Epiglottal and pharyngeal consonants occur at the same place of articulation. Esling (2010) describes the sound covered by the term "epiglottal plosive" as an "active closure by the aryepiglottic pharyngeal stricture mechanism" – that is, a stop produced by the aryepiglottic folds within the pharynx.[1]
Features
The epiglottis is labelled as "12" in this diagram.
Features of the epiglottal stop:
Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no nasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is a plosive.
It has no defined phonation, although it is typically voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. Voiced epiglottal "stops" tend toward being epiglottal flaps.[citation needed]
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.
^John Esling (2010) "Phonetic Notation", in Hardcastle, Laver & Gibbon (eds) The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences, 2nd ed., p 695.
^"The Archi Language Tutorial" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
^Maddieson et al. (1993:27, 30, 33)
^Nichols, Johanna (2011). Ingush grammar (1st ed.). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-09877-0. OCLC 468975855.
References
Maddieson, Ian; Spajić, Siniša; Sands, Bonny; Ladefoged, Peter (June 1993). Maddieson, Ian (ed.). "Phonetic structures of Dahalo". UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics. 84: Fieldwork studies of targeted languages. Los Angeles: UCLA: 25–65.
