Advanced and retracted tongue root

In phonetics, advanced tongue root and retracted tongue root, abbreviated ATR or RTR, are contrasting states of the root of the tongue during the pronunciation of vowels in some languages, especially in West and East Africa but also in Kazakh and Mongolian. It used to be suggested that it was the basis for the distinction between tense and lax vowels in European languages such as German, but this no longer seems tenable.

Advanced and retracted tongue root

In phonetics, advanced tongue root and retracted tongue root, abbreviated ATR or RTR, are contrasting states of the root of the tongue during the pronunciation of vowels in some languages, especially in West and East Africa but also in Kazakh and Mongolian. It used to be suggested that it was the basis for the distinction between tense and lax vowels in European languages such as German, but this no longer seems tenable.