Experiments on the perception of consonants have indicated that the direction of a formant transition may be a cue to the perception of either place of articulation or manner of articulation, and that directions of second‐ and third‐formant transitions are related to place of articulation (labial, dental, velar, etc.), whereas the direction of first‐formant transitions is related to manner of articulation (plosive, fricative, nasal, etc.). A study of the five plosive and fricative phrayngeals of Arabic suggests that the direction of first‐formant transitions may act as a cue for the perception of consonantalplaceof articulation.