Retracted tongue root, abbreviated RTR or −ATR, is either
- the neutral position of the tongue during the pronunciation of a vowel, contrasting with advanced tongue root, or
- the retraction of the base of the tongue in the pharynx during the pronunciation of a vowel, the opposite articulation of advanced tongue root. In this case it is in effect partial pharyngealization, although it may also contrast with full pharyngealization.
The diacritic for RTR in the International Phonetic Alphabet is the right tack, .
RTR vowels are often called "lax", but this is not consistent between languages or even between vowels in the same language.
Read more about this topic: Advanced And Retracted Tongue Root
Famous quotes containing the words retracted, tongue and/or root:
“For it is wretchedness that endures, shedding its cancerous light on all it approaches:
Words spoken in the heat of passion, that might have been retracted in good time,
All good intentions, all that was arguable.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“As one child psychologist friend of mine explains it with tongue in cheek, your baby only needs a lot of light at night if he’s reading or he’s entertaining guests.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)
“Evil being the root of mystery, pain is the root of knowledge.”
—Simone Weil (1909–1943)