Co-articulated consonants or complex consonants are consonants produced with two simultaneous
places of articulation
In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a consonant is an approximate location along the vocal tract where its production occurs. It is a point where a constriction is made between an active and a pa ...
. They may be divided into two classes:
doubly articulated consonants with two primary places of articulation of the same
manner (both stop, or both nasal, ''etc''.), and consonants with
secondary articulation
In phonetics, secondary articulation occurs when the articulation of a consonant is equivalent to the combined articulations of two or three simpler consonants, at least one of which is an approximant. The secondary articulation of such co-articu ...
, that is, a second articulation not of the same manner.
Doubly articulated consonants
An example of a doubly articulated consonant is the
voiceless labial-velar stop , which is pronounced simultaneously at the
velum (a
and at the lips (a
.
In practically all languages of the world that have doubly articulated consonants, these are either
clicks or
labial-velars.
Consonants with secondary articulation
An example of a consonant with secondary articulation is the voiceless
labialized velar stop has only a single stop articulation,
velar with a simultaneous
approximant-like rounding of the lips.
There is a large number of common secondary articulations. The most frequently encountered are
labialization
Labialization is a secondary articulatory feature of sounds in some languages. Labialized sounds involve the lips while the remainder of the oral cavity produces another sound. The term is normally restricted to consonants. When vowels invol ...
(such as ),
palatalization (such as the
Russian "soft" consonants like ),
velarization
Velarization merican spelling/small> or velarisation ritish spelling/sup> is a secondary articulation of consonants by which the back of the tongue is raised toward the velum during the articulation of the consonant.
In the International Ph ...
(such as the
English "dark" el ), and
pharyngealization
Pharyngealization is a secondary articulation of consonants or vowels by which the pharynx or epiglottis is constricted during the articulation of the sound.
IPA symbols
In the International Phonetic Alphabet, pharyngealization can be indicate ...
(such as the
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
emphatic consonants like ).
Distinction between the two classes
As might be expected from the approximant-like nature of secondary articulation, it is not always easy to tell whether a co-articulated
approximant consonant
Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough nor with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do prod ...
such as is doubly or secondarily articulated. In some English dialects, for example, is a
labialized velar that could be transcribed as .
Similar phones
The
glottis
The glottis (: glottises or glottides) is the opening between the vocal folds (the rima glottidis). The glottis is crucial in producing sound from the vocal folds.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ''γλωττίς'' (glōttís), derived from ''γ ...
controls
phonation
The term phonation has slightly different meanings depending on the subfield of phonetics. Among some phoneticians, ''phonation'' is the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration. This is the defi ...
, and works simultaneously with many consonants. It is not normally considered an articulator, and an
ejective
In phonetics, ejective consonants are usually voiceless consonants that are pronounced with a glottalic egressive airstream. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated, voiced and tenuis consonants. Some l ...
such as , with simultaneous closure of the velum and glottis, is not normally considered to be a co-articulated consonant.
See also
*
List of phonetics topics
A
* Acoustic phonetics
* Active articulator
* Affricate
* Airstream mechanism
* Alexander John Ellis
* Alexander Melville Bell
* Alfred C. Gimson
* Allophone
* Alveolar approximant ()
* Alveolar click ()
* Alveolar consonant
* Alveolar e ...
*
Gemination
In phonetics and phonology, gemination (; from Latin 'doubling', itself from '' gemini'' 'twins'), or consonant lengthening, is an articulation of a consonant for a longer period of time than that of a singleton consonant. It is distinct from ...
*
Voiceless labial–palatal fricative
References
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