Advanced and retracted tongue root

<h2 id="advanced-tongue-root">Advanced tongue root</h2>
<p>Advanced tongue root, abbreviated ATR or +ATR, also called expanded,<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> involves the expansion of the <a href="/facts/Human_pharynx/51F3eVms">pharyngeal cavity</a> by moving the base of the tongue forward, lowering the <a href="/facts/Larynx/0bhtXI3Q">larynx</a>, and otherwise expanding the walls of the pharynx during the pronunciation of a vowel.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> This may result in +ATR vowels being longer than −ATR vowels. The lowering of the larynx sometimes adds a <a href="/facts/Breathy_voice/ynD4GYNn">breathy</a> quality to the vowel.
</p><p><a href="/facts/Voice_(phonetics)/VdqrEGQ3">Voiced</a> <a href="/facts/Stop_consonant/okC9pztc">stops</a> such as [<a href="/facts/Voiced_bilabial_plosive/6ReC9arR">b</a>], [<a href="/facts/Voiced_alveolar_plosive/A6hNvmCp">d</a>], [<a href="/facts/Voiced_velar_plosive/f6udTvfQ">ɡ</a>] can often involve non-contrastive tongue root advancement. Results can be seen occasionally in sound changes relating stop voicing and vowel frontness, such as voicing stop consonants before <a href="/facts/Front_vowel/htKQs3AT">front vowels</a> in the <a href="/facts/Oghuz_Turkic/pvQk67uf">Oghuz Turkic</a> languages; or in <a href="/facts/Adjarian%2527s_law/QENThHCX">Adjarian's law</a>: the fronting of vowels after voiced stops in certain dialects of <a href="/facts/Armenian_language/tELuE2wG">Armenian</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a>
</p><p>True <a href="/facts/Uvular_consonant/XA5mSSKK">uvular consonants</a> appear to be incompatible with advanced tongue root, i.e. they are inherently [−ATR]. Combined with the above tendency for voiced stops to be [+ATR], that motivates the extreme rarity of the <a href="/facts/Voiced_uvular_stop/hRu2fcIl">voiced uvular stop</a> [ɢ] compared to its voiceless counterpart [q].<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a>
</p><p>The <a href="/facts/International_Phonetic_Alphabet/2e7jmUaG">International Phonetic Alphabet</a> represents ATR with a "left tack" <a href="/facts/Diacritic/Rw6lMzQW">diacritic</a>, [ ꭪ ].
</p><p>In languages in which they occur, advanced-tongue-root vowels very often contrast with retracted tongue root (RTR) vowels in a system of <a href="/facts/Vowel_harmony/oQfPrTWV">vowel harmony</a>, which occurs commonly in large parts of West Africa.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a>
</p><p>ATR vowels involve a certain tension in the tongue, often in the <a href="/facts/Lip/cUlpthmx">lips</a> and jaw as well; the ear can often perceive this tension as a "brightness" (narrow <a href="/facts/Formant/hCS6VoR3">formants</a>) compared to RTR vowels. Nonetheless, phoneticians do not refer to ATR vowels as <i>tense vowels</i> since the word <i><a href="/facts/Tenseness/S4IpbaVE">tense</a></i> already has several meanings in European phonetics.
</p>
<h2 id="retracted-tongue-root">Retracted tongue root</h2>
<p>Retracted tongue root, abbreviated RTR, is the retraction of the base of the tongue in the pharynx during the pronunciation of a vowel, the opposite articulation of advanced tongue root. This type of vowel has also been referred to as <a href="/facts/Pharyngealization/yesDa9qg">pharyngealized</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a> 
</p><p>The neutral position of the tongue during the pronunciation of a vowel, contrasting with advanced tongue root and thus marked -ATR, is also sometimes referred to as retracted tongue root.
</p><p>The diacritic for RTR in the <a href="/facts/International_Phonetic_Alphabet/2e7jmUaG">International Phonetic Alphabet</a> is the right tack, [ ꭫ ].
</p>
<h2 id="tongue-root-position-and-vowel-harmony">Tongue root position and vowel harmony</h2>
<p>As mentioned above, many African languages, such as <a href="/facts/Maasai_language/LHosesJg">Maasai</a>, have systems of <a href="/facts/Vowel_harmony/oQfPrTWV">vowel harmony</a> based on tongue root position. That is illustrated here with the <a href="/facts/Fante_dialect/CDGu568h">Fante dialect</a> of <a href="/facts/Akan_language/yE0TY0YH">Akan</a>, which has fifteen vowels: five +ATR vowels, five −ATR vowels, and five <a href="/facts/Nasal_vowel/E8MYuu0T">nasal vowels</a>. 
</p>
Fante ±ATR vowels<table><tbody><tr><th>Ortho-graphy</th><th>+ATRvalue</th><th>−ATRvalue</th><th>Approx. Europeanequivalents</th></tr><tr><th>i</th><td>/i̘/</td><td></td><td>[i]</td></tr><tr><th>e</th><td>/e̘/</td><td>/i/</td><td>[e], [ɪ]</td></tr><tr><th>ɛ</th><td></td><td>/e/</td><td>[ɛ]</td></tr><tr><th>a</th><td>/a̘/</td><td>/a/</td><td>[æ], [ɑ]</td></tr><tr><th>ɔ</th><td></td><td>/o/</td><td>[ɔ]</td></tr><tr><th>o</th><td>/o̘/</td><td>/u/</td><td>[o], [ʊ]</td></tr><tr><th>u</th><td>/u̘/</td><td></td><td>[u]</td></tr></tbody></table>
<p>There are two harmonization rules that govern the vowels that may co-occur in a word:
</p>
<ol><li>All −ATR vowels become +ATR when followed by a peripheral +ATR vowel (/i̘ a̘ u̘/). That is, orthographic <i>e ɛ a ɔ o</i> become <i>i e a o u</i> before <i>i u</i> and sometimes before <i>a.</i></li>
<li>As long as it does not conflict with the previous rule, the +ATR mid vowels (/e̘ o̘/) become −ATR high vowels (/i u/) when preceded by a −ATR non-high vowel (/e a o/). (It is not reflected in the orthography; underlying and surface vowels are both spelled <i>e o.</i>)</li></ol>
<p>In the <a href="/facts/Asante_dialect/mS33HXkk">Asante dialect</a>, the ±ATR distinction has merged in the <a href="/facts/Low_vowel/roS0Y7lA">low vowel</a> and so /a/ is harmonically neutral, occurring with either set of vowels. In addition, the two vowels written <i>e</i> (/e̘/ and /i/) and <i>o</i> (/o̘/ and /u/) are often not distinguished and are approximately equivalent to European [e] and [o], as reflected in the orthography; for such people, the second harmonization rule does not apply.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a>
</p>
<h2 id="tongue-root-and-phonation">Tongue root and phonation</h2>
<p>With advances in <a href="/facts/Fiber_optics/5ruuIFbj">fiber-optic</a> <a href="/facts/Laryngoscopy/tCclGuJ5">laryngoscopy</a> at the end of the twentieth century, new types of <a href="/facts/Phonation/u2IGLdgG">phonation</a> were discovered that involve more of the <a href="/facts/Larynx/0bhtXI3Q">larynx</a> than just the <a href="/facts/Glottis/ClsRRUkM">glottis</a>. One of the few languages studied thus far, the <a href="/facts/Togolese/mt3MEetg">Togolese</a> language <a href="/facts/Kabiy%25C3%25A9_language/we604hgd">Kabiyé</a>, has a vocalic distinction that had been assumed to be one of tongue root. However, it turned out to be a phonation distinction of <a href="/facts/Faucalized_voice/lb6fe2IA">faucalized voice</a> versus <a href="/facts/Harsh_voice/TeNLTskV">harsh voice</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a>
</p><p>It is not yet clear whether that is characteristic of ±ATR distinctions in general.
</p>
<h2 id="additional-images">Additional images</h2>

