Secondary and Double Articulation

This chapter deals with two categories of “complex segments,” viz. consonants with secondary articulation, such as /kw/ or /lɣ/ (= /ɫ/ ‘darkl’), and consonants that involve two articulations of equal status, such as / /. The main difference between these two types of sounds is that in the former there is a major (“consonantal”) articulatory stricture on which a vowel‐like minor articulation is superimposed, while in the latter the two articulations have a stricture type of equal status (typically, stop or nasal). While consonants with secondary articulation are very common in the languages of the world, consonants with double articulation are much rarer.