Ejective consonant

Template:Short description Template:More citations needed Template:IPA non-pulmonic consonants Template:IPA notice In phonetics, ejective consonants are usually voiceless consonants that are pronounced with a glottalic egressive airstream. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated, voiced and tenuis consonants. Some languages have glottalized sonorants with creaky voice that pattern with ejectives phonologically, and other languages have ejectives that pattern with implosives, which has led to phonologists positing a phonological class of glottalic consonants, which includes ejectives.

Description

In producing an ejective, the stylohyoid muscle and digastric muscle contract, causing the hyoid bone and the connected glottis to rise, and the forward articulation (at the velum in the case of ) is held, raising air pressure greatly in the mouth so when the oral articulators separate, there is a dramatic burst of air. The Adam's apple may be seen moving when the sound is pronounced. In the languages in which they are more obvious, ejectives are often described as sounding like "spat" consonants, but ejectives are often quite weak. In some contexts and in some languages, they are easy to mistake for tenuis or even voiced stops. These weakly ejective articulations are sometimes called intermediates in older American linguistic literature and are notated with different phonetic symbols: Template:Angbr IPA = strongly ejective, Template:Angbr IPA = weakly ejective. Strong and weak ejectives have not been found to be contrastive in any natural language.

In strict, technical terms, ejectives are glottalic egressive consonants. The most common ejective is even if it is more difficult to produce than other ejectives like or because the auditory distinction between and is greater than with other ejectives and voiceless consonants of the same place of articulation. In proportion to the frequency of uvular consonants, is even more common, as would be expected from the very small oral cavity used to pronounce a voiceless uvular stop. , on the other hand, is quite rare. That is the opposite pattern to what is found in the implosive consonants, in which the bilabial is common and the velar is rare.

Ejective fricatives are rare for presumably the same reason: with the air escaping from the mouth while the pressure is being raised, like inflating a leaky bicycle tire, it is harder to distinguish the resulting sound as salient as a .

Occurrence

Ejectives occur in about 20% of the world's languages. Ejectives that phonemically contrast with pulmonic consonants occur in about 15% of languages around the world. The occurrence of ejectives often correlates to languages in mountainous regions such as the Caucasus which forms an island of ejective languages. They are also found frequently in the East African Rift and the South African Plateau (see Geography of Africa). In the Americas, they are extremely common in the North American Cordillera. They also frequently occur throughout the Andes and Maya Mountains. Elsewhere, they are rare.

Language families that distinguish ejective consonants include:

• Afroasiatic languages, especially in the Cushitic and Omotic branches, and in some languages of the Semitic (Ethio-Semitic and Modern South Arabian) and Chadic branches (e.g. Hausa)
• All three families of the Caucasus: the Northwest Caucasian languages (Circassian, Abkhaz and Ubykh); the Northeast Caucasian languages such as Chechen and Avar; and the Kartvelian languages such as Georgian
• the Athabaskan, Siouan and Salishan families of North America along with the many diverse families of the Pacific Northwest from central California to British Columbia
• Mayan family, as well as neighboring Lencan languages and Xincan languages
• Aymaran family
• the southern varieties of Quechua (Qusqu-Qullaw)
• Puelche and Tehuelche of the Chonan languages
• Alacalufan family
• Gumuz, Meʼen, Tʼwampa and possibly other Nilo-Saharan languages
• Sandawe, Hadza, and the Khoisan families of southern Africa
• Itelmen of the Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages
• Yapese and Waima'a of the Austronesian family
• Kunigami and several Northern Ryukyuan and Yaeyama varieties of the Japonic-Ryukyuan family

According to the glottalic theory, the Proto-Indo-European language had a series of ejectives (or, in some versions, implosives), but no extant Indo-European language has retained them.Template:Efn Ejectives are found today in Ossetian and some Armenian dialects only because of influence of the nearby Northeast Caucasian and/or Kartvelian language families.

