Alveolar and dental ejective stops are consonantal sounds, usually described as voiceless, that are pronounced with a glottalic egressive airstream. In the International Phonetic Alphabet, ejectives are indicated with a "modifier letter apostrophe" ⟨ʼ⟩, as in this article. A reversed apostrophe is sometimes used to represent light aspiration, as in Armenian linguistics ⟨p‘ t‘ k‘⟩; this usage is obsolete in the IPA. In other transcription traditions, the apostrophe represents palatalization: ⟨pʼ⟩ = IPA ⟨pʲ⟩. In some Americanist traditions, an apostrophe indicates weak ejection and an exclamation mark strong ejection: ⟨k̓ , k!⟩. In the IPA, the distinction might be written ⟨kʼ, kʼʼ⟩, but it seems that no language distinguishes degrees of ejection.
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 /kʼ/. In Zulu and Xhosa, whose ejection is variable between speakers, plain consonant letters are used: p t k ts tsh kr for /pʼ tʼ kʼ tsʼ tʃʼ kxʼ/. In some conventions for Haida and Hadza, double letters are used: tt kk qq ttl tts for /tʼ kʼ qʼ tɬʼ tsʼ/ (Haida) and zz jj dl gg for /tsʼ tʃʼ cʎ̥˔ʼ kxʼ/ (Hadza). In Oromo, one of the Ethopian languages that have this consonant, it is written with the letter x.
Features
Features of an alveolar ejective stop:
- There are four specific variants of :
- Dental, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the upper teeth, termed respectively apical and laminal.
- Denti-alveolar, which means it is articulated with the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, and the tip of the tongue behind upper teeth.
- Alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue at the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
- Postalveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
Occurrence
Dental or denti-alveolar
{| class="wikitable"
! Language !! Word !! IPA!! Meaning !! Notes
|-
| Dahalo || colspan=2 align=center | || 'hair' || Laminal denti-alveolar, contrasts with alveolar ejective.
|-
|Trumai
| colspan="3" |
|Contrasts with alveolar ejective.
|}
Alveolar
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan=2 | Language !! Word !! IPA!! Meaning !! Notes
|-
| colspan=2 | Adyghe || / i͡atḣė / |||| 'dirt'||
|-
| colspan=2 | Amharic || /ṭəǧǧa/t'ejah/tehǧa |||| 'calf' ||
|-
| Armenian
| Yerevan dialect
| տասը/t'asë
|align=center|
| 'ten'
| Corresponds to tenuis in other Eastern dialects
|-
| colspan="2" | Chechen || / / || || 'bridge' ||
|-
| colspan=2 | Dahalo || colspan=2 align=center | || 'spider' || Apical, contrasts with laminal denti-alveolar ejective.
|-
| colspan="2" | Ganza || colspan="2" align="center" | || 'black' ||
|-
| colspan=2 | Georgian || /t'<nowiki/>it'a |||| 'tulip'||
|-
| colspan=2 | Haida || || || 'basket' ||
|-
| colspan=2 | Kabardian || / / |||| 'ram' ||
|-
| colspan=2 | Kawésqar || || || 'spicy'||
|-
| colspan=2 | Khwarshi || /t'aja |||| 'to drop' ||
|-
| colspan="2" |Lushootseed
|t̕əbt̕əb
|
|'winter wren'
|
|-
| colspan=2 | Mingrelian || /t'q'ɛbi |||| 'leather'||
|-
| colspan=2 | Navajo || || or || 'greetings' or 'hello' || literally 'it is good'
|-
| colspan=2 | Nez Perce || || || 'flat'
|
|-
| colspan="2" |Oromo
|<dfn>xarapheezzaa</dfn>
|[t'arap'ezza]
|table
|
|-
|Ossetian
|Iron
|/sthaly
|
|'star'
|
|-
| colspan=2 | Quechua || || || 'bread' ||
|-
| colspan="2" | Svan || ტჷნ/tʼən |||| 'body'||
|}
See also
- Index of phonetics articles