Epiglottal plosive
Consonantal sound represented by ⟨ʡ⟩ in IPA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant 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 sounds.