retracted tongue root

retracted tongue root (plural retracted tongue roots)

1. (linguistics, often attributive) An articulation involving retraction of the tongue root.

   Coordinate term: advanced tongue root

   • 1996, Peter Ladefoged, Ian Maddieson, The Sounds of the World's Languages:

     The high back retracted tongue root vowel is always further back than its counterpart, rather than further forward, as is the case for the traditional lax back vowels.

   • 2001, Barry F. Carlson, John H. Esling, Katie Fraser, “Nuuchahnulth”, in Journal of the International Phonetic Association, volume 31, number 2:

     /ʕ/ is typically realized as an epiglottal stop, gliding as a pharyngeal approximant into a following retracted-tongue-root vowel, as in [ʡˤʊ̙maː] ‘water flowing from a spout’.