It had once been predicted that ejectives and implosives would not be found in the same language but both have been found phonemically at several points of articulation in Nilo-Saharan languages (Gumuz, Me'en, and T'wampa), Mayan language (Yucatec), and the Oto-Manguean Mazahua. Nguni languages, such as Zulu have an implosive b alongside a series of allophonically ejective stops. Dahalo of Kenya, has ejectives, implosives, and click consonants.

Non-contrastively, ejectives are found in many varieties of British English, usually replacing word-final fortis plosives in utterance-final or emphatic contexts.

Types

Almost all ejective consonants in the world's languages are stops or affricates, and all ejective consonants are obstruents. is the most common ejective, and is common among languages with uvulars, less so, and is uncommon. Among affricates, are all quite common, and and are not unusual ( is particularly common among the Khoisan languages, where it is the ejective equivalent of ).

Attested ejective consonants
(excluding ejective clicks and secondary articulations)

	Bilabial	Labio- dental	Dental	Alveolar	Labial- alveolar	Post- alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo- palatal	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Epi- glottal
Stop (voiced)	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA linkTemplate:Efn		Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link
Affricate (voiced)		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link				Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Fricative	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Lateral affricate				Template:IPA link					Template:IPA link ()	Template:IPA link ()
Lateral fricative				Template:IPA link
Trill	(theoretical)
Nasal	(theoretical)

A few languages have ejective fricatives. In some dialects of Hausa, the standard affricate is a fricative ; Ubykh (Northwest Caucasian, now extinct) had an ejective lateral fricative ; and the related Kabardian also has ejective labiodental and alveolopalatal fricatives, . Tlingit is an extreme case, with ejective alveolar, lateral, velar, and uvular fricatives, ; it may be the only language with the last type. Upper Necaxa Totonac is unusual and perhaps unique in that it has ejective fricatives (alveolar, lateral, and postalveolar ) but lacks any ejective stop or affricate (Beck 2006). Other languages with ejective fricatives are Yuchi, which some sources analyze as having (but not the analysis of the Wikipedia article), Keres dialects, with , and Lakota, with . Amharic is interpreted by many as having an ejective fricative , at least historically, but it has been also analyzed as now being a sociolinguistic variant (Takkele Taddese 1992).

An ejective retroflex stop is rare. It has been reported from Yawelmani and other Yokuts languages, Tolowa, and Gwich'in.

Because the complete closing of the glottis required to form an ejective makes voicing impossible, the allophonic voicing of ejective phonemes causes them to lose their glottalization; this occurs in Blin (modal voice) and Kabardian (creaky voice). A similar historical sound change also occurred in Veinakh and Lezgic in the Caucasus, and it has been postulated by the glottalic theory for Indo-European. Some Khoisan languages have voiced ejective stops and voiced ejective clicks; however, they actually contain mixed voicing, and the ejective release is voiceless.

Template:Vanchors aren't attested in any language, even allophonically. An ejective would necessarily be voiceless, but the vibration of the trill, combined with a lack of the intense voiceless airflow of , gives an impression like that of voicing. Similarly, ejective nasals such as (also necessarily voiceless) are possible.Template:Full citation neededTemplate:Full citation needed (An apostrophe is commonly seen with r, l and nasals, but that is Americanist phonetic notation for a glottalized consonant and does not indicate an ejective.)

Other ejective sonorants are not known to occur. When sonorants are transcribed with an apostrophe in the literature as if they were ejective, they actually involve a different airstream mechanism: they are glottalized consonants and vowels whose glottalization partially or fully interrupts an otherwise normal voiced pulmonic airstream, somewhat like English uh-uh (either vocalic or nasal) pronounced as a single sound. Often the constriction of the larynx causes it to rise in the vocal tract, but this is individual variation and not the initiator of the airflow. Such sounds generally remain voiced.

Yeyi has a set of prenasalized ejectives like /ⁿtʼ, ᵑkʼ, ⁿtsʼ/.

