| Glottal stop | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ʔ | |||
| IPA number | 113 | ||
| Audio sample | |||
| Encoding | |||
| Entity(decimal) | ʔ | ||
| Unicode(hex) | U+0294 | ||
| X-SAMPA | ? | ||
| Braille |  | ||
| |||
Aglottal stop orglottal plosive is a type ofconsonantal sound used in manyspokenlanguages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, theglottis. The symbol in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ʔ⟩.
As a result of the airflow in the glottis, the glottal vibration either stops or becomes irregular with a low rate and sudden drop in intensity.[1]
Features of a glottal stop:
In the traditionalromanization of many languages, such as Arabic, a glottal stop is transcribed with theapostrophe⟨ʼ⟩ or the symbol⟨ʾ⟩, which is the source of the IPA character ⟨ʔ⟩. In manyPolynesian languages that use theLatin alphabet, however, the glottal stop is written with a rotated apostrophe,⟨ʻ⟩ (calledʻokina inHawaiian andSamoan), which is commonly used to transcribe the Arabicayin as well (also⟨ʽ⟩) and is the source of the IPA character for thevoiced pharyngeal fricative ⟨ʕ⟩. InMalay the glottal stop is represented by the letter⟨k⟩ (at the end of words), inVõro andMaltese by⟨q⟩. Another way of writing the glottal stop is thesaltillo⟨Ꞌ ꞌ⟩, used in languages such asTlapanec andRapa Nui.
Other scripts also have letters used for representing glottal stops, such as theHebrew letteraleph⟨א⟩ and theCyrillic letterpalochka⟨Ӏ⟩, used in severalCaucasian languages. TheArabic script useshamza⟨ء⟩, which can appear both as adiacritic and as an independent letter (though not part of the alphabet). InTundra Nenets, it is represented by the lettersapostrophe⟨ʼ⟩ anddouble apostrophe⟨ˮ⟩. InJapanese, glottal stops occur at the end of interjections of surprise or anger and are represented by the character⟨っ⟩.
In the graphic representation of mostPhilippine languages, glottal stops have no consistent symbolization. In most cases, however, a word that begins with a vowel-letter (e.g.Tagalogaso, "dog") is always pronounced with an unrepresented glottal stop before that vowel (as in ModernGerman andHausa). Some orthographies use a hyphen instead of the reverse apostrophe if the glottal stop occurs in the middle of the word (e.g. Tagalogpag-ibig, "love"; orVisayangabi-i, "night"). If it occurs in the end of a word, the last vowel can be written with acircumflex accent (known as thepakupyâ) if both a stress and a glottal stop occur in the final vowel (e.g.basâ, "wet") or agrave accent (known as thepaiwà) if the glottal stop occurs at the final vowel, but the stress occurs at the penultimate syllable (e.g.batà, "child").[3][4][5]
SomeCanadian indigenous languages, especially some of theSalishan languages, have adopted the IPA letter⟨ʔ⟩ into their orthographies. In some of them, it occurs as acasing pair,⟨Ɂ⟩ and⟨ɂ⟩.[6] The digit⟨7⟩ or aquestion mark is sometimes substituted for⟨ʔ⟩, and is preferred in languages such asSquamish.SENĆOŦEN – whose alphabet is mostly unique from other Salish languages – contrastly uses thecomma⟨,⟩ to represent the glottal stop, though it is optional.
In 2015, two women in theNorthwest Territories challenged the territorial government over its refusal to permit them to use the letter⟨ʔ⟩ in their daughters' names:Sahaiʔa, aChipewyan name, andSakaeʔah, aSlavey name (the two names are actuallycognates). 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⟨ʔ⟩, while continuing to challenge the policy.[7]
In theCrow language, the glottal stop is written as aquestion mark⟨?⟩. The only instance of the glottal stop in Crow is as aquestion marker morpheme at the end of a sentence.[8]
Use of the glottal stop is a distinct characteristic of the Southern MainlandArgyll dialects ofScottish Gaelic. In such a dialect, the standard Gaelic phraseTha Gàidhlig agam ("I speak Gaelic"), would be renderedTha Gàidhlig a'am.[citation needed]
In theNawdm language of Ghana, the glottal stop is writtenɦ, capitalĤ.
