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Glottal stop

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The glottal stop or glottal plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is Template:Angbr IPA.

As a result of the obstruction of the airflow in the glottis, the glottal vibration either stops or becomes irregular with a low rate and sudden drop in intensity.<ref name="umeda">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Features

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Features of the glottal stop:Template:Citation needed

Template:Plosive Template:Glottal

  • It has no phonation at all, as there is no airflow through the glottis.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> It is voiceless, however, in the sense that it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.

Template:Oral Template:Central–lateral Template:Pulmonic

Writing

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File:Bilingual road sign in squamish language 1a.jpg
Road sign in British Columbia showing the use of the digit ⟨7⟩ to represent Template:Nowrap in Squamish.

In the traditional romanization of many languages, such as Arabic, the glottal stop is transcribed with the apostrophe [[ʼ|Template:Angle bracket]] or the symbol [[ʾ|Template:Angbr]], which is the source of the IPA character Template:Angbr IPA. In many Polynesian languages that use the Latin alphabet, however, the glottal stop is written with a rotated apostrophe, Template:Angbr (called ʻokina in Hawaiian and Samoan), which is commonly used to transcribe the Arabic ayin as well (also Template:Angbr) and is the source of the IPA character for the voiced pharyngeal fricative Template:Angbr IPA. In Malay the glottal stop is represented by the letter Template:Angbr (at the end of words), in Võro and Maltese by Template:Angbr. Another way of writing the glottal stop is the saltillo Template:Angbr, used in languages such as Tlapanec and Rapa Nui.

Other scripts also have letters used for representing the glottal stop, such as the Hebrew letter aleph Template:Angbr and the Cyrillic letter palochka Template:Angbr, used in several Caucasian languages. The Arabic script uses hamza Template:Angbr, which can appear both as a diacritic and as an independent letter (though not part of the alphabet). In Tundra Nenets, it is represented by the letters apostrophe Template:Angbr and double apostrophe Template:Angbr. In Japanese, glottal stops occur at the end of interjections of surprise or anger and are represented by the character Template:Angbr.

In the graphic representation of most Philippine languages, the glottal stop has no consistent symbolization. In most cases, however, a word that begins with a vowel-letter (e.g. Tagalog Template:Lang, "dog") is always pronounced with an unrepresented glottal stop before that vowel (as in Modern German and Hausa). Some orthographies use a hyphen instead of the reverse apostrophe if the glottal stop occurs in the middle of the word (e.g. Tagalog Template:Lang, "love"; or Visayan gabi-i, "night"). If it occurs in the end of a word, the last vowel can be written with a circumflex accent (known as the pakupyâ) if both a stress and a glottal stop occur in the final vowel (e.g. basâ, "wet") or a grave accent (known as the paiwà) if the glottal stop occurs at the final vowel, but the stress occurs at the penultimate syllable (e.g. batà, "child").<ref name="expr">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="nolasco">Template:CitationTemplate:Dead link</ref><ref name="tagalog">Template:Cite book</ref>

Some Canadian indigenous languages, especially some of the Salishan languages, have adopted the IPA letter Template:Angbr into their orthographies. In some of them, it occurs as a casing pair, [[glottal stop (letter)|Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr]].<ref>Template:Citation</ref> The digit Template:Angbr or a question mark is sometimes substituted for Template:Angbr, and is preferred in languages such as Squamish. SENĆOŦENTemplate:Spaced ndashwhose alphabet is mostly unique from other Salish languagesTemplate:Spaced ndashcontrastly uses the comma Template:Angle bracket to represent the glottal stop, though it is optional.

In 2015, two women in the Northwest Territories challenged the territorial government over its refusal to permit them to use the letter Template:Angbr in their daughters' names: Sahaiʔa, a Chipewyan name, and Sakaeʔah, a Slavey name (the two names are actually cognates). The territory argued that territorial and federal identity documents were unable to accommodate the character. The women registered the names with hyphens instead of the Template:Angbr, while continuing to challenge the policy.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In the Crow language, the glottal stop is written as a question mark Template:Angbr. The only instance of the glottal stop in Crow is as a question marker morpheme at the end of a sentence.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Use of the glottal stop is a distinct characteristic of the Southern Mainland Argyll dialects of Scottish Gaelic. In such a dialect, the standard Gaelic phrase Template:Lang ("I speak Gaelic"), would be rendered Template:Lang.Template:Citation needed

In the Nawdm language of Ghana, the glottal stop is written ɦ, capital Ĥ.

