Velar ejective stop

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Velar ejective stop is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) that represents this sound is ⟨kʼ⟩. It is characterized by a velar place of articulation, where the sound is produced with the back of the tongue against the soft palate (also known as the velum), and an ejective manner of articulation, which means it is produced by pushing air out of the mouth using the glottis, rather than the lungs.

Characteristics

The velar ejective stop involves two main articulatory components:

• A velar closure, where the back of the tongue makes contact with the velum.
• An ejective mechanism, where the glottis is closed, trapping air above it which is then pushed out forcefully as the glottal and velar closures are released.

This sound does not use the vocal cords and is thus considered a voiceless consonant.

Occurrence

Velar ejective stops are found in languages around the world, though they are not as common as other types of stops. They are characteristic of many Caucasian languages, certain African languages, and some Native American languages. For example, they occur in languages such as Georgian, Amharic, and Quechua.

Features

The key features of the velar ejective stop include:

• Its place of articulation is velar, meaning it is articulated with the back of the tongue against the soft palate.
• It is a voiceless sound, as it does not involve vibration of the vocal cords.
• It has an ejective manner of articulation, which is a type of glottalic egressive airstream mechanism.

See also

• Ejective consonant
• List of phonetic topics