Orthography

In the International Phonetic Alphabet, ejectives are indicated with a "modifier letter apostrophe" Template:Angbr, as in this article. A reversed apostrophe is sometimes used to represent light aspiration, as in Armenian linguistics Template:Angbr IPA; this usage is obsolete in the IPA. In other transcription traditions (such as many romanisations of Russian, where it is transliterating the soft sign), the apostrophe represents palatalization: Template:Angbr IPA = IPA Template:Angbr IPA. In some Americanist traditions, an apostrophe indicates weak ejection and an exclamation mark strong ejection: Template:Angbr IPA. In the IPA, the distinction might be written Template:Angbr IPA, but it seems that no language distinguishes degrees of ejection. Transcriptions of the Caucasian languages often utilize combining dots above or below a letter to indicate an ejective.

In alphabets using the Latin script, an IPA-like apostrophe for ejective consonants is common. However, there are other conventions. In Hausa, the hooked letter ƙ is used for . In Zulu and Xhosa, whose ejection is variable between speakers, plain consonant letters are used: p t k ts tsh kr for . In some conventions for Haida and Hadza, double letters are used: tt kk qq ttl tts for (Haida) and zz jj dl gg for (Hadza).

List

Stops

• bilabial ejective stop {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "bilabial ejective plosive.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Abkhaz, Adyghe, Amharic, Archi, Chechen, Ingush, Georgian, Mingrelian, Laz, Svan, Hadza, Kabardian, Lezgian, Lakota, Nez Perce, Quechua, Tigrinya, Zulu)
  • labialized bilabial ejective stop {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "labialized bilabial ejective.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Adyghe)
  • pharyngealized bilabial ejective stop (in Ubykh)
• dental ejective stop (in Dahalo, Lakota, Tigrinya)
• alveolar ejective stop {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "alveolar ejective plosive.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Abkhaz, Adyghe, Amharic, Archi, Avar, Bats, Chechen, Ingush, Kabardian, Georgian, Mingrelian, Laz, Svan, Gwich’in, Nez Perce, Quechua, Tlingit, Zulu)
  • labialized alveolar ejective stop {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "labialized alveolar ejective.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Abkhaz, Adyghe, Ubykh)
  • labial–velar ejective stop {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "labialized alveolar ejective.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Abkhaz, Ubykh)
• retroflex ejective stop (in Gwich’in)
• palatal ejective stop {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "palatal ejective.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Bats, Hausa, Giwi, Nez Perce)
• velar ejective stop {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "velar ejective plosive.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Amharic, Archi, Avar, Bats, Chechen, Ingush, Georgian, Mingrelian, Laz, Svan, Giwi, Gwich’in, Hausa, Kabardian, Lakota, Nez Perce, Quechua, Sandawe, Tigrinya, Tlingit, Zulu)
  • palatalized velar ejective stop {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "palatalized velar ejective.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Abaza, Abkhaz, Shapsug, Ubykh)
  • labialized velar ejective stop {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "labialized velar ejective.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Archi, Kabardian, Tlingit, Ubykh)
• uvular ejective stop {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "uvular ejective stop.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Abaza, Abkhaz, Archi, Bats, Chechen, Ingush, Georgian, Mingrelian, Laz, Svan, Hakuchi, Nez Perce, Quechua, Tlingit)
  • palatalized uvular ejective stop (in Abaza, Abkhaz, Ubykh)
  • labialized uvular ejective stop {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "labialized uvular ejective.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Abaza, Abkhaz, Archi, Hakuchi, Tlingit, Ubykh)
  • pharyngealized uvular ejective stop (in Archi, Ubykh)
  • labialized pharyngealized uvular ejective stop (in Archi, Ubykh)
• epiglottal ejective {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "epiglottal ejective.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Dargwa)