<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Click_consonant/qdv9xIKR">The back-vowel constraint</a>, an effect of tongue-root retraction in some click consonants.</li></ul>

<h2 id="sources">Sources</h2>
<ul><li>Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). <i>The Sounds of the World's Languages</i>. Oxford: Blackwell.</li></ul>
<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~maasai/Maa%20Language/ATR.htm">Maasai Vowels</a>, with audio examples of [+ATR] and [-ATR]</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Ladefoged & Maddieson 1996, p. 304. - Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Ladefoged & Maddieson 1996, p. 300. - Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>Kirkham, Sam; Nance, Claire (2017). "An acoustic-articulatory study of bilingual vowel production: Advanced tongue root vowels in Twi and tense/lax vowels in Ghanaian English". Journal of Phonetics. 62: 65–81. doi:10.1016/j.wocn.2017.03.004. Retrieved 5 January 2024. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095447016300638" target="_blank">https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095447016300638</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>Vaux, Bert (1999). "A Note on Pharyngeal Features". Harvard Working Papers in Linguistics. <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>Vaux, Bert (1999). "A Note on Pharyngeal Features". Harvard Working Papers in Linguistics. <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:6"><p>Ladefoged & Maddieson 1996, p. 300; 306. - Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:7"><p>Ladefoged & Maddieson 1996, p. 306. - Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:8"><p>J.E. Redden and N. Owusu (1963, 1995). Twi Basic Course. Foreign Service Institute (Hippocrene reprint). <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:9"><p>Edmondson, Jerold A.; John H. Esling (2005). The valves of the throat and their functioning in tone, vocal register, and stress: laryngoscopic case studies. <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Advanced and retracted tongue root open-in-new

Advanced and retracted tongue root