Advanced and retracted tongue root

<p>In <a href="/facts/Phonetics/ljAVT8fv">phonetics</a>, advanced tongue root (ATR or +ATR), or expanded pharynx, and retracted tongue root (RTR or −ATR) are contrasting states of the <a href="/facts/Pharynx/51F3eVms">pharynx</a> during the <a href="/facts/Pronunciation/zqdlUoDU">pronunciation</a> of <a href="/facts/Vowel/BNhCeFtH">vowels</a> in some languages, especially in <a href="/facts/Western_Africa/oV8Dk0kp">Western</a> and <a href="/facts/Eastern_Africa/WtsAyphI">Eastern Africa</a>, but also in <a href="/facts/Kazakh_language/rh22ccFt">Kazakh</a> and <a href="/facts/Mongolian_language/0Lxog7Md">Mongolian</a>. ATR vs RTR was once suggested to be the basis for the distinction between <a href="/facts/Tenseness/S4IpbaVE">tense and lax vowels</a> in <a href="/facts/European_languages/gYLR8qFS">European languages</a> such as <a href="/facts/German_language/oWaQIDA8">German</a>, but Ladefoged and Maddieson have found that the tongue root position in Germanic languages is not an independent gesture.
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Advanced and retracted tongue root open-in-new

Advanced and retracted tongue root