Voiced pharyngeal fricative

A voiced pharyngeal fricative or approximant is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is Template:Angbr IPA.

Although the official classification of manner for this sound in the IPA is a fricative, spectrographic and acoustic studies have found that it is most often realized as an approximant.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The IPA symbol itself is ambiguous, as no language is known to make a phonemic distinction between voiced pharyngeal fricatives and approximants. For clarity, the approximant may be distinguished with the IPA diacritic for lowering, such as Template:Angbr IPA.<ref name="esling2010">Template:Cite book</ref> Additionally, laryngoscopic studies by John Esling have shown the vowel Template:IPAalink to have distinct pharyngeal constriction and resonance in its articulation,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> making Template:Angbr IPA the analogous semivowel of Template:Angbr IPA. Esling furthers this notion in his expanded notation of the IPA chart; alongside merging pharyngeal and epiglottal consonants into a single column, he suggests that if it were spatially possible to align the vowel chart with the consonant chart, so that the relations between vowels and their semivowel counterparts are maintained (such as Template:IPAalink below Template:IPAalink and Template:IPAalink below Template:IPAalink), then the vowels Template:Angbr IPA and Template:IPAalink should be placed under the combined pharyngeal/epiglottal column.<ref name="esling2010" />

The IPA letter Template:Angbr IPA is caseless. Capital Template:Angbr and lower-case Template:Angbr were added to Unicode in September, 2025 with version 17.0.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Features

Features of a voiced pharyngeal approximant fricative:

Occurrence

Pharyngeal consonants are not widespread. Sometimes, a pharyngeal approximant develops from a uvular approximant. Many languages that have been described as having pharyngeal fricatives or approximants turn out on closer inspection to have epiglottal consonants instead. For example, the candidate {{#invoke:IPA|main}} sound in Arabic and standard Hebrew (not modern Hebrew – Israelis generally pronounce this as a glottal stop) has been variously described as a voiced epiglottal fricative {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, an epiglottal approximant {{#invoke:IPA|main}},<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> or a pharyngealized glottal stop {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Abaza		lang}}/Template:Transliteration	main}}	'March'
Afar		damaqtu	[dʌmʌʕtu]	'male baboon'
Arabic		lang}}/Template:Transliteration	main}}	'Arabic'	See Arabic phonology
Aramaic	Eastern	{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}/Template:Transliteration	main}}	'door'	The majority of the speakers will pronounce the word as {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.
	Western		main}}
Avar		lang}}/Template:Transliteration/{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	main}}	'handle'
Chechen		lang}}/{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}/{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	Template:Audio-IPA	'winter'
Coeur d'Alene<ref name="doak97">Template:Cite thesis</ref>		lang}}	main}}	'antelope'
Danish	Standard<ref name="SOWL323">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>	lang}}	main}}]	'raven'	An approximant;<ref name="SOWL323" /> also described as uvular Template:IPAblink.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> See Danish phonology
Dhao<ref>Template:Cite conference</ref>		{{#invoke:IPA|main}}		'and'	Phonetic status is not clear, but it has "extremely limited distribution". It may not be pronounced at all or be realized as a glottal stop.
Dutch	Limburg<ref name="CoMe">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>	lang}}	main}}	'wheel'	main}}.<ref name="CoMe"/> Realization of {{#invoke:IPA|main}} varies considerably among dialects. See Dutch phonology
German	Some speakers<ref name="dud51">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>	lang}}	Template:Audio-IPA	'mother'	An approximant; occurs in East Central Germany, Southwestern Germany, parts of Switzerland and in Tyrol.<ref name="dud51"/> See Standard German phonology
	Swabian dialect<ref name="Hiller">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref> || {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} || {{#invoke:IPA|main}} || 'changes' || An approximant.<ref name="Hiller"/> It's an allophone of {{#invoke:IPA|main}} in nucleus and coda positions;<ref name="Hiller"/> pronounced as a uvular approximant in onsets.<ref name="Hiller"/>
Hebrew	Iraqi	{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}/Template:Transliteration	main}}	'Hebrew language'	See Modern Hebrew phonology
	Sephardi		main}}
	Yemenite		Template:Audio-IPA
Ingush		lang}}	[ʕaddal]	'Archer'
Judeo-Spanish<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>|| Haketia || {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}|| {{#invoke:IPA|main}}|| 'Morocco' || Only appears in Hebrew and Arabic loanwords.
Kabyle<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref>		lang}}	main}}	'my (paternal) uncle'
Kurdish	Kurmanji	lang}}/{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	main}}	'cloud'	The sound is usually not written in the Latin alphabet, but Template:Angbr can be used.
Khalaj	Standard	lang}}	main}}	'side'
Luwati		lang}}	main}}	'castle'	Used in Arabic loanwords
Malay	Kedah	lang}}/{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	main}}	'to burn'	main}} in Standard Malay. Could be voiced velar fricative [[[:Template:IPA link]]] for some speakers.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Prevocalically and intervocalically, Standard Malay {{#invoke:IPA|main}} corresponds to Template:IPAslink in Kedah Malay. See Kedah Malay
Maltese		lang}}	main}}	'tomorrow'
Mehri<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>		lang}}/{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	main}}	'eye'
Nuu-chah-nulth		ʕiiniƛ	main}}	'dog'	May be a plosive {{#invoke:IPA|main}}
Occitan	Southern AuvergnatTemplate:Citation needed	lang}}	main}}	'shovel'	See Occitan phonology
Okanagan<ref name="pattison1978">Pattison, Lois Cornelia. "Douglas Lake Okanagan: Phonology and Morphology." University of British Columbia. 1978.</ref>		ʕaymt	main}}	'angry'
Pilagá<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>	lang}}	main}}	'moon'	See Pilagá phonology
Tarifit		lang}}/{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	main}}	'probably'	See Tarifit phonology
Salish<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>	lang}}	main}}	'it’s melted'
Shehri<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>		lang}}/{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	[ɬaʕb]	'valley'	See Shehri phonology
Sioux	Stoney	lang}}	main}}	'rain'
Somali<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref>	lang}}/{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}	[ʕaːno]	'milk'	See Somali phonology
Soqotri<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation		CitationClass=web }}</ref> || {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}/{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} || {{#invoke:IPA|main}} || 'raven' ||See Soqotri phonology
UkrainianTemplate:Citation needed		lang}}	Template:Audio-IPA	'voice'	Also described as glottal Template:IPAblink. See Ukrainian phonology

See also

• Modifier letter left half ring
• Index of phonetics articles
• Voiced uvular fricative
• Glottal stop
• Ayin

General references

• Template:Citation
• Template:Citation
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• Template:SOWL
• Template:Cite journal

External links

• Template:Phoible