Editing Uvular consonant (section)

==Phonological representation==
In [[Distinctive feature|featural]] [[phonology]], uvular consonants are most often considered to contrast with [[velar consonant]]s in terms of being [–high] and [+back]. Prototypical uvulars also appear to be [-ATR].<ref name="Vaux99"/>

Two variants can then be established. Since [[palatalization (phonetics)|palatalized]] consonants are [-back], the appearance of palatalized uvulars in a few languages such as [[Ubykh language|Ubykh]] is difficult to account for. According to Vaux (1999), they possibly hold the features [+high], [-back], [-ATR], the last being the distinguishing feature from a palatalized velar consonant.