Glottal stop

Bilingual road sign in squamish language 2

Glottal stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. It is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, at the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) that represents this sound is ⟨ʔ⟩.

Characteristics

The glottal stop is a consonant in which the vocal cords (or vocal folds) are pressed together to stop the flow of air and then released, producing a brief, silent pause. It is a feature found in many languages around the world and can significantly affect the meaning of words. For example, in Hawaiian, there is a difference between kāne (man) and kaʻa (car), where the ʻ symbol indicates a glottal stop.

Phonetic Features

• Articulation: Glottal
• Voicing: Voiceless
• Nasality: Non-nasal
• Oral: Oral consonant, as the air is blocked from escaping through the nose
• Mechanism: Plosive, as it involves complete closure and release

Occurrence

The glottal stop appears in many languages, including Arabic, Hawaiian, Hebrew, and many others. In some languages, like Arabic and Hebrew, it is a phonemic and integral part of the language's phonology. In others, such as English, it occurs as an allophone or in certain dialects. For instance, in many dialects of English, a glottal stop replaces the /t/ sound in the middle or at the end of words, such as in the pronunciation of "butter" or "cat."

In English

In English, the glottal stop is not phonemically recognized but is widely used in various dialects. It often occurs as an allophonic variation of /t/ in certain positions, particularly in informal speech. For example, in the Cockney accent of London or in the Received Pronunciation of British English when speaking informally, the word "bottle" may be pronounced with a glottal stop in place of the /t/ sound.

Writing Systems

While the glottal stop is phonemically significant in many languages, it is not always represented in writing. When it is, different languages use various methods to denote it. For example, in Hawaiian, the glottal stop is represented by the ‘okina, a type of apostrophe. In languages that use the Latin alphabet, it may be represented by an apostrophe or other specific letters. In the IPA, the glottal stop is represented by the symbol ⟨ʔ⟩.

See Also

• Phonetics
• Vocal cords
• International Phonetic Alphabet
• Consonant