Transverse optical phonons have been studied in (NH 4 I) 0.3 (KI) 0.7 , (ND 4 I) 0.3 (KI) 0.7 and (NH 4 Br) 0.3 (KBr) 0.7 using Fourier-transform infrared techniques. In all materials three phonon modes have been observed in the far-infrared regime and were followed as a function of temperature in detail. While the first low-frequency mode characterizes a sublattice motion of the alkali ions against the halogenides K + ↔ I − and K + ↔ Br − , the second mode involves vibrations of the ammonium molecules against the halogenide ions NH 4 + ↔ I − , ND 4 + ↔ I − and HH 4 + ↔ Br − . Despite the fact that the average symmetry of these crystals is cubic, the transitional and orientational disorder locally breaks the cubic symmetry, the infra-red selection rules are relaxed and, hence, a third phonon contribution appears. Deviations of the temperature dependence of the eigenfrequencies, as expected for anharmonic modes, are interpreted in terms of a rotation-translation coupling where the phonon modes interact with the orientational degrees of freedom.