Affricates

• labiodental ejective affricate (in Venda)
• dental ejective affricate (in Chipewyan, Gwich’in)
• alveolar ejective affricate {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "alveolar ejective affricate.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Amharic, Archi, Avar, Chechen, Ingush, Bats, Georgian, Mingrelian, Laz, Svan, Giwi, Gwich’in, Hadza, Hausa, Kabardian, Sandawe, Tigrinya, Tlingit, Ubykh)
  • labialized alveolar ejective affricate (in Archi)
• palato-alveolar ejective affricate {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "palato-alveolar ejective affricate.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Amharic, Archi, Avar, Chechen, Ingush, Bats, Chipewyan, Georgian, Mingrelian, Laz, Svan, Gwich’in, Hadza, Hausa, Kabardian, Lakota, Quechua, Tigrinya, Tlingit, Ubykh, Zulu)
  • labialized palato-alveolar ejective affricate (in Abaza, Archi)
• retroflex ejective affricate {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "retroflex ejective affricate.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Abkhaz, Adyghe, Ubykh)
• alveolo-palatal ejective affricate (in Abaza, Abkhaz, Ubykh)
  • labialized alveolo-palatal ejective affricate (in Abkhaz, Ubykh)
• palatal ejective affricate {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "palatal ejective affricate.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler
• velar ejective affricate {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "velar ejective affricate.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Hadza, Zulu)
• uvular ejective affricate {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "uvular ejective affricate.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Avar, Giwi, Lillooet)
• alveolar lateral ejective affricate {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "alveolar lateral ejective affricate.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Baslaney, Chipewyan, Dahalo, Gwich’in, Haida, Lillooet, Nez Perce, Sandawe, Tlingit, Tsez)
• palatal lateral ejective affricate (in Dahalo, Hadza)
• velar lateral ejective affricate {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "velar lateral ejective affricate.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Archi, Gǀui)
  • labialized velar lateral ejective affricate (in Archi)
• uvular lateral ejective affricate (in Gǀui, ǂʼAmkoe)

Fricatives

• bilabial ejective fricative
• labiodental ejective fricative {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "labiodental ejective fricative.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Abaza, Kabardian)
• dental ejective fricative {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "dental ejective fricative.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Chiwere)
• alveolar ejective fricative {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "alveolar ejective fricative.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Chiwere, Lakota, Shapsug, Tlingit)
• alveolar lateral ejective fricative {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "alveolar lateral ejective fricative.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Abaza, Adyghe, Kabardian, Tlingit, Ubykh)
• palato-alveolar ejective fricative {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "palato-alveolar ejective fricative.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Adyghe, Lakota)
  • labialized palato-alveolar ejective fricative {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "labialized palato-alveolar ejective fricative.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Adyghe)
• retroflex ejective fricative {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "retroflex ejective fricative.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Keres)
• alveolo-palatal ejective fricative {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "alveolo-palatal ejective fricative.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Kabardian)
• palatal ejective fricative {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "palatal ejective fricative.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler
• velar ejective fricative {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "velar ejective fricative.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Tlingit)
  • labialized velar ejective fricative (in Tlingit)
• uvular ejective fricative {{errorTemplate:Main other|Audio file "uvular ejective fricative.ogg" not found}}Template:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler (in Tlingit)
  • labialized uvular ejective fricative (in Tlingit)

Clicks

• Simple ejective clicks (all five in ǂ’Amkoe)
• Ejective-contour clicks

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Hypothesis

A pattern can be observed wherein ejectives correlate geographically with mountainous regions. Template:Harvcoltxt argues that the geographic correlation between languages with ejectives and mountainous terrains is because of decreased air pressure making ejectives easier to produce, as well as the way ejectives help to reduce water vapor loss. The argument has been criticized as being based on a spurious correlation.Template:SfnpTemplate:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

See also

• Glottalic consonant
• List of phonetics topics
• Beatboxing

Bibliography

• Campbell, Lyle. 1973. On Glottalic Consonants. International Journal of American Linguistics 39, 44–46. JSTOR 1264659
• Chirikba, V.A. Aspects of Phonological Typology. Moscow, 1991 (in Russian).
• Fallon, Paul. 2002. The Synchronic and Diachronic Phonology of Ejectives. Routledge. Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN.
• Template:SOWL

External links

• Listen to Ejective Consonant
• WALS map of languages with ejectives (blue and purple)