Airstream mechanism

In phonetics, the airstream mechanism is the method by which airflow is created in the vocal tract. Along with phonation, it is one of two mandatory aspects of sound production; without these, there can be no speech sound.

The organ generating the airstream is called the "initiatior"; for this reason the production of airflow is called initiation. There are three initiators used in spoken human languages: the diaphragm together with the ribs and lungs "(pulmonic" mechanisms), the glottis "(glottalic" mechanisms), and the tongue "(lingual" or "velaric" mechanisms). Each may act by increasing pressure in the airstream or by reducing it with suction. These changes in pressure are often said to involve outward and inward airflow, and are therefore termed "egressive" and "ingressive" mechanisms; however, ingressive mechanisms often only reduce outward airflow. Of these six possible airstream mechanisms, four are found in words around the world:

* "pulmonic egressive," where the air is pushed out of the lungs by the ribs and diaphragm; all human languages employ such sounds (such as vowels), and many, such as English, use them exclusively.
* "glottalic egressive," where the air column is pushed upward by the glottis. Such consonants are called ejectives.
* "glottalic ingressive," where the air column is rarefied as the glottis moves downward. Such consonants are called implosives.
* "lingual ingressive," AKA "velaric ingressive," where the air in the mouth is rarefied by a downward movement of the tongue. These are the clicks.

These may be combined into airstream contours.

The Khoisan languages have pulmonic, ejective, and click consonants, the Chadic languages have pulmonic, implosive, and ejective consonants, and the Nguni languages utilize all four, pulmonic, click, implosive, and ejective, in normal vocabulary.

In interjections, the other two mechanisms may be employed. For example, in countries as diverse as Canada, Sweden, Turkey, and Togo, a pulmonic ingressive ("gasped" or "inhaled") vowel is used for back-channeling or to express agreement, and in France a lingual egressive (a "spurt") is used to express dismissal. The only language where such sounds are known to be contrastive in normal vocabulary is the ritual language Damin; however, that language appears to have been intentionally designed to be different from normal speech.

Pulmonic initiation

Initiation by means of the lungs (actually the diaphragm and ribs) is called pulmonic initiation. The vast majority of sounds used in human languages are pulmonic egressives. In most languages, including all the languages of Europe, all phonemes are pulmonic egressives.

The only attested use of a phonemic pulmonic ingressive is a lateral fricative in Damin, a ritual language formerly used by speakers of Lardil in Australia. This can be written with the extended version of the International Phonetic Alphabet as IPA| [ɬ↓] . !Xóõ has ingression as a phonetic detail in one series of its clicks, which are "ingressive voiceless nasals with delayed aspiration", IPA| [↓ŋ̊ʘʰ ↓ŋ̊ǀʰ ↓ŋ̊ǁʰ ↓ŋ̊!ʰ ↓ŋ̊ǂʰ] . Peter Ladefoged considers these to be among the most difficult sounds in the world. Other languages, for example in Taiwan, have been claimed to have pulmonic ingressives, but these claims have either proven to be spurious or to be occasional phonetic detail.

In interjections, but not in normal words, pulmonic ingressive vowels such as IPA| [ə↓] occur in languages as diverse as Swedish and Ewe. In Ewe, IPA| [ə↓] is used for back-channeling, to indicate that one is listening (like "ah" or "I see" in English).

Glottalic initiation

It is possible to initiate airflow in the upper vocal tract by means of the vocal cords or glottis. This is known as glottalic initiation.

For egressive glottalic initiation, one lowers the glottis (as if to sing a low note), closes it as for a glottal stop, and then raises it, building up pressure in the oral cavity and upper trachea. Glottalic egressives are called ejectives. Since the glottis must be fully closed to form glottalic egressives, it is impossible to pronounce voiced ejectives.

For ingressive glottalic initiation, the sequence of actions performed in glottalic pressure initiation is reversed:  one raises the glottis (as if to sing a high note), closes it, and then lowers it to create suction in the upper trachea and oral cavity. Glottalic ingressives are called implosives, although they may involve zero airflow rather than actual inflow. Because it is not necessary to fully close the glottis, implosives may be voiced; indeed, voiceless implosives are exceedingly rare.

It is usual for implosives to be voiced. Instead of keeping the glottis tightly closed, it is tensed but left slightly open to allow a thin stream of air through. Unlike pulmonic voiced sounds, in which a stream of air passes through a usually-fixed glottis, in voiced implosives a mobile glottis passes over a nearly motionless air column to cause vibration of the vocal cords. More open phonations than modal voice, such as breathy voice, are not condusive to glottalic sounds because in these the glottis is held relatively open, allowing air to readily flow through and preventing a significant pressure difference from building up behind the articulator.

Because the oral cavity is so much smaller than the lungs, vowels and approximants cannot be pronounced with glottalic initiation. So-called glottalized vowels and other sonorants use the more common pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism.

Lingual (velaric) initiation

The third form of initiation in human language is lingual or velaric initiation, where a sound is produced by a closure at two places of articulation, and the airstream is formed by movement of the body of the tongue. Lingual stops are more commonly known as clicks, and are almost universally ingressive.

To produce a lingual ingressive airstream, first close the vocal tract at two places: at the back of the tongue, as in a velar or uvular stop, and simultaneously with the front of the tongue or the lips, as in a coronal or bilabial stop. These holds may be voiced or nasalized. Then lower the body of the tongue to rarefy the air above it. The closure at the front of the tongue is opened first, as the click "release"; then the closure at the back is released for the pulmonic or glottalic click "accompaniment" or "efflux". This may be aspirated, affricated, or even ejective. Even when not ejective, it is not uncommon for the glottis to be closed as well, for a triply articulated consonant, and this third closure is released last to produce a glottalized click. Clicks are found in very few languages, notably the Khoisan languages of southern Africa and some nearby tongues such as Zulu. They are more often found in extra-linguistic contexts, such as the "tsk tsk" sound many Westerners use to express regret or pity (a dental click), or the clucking noise used by many equestrians to urge on their horses (a lateral click).

Lingual egressive initiation is performed by reversing the sequence of a lingual ingressive: the front and back of the tongue (or lips and back of the tongue) seal off the vocal cavity, and the cheeks and middle of the tongue move inward and upward to increase oral pressure. The only attested use of a lingual egressive is a bilabial nasal egressive click in Damin. Transcribing this also requires the use of the Extended IPA, IPA| [ŋʘ↑] .

Since the air pocket used to initiate lingual consonants is so small, it is not thought to be possible to produce lingual fricatives, vowels, or other sounds which require continuous airflow.

Clicks may be voiced, but they are more easily nasalized. This may be because the vocal cavity behind the rearmost closure, behind which the air passing through the glottis for voicing must be contained, is so small, clicks cannot be voiced for long. Allowing the airstream to pass through the nose enables a longer production.

Nasal clicks involve a combination of lingual and pulmonic mechanisms. The velum is lowered so as to direct pulmonic airflow through the nasal cavity during the lingual initiation. This nasal airflow may itself be egressive or ingressive, independently of the lingual initiation of the click. Nasal clicks may be voiced, but are very commonly unvoiced and even aspirated, which is rare for purely pulmonic nasals.

ee also

*manner of articulation
*list of phonetics topics

References

*SOWL

External links

* [http://specgram.com/CLI.4/07.spp.wind.html Eating the Wind] : a satirical, but illustrative example of sound symbolism and iconicity of airstream mechanisms.