guttural (adj./n.)

In some models of FEATURE GEOMETRY, a NODE proposed to represent a NATURAL CLASS of sounds articulated between the LARYNX and the upper PHARYNX (GLOTTAL, pharyngeal, and UVULAR sounds). In some approaches, it is characterized by the feature [guttural]; in other cases by [pharyngeal]. The term has a history of use in the description of Semitic languages, but it will also be heard in popular, impressionistic accounts of BACK CONSONANT sounds (or languages which contain such sounds, ‘gutturals’) – a usage (e.g. ‘Welsh is a very guttural language’) which has no status in PHONETICS or LINGUISTICS.