In English

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Replacement of /t/

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In English, the glottal stop occurs as an open juncture (for example, between the vowel sounds in uh-oh!,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>) and allophonically in t-glottalization. In British English, the glottal stop is most familiar in the Cockney pronunciation of "butter" as "bu'er". Geordie English often uses glottal stops for t, k, and p, and has a unique form of glottalization. Additionally, there is the glottal stop as a null onset for English; in other words, it is the non-phonemic glottal stop occurring before isolated or initial vowels.

Often a glottal stop happens at the beginning of vowel phonation after a silence.<ref name = umeda/>

Although this segment is not a phoneme in English, it occurs phonetically in nearly all dialects of English, as an allophone of Template:IPA in the syllable coda. Speakers of Cockney, Scottish English and several other British dialects also pronounce an intervocalic Template:IPA between vowels as in city. In Received Pronunciation, a glottal stop is inserted before a tautosyllabic voiceless stop: stoTemplate:Hamzap, thaTemplate:Hamzat, knoTemplate:Hamzack, waTemplate:Hamzatch, also leaTemplate:Hamzap, soaTemplate:Hamzak, helTemplate:Hamzap, pinTemplate:Hamzach.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Kortlandt">Template:Citation</ref>

In American English, a "t" is usually not aspirated in syllables ending either in a vowel + "t", such as "cat" or "outside"; or in a "t" + unstressed vowel + "n", such as "mountain" or "Manhattan". This is referred to as a "held t" as the airflow is stopped by tongue at the ridge behind the teeth. However, there is a trend of younger speakers in the Mid-Atlantic states to replace the "held t" with a glottal stop, so that "Manhattan" sounds like "Man-haʔ-in" or "Clinton" like "Cli(n)ʔ-in", where "ʔ" is the glottal stop. This may have crossed over from African American Vernacular English, particularly that of New York City.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Before initial vowels

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Template:Redirect Most English speakers today often use a glottal stop before the initial vowel of words beginning with a vowel, particularly at the beginning of sentences or phrases or when a word is emphasized. This is also known as "hard attack".<ref name="glottal2" /> Traditionally in Received Pronunciation, "hard attack" was seen as a way to emphasize a word. Today, in British, American and other varieties of English, it is increasingly used not only to emphasize but also simply to separate two words, especially when the first word ends in a glottal stop.Template:Clarify<ref name="glottal1">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="glottal2">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="glottal3">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Occurrence in other languages

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In many languages that do not allow a sequence of vowels, such as Persian, the glottal stop may be used epenthetically to prevent such a hiatus. There are intricate interactions between falling tone and the glottal stop in the histories of such languages as Danish (see stød), Cantonese and Thai.Template:Citation needed

In many languages, the unstressed intervocalic allophone of the glottal stop is a creaky-voiced glottal approximant. It is known to be contrastive in only one language, Gimi, in which it is the voiced equivalent of the stop.Template:Citation needed

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lītora jactētur odiīs Jūnōnis inīquae

The table below demonstrates how widely the sound of glottal stop is found among the world's spoken languages:

Family Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Northwest Caucasian Abkhaz Template:Lang/ai Template:IPA 'no' See Abkhaz phonology.
Northwest Caucasian Adyghe Template:Lang/'ė Template:IPA 'arm/hand'
Semitic Arabic Modern Standard<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Template:Lang/ʾaḡānī Template:IPA 'songs' See Arabic phonology, Hamza.
Levantine and Egyptian<ref name="armetr">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Template:Lang/ša''a Template:IPA 'apartment' Corresponds to Template:IPAslink or Template:IPAslink in other dialects. See Levantine Arabic phonology and Egyptian Arabic phonology
Fasi and Tlemcenian<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Template:Lang/'āl Template:IPA 'he said' Corresponds to Template:IPAslink or Template:IPAslink in other dialects.
Kiranti Bantawa Template:Lang Template:IPA 'drinking water'
Bikol Bikol Template:Lang Template:IPA 'new'
Slavic Bulgarian Template:Lang/ŭ-ŭ Template:IPA 'nope'
Sino-Tibetan Burmese Template:Lang/mrac mya: Template:IPA 'rivers'
Philippine Cebuano Template:Lang Template:IPA 'believe'
Malayo-Polynesian Chamorro Template:Lang Template:IPA 'shark'
Sinitic Chinese Cantonese Template:Lang/Template:Lang Template:IPA 'love' See Cantonese phonology.
Wu Template:Lang/Template:Lang Template:IPA 'superb'
Hokkien Template:Lang/Template:Lang Template:IPA 'to suit'
Polynesian Cook Islands Māori Template:Lang Template:IPA 'one'
Slavic Czech Template:Lang Template:IPA 'to use' See Czech phonology.
Cushitic Dahalo Template:Lang Template:IPA 'water' see Dahalo phonology
Germanic Danish Template:Lang Template:IPA 'hand' One of the possible realizations of stød. Depending on the dialect and style of speech, it can be instead realized as laryngealisation of the preceding sound. See Danish phonology.
Germanic Dutch<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Template:Lang Template:IPA 'to confirm' See Dutch phonology.
Germanic English Multiple dialects Template:Lang Template:IPA (emphatic "am")) or Template:IPA 'I' Glottal stop before initial vowel at the start of a phrase. Elsewhere, optionally, to emphasize a word or separate it from the previous one.<ref name="glottal1"/><ref name="glottal2"/>
RP Template:Lang Template:IPA 'uh-oh'
American Template:Audio-IPA
Australian Template:Lang Template:IPA 'cat' Allophone of Template:IPA, /k/ or /p/. See glottalization, English phonology, and definite article reduction.
GA
Estuary Template:IPA
Cockney<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Template:IPA
Scottish Template:IPA
Some Northern England Template:Lang Template:IPA 'the'
Geordie Template:Lang 'thank you'
Geordie Template:Lang 'people'
RP<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> and GA button Template:Audio-IPA 'button'
Germanic German Northern Template:Lang Template:IPA 'civil servant' Generally all vowel onsets. See Standard German phonology.
Hmongic Hmong Template:Script / Template:Lang Template:IPA 'two (2)'
Tupi-Guarani Guaraní Template:Lang Template:IPA 'Guaraní' Occurs only between vowels.
Polynesian Hawaiian<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Template:Lang Template:IPA 'black' See Hawaiian phonology.
Semitic Hebrew Template:Lang/ma'amar Template:IPA 'article' Often elided in casual speech. See Modern Hebrew phonology.
Germanic Icelandic Template:Lang Template:IPA 'but' Only used according to emphasis, never occurring in minimal pairs.
Malayo-Polynesian Iloko Template:Lang Template:IPA 'bland tasting' Hyphen when occurring within the word.
Malayo-Polynesian Indonesian Template:Lang Template:IPA 'meatball' Allophone of Template:IPA or Template:IPA in the syllable coda.
Northeast-Caucasian Ingush Template:Lang / Template:Lang Template:IPA 'three'
Japonic Japanese Kagoshima /kuQ/ Template:IPA 'neck'
Malayo-Polynesian Javanese<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Template:Lang Template:IPA 'child' Allophone of Template:IPA in morpheme-final position.
Aslian Jedek<ref name="Yager & Burenhult 2017">Template:Cite journal</ref> Template:IPA 'left side'
Northwest-Caucasian Kabardian Template:Lang/'ė Template:IPA 'arm/hand'
Manobo Kagayanen<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Template:Lang Template:IPA 'floor'
Khasi-Palaungic Khasi Template:Lang Template:IPA 'cloud'
Mon-Khmer Khmer Template:Lang / Template:Transliteration Template:IPA 'to clean' See Khmer phonology
Koreanic Korean Template:Lang/il Template:IPA 'one' In free variation with no glottal stop. Occurs only in initial position of a word.
Malayo-Polynesian Malay Standard Template:Lang Template:IPA 'no' Allophone of final Template:IPA in the syllable coda, pronounced before consonants and at end of the a word. In other positions, Template:IPA has phonemic status only in loanwords from Arabic. See Malay phonology
