Glottal stop, glottalized resonants, and pharyngeals: A reinterpretation with evidence from a laryngoscopic study of Nuuchahnulth (Nootka)

The articulatory mechanisms involved in the production of glottal stop, glottalized resonants, and pharyngeals are examined laryngoscopically in the Wakashan language, Nuuchahnulth (Ahousaht dialect). Early linguistic descriptions and historical definitions suggested that a glottal stop is a component of the glottalized resonant series and perhaps of the pharyngeal /ʕ/; however, it has been unclear where and to what degree an occlusion can be found in the production of these sounds. To address the theoretical issue of the phonetic relationship between glottal, pharyngeal, and epiglottal articulations, we use the sounds of Nuuchahnulth and of other languages we have observed in formulating a revised theory of cardinal categories of pharyngeal and laryngeal articulations. We present direct visual evidence that the initial voiced glottalized resonant consonants of Nuuchahnulth are a product of the addition of a moderate glottal stop occurring before the resonant and that the pharyngeal /ʕ/ contains a voiceless epiglottal stop followed by a voiced pharyngeal approximant. Our evidence suggests that pharyngeals /ʕ/ and /ħ/ are not only lingually retracted but are primarily a function of an aryepiglottic laryngeal constriction mechanism. Measurements of the duration of articulatory events confirm that glottalized resonants are almost twice the length of nonglottalized segments. We also find that the pharyngeals /ʕ/ and /ħ/ involve an even longer articulatory sequence than glottalized consonants, most likely as a function of the greater distance which the articulators have to travel. These findings imply a revised interpretation of the relationship of glottals to pharyngeals in articulatory theory, including the conceptualization of how constriction occurs in the larynx and in the pharynx and the rank ordering of strictures proposed within taxonomic theory.