In English, the glottal stop occurs as anopen juncture (for example, between the vowel sounds inuh-oh!,[9]) and allophonically int-glottalization. InBritish English, the glottal stop is most familiar in theCockney 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 anull 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 vowelphonation after a silence.[1]
Although thissegment is not aphoneme in English, it occurs phonetically in nearly all dialects of English, as anallophone of/t/ in the syllable coda. Speakers of Cockney,Scottish English and several other British dialects also pronounce an intervocalic/t/ between vowels as incity. InReceived Pronunciation, a glottal stop is inserted before atautosyllabic voiceless stop: stoʼp, thaʼt, knoʼck, waʼtch, also leaʼp, soaʼk, helʼp, pinʼch.[10][11]
InAmerican 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 theMid-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 fromAfrican American Vernacular English, particularly that of New York City.[12][13]
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".[14] Traditionally inReceived 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.[clarification needed][15][14][16]
In many languages that do not allow a sequence of vowels, such asPersian, the glottal stop may be usedepenthetically to prevent such ahiatus. There are intricate interactions between fallingtone and the glottal stop in the histories of such languages asDanish (seestød),Cantonese andThai.[citation needed]
In many languages, the unstressed intervocalic allophone of the glottal stop is acreaky-voiced glottal approximant. It is known to be contrastive in only one language,Gimi, in which it is the voiced equivalent of the stop.[citation needed]
In some languages that normally maintain the flow of vowels fluid, a glottal stop can be added exceptionally for emphatic reasons in particular circumstances. For instance, although theLatin language would normally avoid glottal stops, thehexameter requires the reader to produce a glottal stop – to be regarded by all means as a consontant – beforeodiīs (i.e. "jactētur ʔodiīs") in verse 668 ofVirgil'sAeneid:[citation needed]
lītora jactētur odiīs Jūnōnis inīquae
The table below demonstrates how widely the sound of glottal stop is found among the world'sspoken languages:
| Family | Language | Word | IPA | Meaning | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northwest Caucasian | Abkhaz | аи/ai | [ʔaj] | 'no' | SeeAbkhaz phonology. | |
| Northwest Caucasian | Adyghe | ӏэ/'ė | [ʔa] | 'arm/hand' | ||
| Semitic | Arabic | Modern Standard[17] | أغاني/ʾaḡānī | [ʔaˈɣaːniː] | 'songs' | SeeArabic phonology,Hamza. |
| Levantine andEgyptian[18] | شقة/ša''a | [ˈʃæʔʔæ] | 'apartment' | Corresponds to/q/ or/g/ in other dialects. SeeLevantine Arabic phonology andEgyptian Arabic phonology | ||
| Fasi andTlemcenian[19] | قال/'āl | [ˈʔaːl] | 'he said' | Corresponds to/q/ or/g/ in other dialects. | ||
| Kiranti | Bantawa | चा:वा | [t͡saʔwa] | 'drinking water' | ||
| Bikol | Bikol | bàgo | [ˈbaːʔɡo] | 'new' | ||
| Algonquian | Blackfoot | ᓭᖰ /sa’áí | [saʔɛ́] | 'duck' | ||
| Slavic | Bulgarian | ъ-ъ/ŭ-ŭ | [ˈʔɤʔɤ] | 'nope' | ||
| Sino-Tibetan | Burmese | မြစ်များ/mrac mya: | [mjiʔmjá] | 'rivers' | ||
| Philippine | Cebuano | gatuo | [ˈgatuʔo] | 'believe' | ||
| Malayo-Polynesian | Chamorro | haluʼu | [həluʔu] | 'shark' | ||
| Sinitic | Chinese | Cantonese | 愛/oi3 | [ʔɔːi˧] | 'love' | SeeCantonese phonology. |
| Wu | 一级了/ih cih leh | [ʔiɪʔ.tɕiɪʔ.ʔləʔ] | 'superb' | |||
| Hokkien | 合/ha̍h | [hɐʔ˥] | 'to suit' | |||
| Polynesian | Cook Islands Māori | taʻi | [taʔi] | 'one' | ||
| Slavic | Czech | používat | [poʔuʒiːvat] | 'to use' | SeeCzech phonology. | |
| Cushitic | Dahalo | maʼa | [maʔa] | 'water' | seeDahalo phonology | |
