an important factor distinguishing between laryngeals on the one hand and pharyngeals on the other. Spectrographic analysis identifies degree of approximation of F1 and F2 as the principal acoustic correlate of the distinction, and psychoacoustic analysis shows that auditory integration of F1 and F2 takes place in open vowels in the context of the pharyngeals but not the laryngeals. The chapter concludes by suggesting that Esling’s model of the laryngeal articulator can coherently justify a phonological analysis in which the pharyngeals are regarded as the emphatic counterparts of the laryngeals, i.e. as emphatic laryngeals.