Acoustic Characteristics of Arabic Pharyngeal and Pharyngealized Consonants

Abstract

Spectrographic data were examined in order to find an acoustic correlate for the classification of "emphatic" in traditional Arabic phonology. It was found that an emphatic consonant affects the steady state and transition of a preceding or following consonant. The upper pharyngeal / lower pharyngeal pairs were found to resemble nonemphatic / emphatic pairs.