Epiglottal plosive
Consonantal sound represented by ⟨ʡ⟩ in IPA
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An epiglottal or pharyngeal plosive (or stop) is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ʡ⟩.
| Epiglottal plosive (pharyngeal plosive) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ʡ | |||
| IPA number | 173 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity (decimal) | ʡ | ||
| Unicode (hex) | U+02A1 | ||
| X-SAMPA | >\ | ||
| Braille |   | ||
| |||
Esling (2010) describes the sounds covered by the term "epiglottal plosive" as an "active closure by the aryepiglottic pharyngeal stricture mechanism" – that is, a stop produced by the aryepiglottic folds within the pharynx.[1]
Features
Features of an epiglottal stop:
- Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no nasal outlet, it is a plosive.
- Its place of articulation is epiglottal, which means it is articulated with the aryepiglottic folds against the epiglottis.
- It has no defined phonation, although it is typically voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. Voiced epiglottal "stops" tend toward being epiglottal flaps.[citation needed]
- It is an oral consonant, which means that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
- It is a median consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream down the midline of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
- Its airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air only with the intercostal muscles and abdominal muscles, as in most speech sounds.