Velar ejective

The velar ejective is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is kʼ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is k_>.

Features

Features of the velar 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 velar which means it is articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the velum).
* 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 diaphragm.

Occurs in

*Abkhaz: акы [IPA|aˈkʼə] , "one"
*Ethiopian Semitic languages
*Modern South Arabian

ee also

* List of phonetics topics