Kelantan-Pattani Template:Lang Template:IPA 'to tie' Allophone of final Template:IPA in the syllable coda. Pronounced before consonants and at the end of a word.
Terengganu
Malayo-Polynesian Makassarese Template:Lang Template:IPA 'be exhausted' Written as takdokdok, taddoddok, taʼdoddoʼ, taqdoqdoq or taddoddoʼ in other orthography.
Semitic Maltese Template:Lang Template:IPA 'cat'
Polynesian Māori Taranaki, Whanganui Template:Lang Template:IPA 'woman'
Malayo-Polynesian Minangkabau Template:Lang Template:IPA 'you' Sometimes written without an apostrophe.
Yok-Utian Mutsun Template:Lang Template:IPA 'black gooseberry' Ribes divaricatum
Kartvelian Mingrelian Template:Lang/?oropha Template:IPA 'love'
Uto-Aztecan Nahuatl Template:Lang Template:Audio-IPA 'father' Often left unwritten.
Plateau-Penutian Nez Perce Template:Lang Template:IPA 'black bear'
Tupi-Guarani Nheengatu<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref> Template:Lang Template:IPA 'sloth' Transcription (or absence thereof) varies.
Algonquian Ojibwe Template:Lang/Template:Lang Template:IPA 'a book; a letter; a document; a paper' Merges with Template:IPA in some dialects. See Ojibwe phonology.
Ryukyuan Okinawan Template:Lang/utu Template:IPA 'sound'
Indo-Iranian Persian Template:Lang/ma'ni Template:IPA 'meaning' See Persian phonology.
Slavic Polish era [ʔɛra] 'era' Most often occurs as an anlaut of an initial vowel (Ala ‒> Template:IPA). See Polish phonology#Glottal stop.
Mura Pirahã Template:Lang Template:IPA 'parent'
Romance Portuguese<ref>Template:Cite conference</ref> Vernacular Brazilian Template:Lang<ref>Template:Citation In European Portuguese, the "é é" interjection usually employs an epenthetic Template:IPA, being pronounced Template:IPA instead.</ref> Template:IPA 'yeah right'<ref>It may be used mostly as a general call of attention for disapproval, disagreement or inconsistency, but also serves as a synonym of the multiuse expression "eu, hein!". Template:In lang How to say 'eu, hein' in English – Adir Ferreira Idiomas Template:Webarchive</ref> Marginal sound. Does not occur after or before a consonant. In Brazilian casual speech, there is at least one Template:IPAvowel lengthpitch accent minimal pair (triply unusual, the ideophones short Template:Lang vs. long Template:Lang). See Portuguese phonology.
Some speakers Template:Lang Template:IPA 'to the class'
Oceanic Rotuman<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Template:Lang Template:IPA 'to box'
Slavic Russian не-а / ne-a [ˈnʲeʔə] 'nope'
Polynesian Samoan Template:Lang Template:IPA 'sickness/illness'
Romance Sardinian<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Some dialects of Barbagia Template:Lang Template:IPA 'a little' Intervocalic allophone of Template:IPA.
Some dialects of Sarrabus Template:Lang Template:IPA 'the moon'
Slavic Serbo-Croatian<ref name="Landau68">Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Template:Lang Template:IPA 'and then' Optionally inserted between vowels across word boundaries.<ref name="Landau68"/> See Serbo-Croatian phonology
Isolate Seri Template:Lang Template:IPA 'I'
Cushitic Somali Template:Lang Template:IPA 'calamity' though Template:IPA occurs before all vowels, it is only written medially and finally.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> See Somali phonology
Romance Spanish Nicaraguan<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Template:Lang Template:IPA 'higher' Marginal sound or allophone of Template:IPAslink between vowels in different words. Does not occur after or before a consonant. See Spanish phonology.
Yucateco<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Template:Lang Template:IPA 'four years'
Salishan Squamish Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim Template:IPA 'Squamish language'
Philippine Tagalog Template:Lang Template:IPA 'to poo' (fut.) See Tagalog phonology.
Polynesian Tahitian Template:Lang Template:IPA 'pig'
Tai-Kadai Thai Template:Lang/'ā Template:IPA 'uncle/aunt' (father's younger sibling)
Polynesian Tongan Template:Lang Template:IPA 'stand'
Samoyedic Tundra Nenets Template:Lang/vy' Template:IPA 'tundra'
Vietic Vietnamese<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt</ref> Template:Lang Template:IPA 'sultry' In free variation with no glottal stop. See Vietnamese phonology.
Finnic Võro Template:Lang Template:IPA 'dogs' "q" is Võro plural marker (maa, kala, "land", "fish"; maaq, kalaq, "lands", "fishes").
Isolate Wagiman Template:Lang Template:IPA 'to eat' (perf.)
Omotic Welayta 7írTi Template:IPA 'wet'
Polynesian Wallisian Template:Lang Template:IPA 'life'

See also

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References

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Bibliography

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