Palatal ejective

Infobox IPA base
ipa-number=107 + 401
ipa-text=cʼ
ipa-

ipa-entity=cʼ
xsampa=c_>
kirshenbaum=c`
sound=palatal ejective.oggThe palatal ejective is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is IPA|cʼ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is c_>.

Features

Features of the palatal ejective:

* Its manner of articulation is plosive or stop, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract.
* Its place of articulation is palatal which means it is articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the hard palate.
* Its phonation type 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.
* It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the center of the tongue, rather than the sides.
* The airstream mechanism is glottalic egressive, which means it is produced by pushing air with the glottis, rather than with the lungs.

Occurrence

This sound is largely confined to the indigenous languages of the Americas. It sometimes contrasts with a IPA|tʃʼ, but does not always do so. It occurs in:
* Haida
* Jaqaru
* Tindi - one of Nakh-Dagestanian languages

ee also

* List of phonetics topics