Velar ejective affricate
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| Velar ejective affricate | |
|---|---|
| kxʼ | |
| Audio sample | |
The velar ejective affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨kxʼ⟩. [kxʼ] is a common realization of a velar ejective often transcribed /kʼ/, and it is rare for a language to distinguish /kʼ/ and /kxʼ/, though several of the Nguni languages do so,[1] as well as the Northeast Caucasian language Karata-Tukita.
Features
[edit]Features of the velar ejective affricate:
- Its manner of articulation is affricate, which means it is produced by first stopping the airflow entirely, then allowing air flow through a constricted channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence.
- Its place of articulation is velar, which means it is articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum) at the soft palate.
- Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
- It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
- It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
- The airstream mechanism is ejective (glottalic egressive), which means the air is forced out by pumping the glottis upward.
Occurrence
[edit]| Language | Word | IPA | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hadza | dlaggwa | [cʎ̝̥ʼakxʷ’a] | 'to cradle' |
| Haida | ttsanskkaagid | [tsʼanskxʼaːkit] | 'beams' |
| Karata-Tukita | [example needed] | ||
| Xhosa | krola | [kxʼola] | 'inscribe ' |
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ The ejective articulation of the Nguni consonants is however quite light.