| Germanic | Danish | hånd | [ˈhʌ̹nʔ] | 'hand' | One of the possible realizations ofstød. Depending on the dialect and style of speech, it can be instead realized aslaryngealisation of the preceding sound. SeeDanish phonology. | |
| Germanic | Dutch[20] | beamen | [bəʔˈaːmə(n)] | 'to confirm' | SeeDutch phonology. | |
| Germanic | English | Multiple dialects | Iam | [ʔaɪʔæm] (emphatic "am")) or[ʔaɪæm] | '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.[15][14] |
| RP | uh-oh | [ˈɐʔəʊ] | 'uh-oh' | |||
| American | [ˈʌʔoʊ]ⓘ | |||||
| Australian | cat | [kʰæʔ(t)] | 'cat' | Allophone of/t/, /k/ or /p/. Seeglottalization,English phonology, anddefinite article reduction. | ||
| GA | ||||||
| Estuary | [kʰæʔ] | |||||
| Cockney[21] | [kʰɛ̝ʔ] | |||||
| Scottish | [kʰäʔ] | |||||
| SomeNorthern England | the | [ʔ] | 'the' | |||
| Geordie | thank you | 'thank you' | ||||
| Geordie | people | 'people' | ||||
| RP[22] andGA | button | [ˈbɐʔn̩]ⓘ | 'button' | |||
| Germanic | German | Northern | Beamter | [bəˈʔamtɐ] | 'civil servant' | Generally all vowel onsets. SeeStandard German phonology. |
| Hmongic | Hmong | 𖬒𖬰𖬮𖬰 /ob | [ʔo˦] | 'two (2)' | ||
| Tupi-Guarani | Guaraní | avañeʼẽ | [ãʋ̃ãɲẽˈʔẽ] | 'Guaraní' | Occurs only between vowels. | |
| Polynesian | Hawaiian[23] | ʻeleʻele | [ˈʔɛlɛˈʔɛlɛ] | 'black' | SeeHawaiian phonology. | |
| Semitic | Hebrew | מַאֲמָר/ma'amar | [maʔămaʁ] | 'article' | Often elided in casual speech. SeeModern Hebrew phonology. | |
| Germanic | Icelandic | en | [ʔɛn] | 'but' | Only used according to emphasis, never occurring in minimal pairs. | |
| Malayo-Polynesian | Iloko | nalab-ay | [nalabˈʔaj] | 'bland tasting' | Hyphen when occurring within the word. | |
| Malayo-Polynesian | Indonesian | bakso | [ˌbäʔˈso] | 'meatball' | Allophone of/k/ or/ɡ/ in the syllable coda. | |
| Northeast-Caucasian | Ingush | кхоъ /qoʼ | [qoʔ] | 'three' | ||
| Japonic | Japanese | Kagoshima | /kuQ/ | [kuʔ] | 'neck' | |
| Malayo-Polynesian | Javanese[24] | ꦲꦤꦏ꧀ | [änäʔ] | 'child' | Allophone of/k/ inmorpheme-final position. | |
| Aslian | Jedek[25] | [wɛ̃ʔ] | 'left side' | |||
| Northwest-Caucasian | Kabardian | ӏэ/'ė | [ʔa] | 'arm/hand' | ||
| Manobo | Kagayanen[26] | saag | [saˈʔaɡ] | 'floor' | ||
| Khasi-Palaungic | Khasi | lyoh | [lʔɔːʔ] | 'cloud' | ||
| Mon-Khmer | Khmer | សំអាត /sâmqat | [sɑmʔɑːt] | 'to clean' | SeeKhmer phonology | |
| Koreanic | Korean | 일/il | [ʔil] | 'one' | Infree variation with no glottal stop. Occurs only in initial position of a word. | |
| Malayo-Polynesian | Malay | Standard | tidak | [ˈtidäʔ] | 'no' | Allophone of final/k/ in the syllable coda, pronounced before consonants and at end of the a word. In other positions,/ʔ/ has phonemic status only in loanwords from Arabic. SeeMalay phonology |
| Kelantan-Pattani | ikat | [ˌiˈkaʔ] | 'to tie' | Allophone of final/p,t,k/ in the syllable coda. Pronounced before consonants and at the end of a word. | ||
| Terengganu | ||||||
| Malayo-Polynesian | Makassarese | taʼdoʼdoʼ | [ˌt̪ʰaʔˈɗɔʔɗɔʔ] | 'be exhausted' | Written astakdokdok,taddoddok,taʼdoddoʼ,taqdoqdoq ortaddoddoʼ in other orthography. | |
| Semitic | Maltese | qattus | [ˈʔattus] | 'cat' | ||
| Polynesian | Māori | Taranaki,Whanganui | wahine | [waʔinɛ] | 'woman' | |
| Malayo-Polynesian | Minangkabau | waʼang | [wäʔäŋ] | 'you' | Sometimes written without an apostrophe. | |
| Yok-Utian | Mutsun | tawkaʼli | [tawkaʔli] | 'black gooseberry' | Ribes divaricatum | |
| Kartvelian | Mingrelian | ჸოროფა/?oropha | [ʔɔrɔpʰɑ] | 'love' | ||
| Uto-Aztecan | Nahuatl | tahtli | [taʔtɬi]ⓘ | 'father' | Often left unwritten. | |
| Plateau-Penutian | Nez Perce | yáakaʔ | [ˈjaːkaʔ] | 'black bear' | ||
| Tupi-Guarani | Nheengatu[27] | ai | [aˈʔi] | 'sloth' | Transcription (or absence thereof) varies. | |
| Algonquian | Ojibwe | ᒪᓯᓇᐃᑲᓐ/mazina'igan | [ˌmʌzɪˌnʌʔɪˈɡʌn] | 'a book; a letter; a document; a paper' | Merges with/h/ in some dialects. SeeOjibwe phonology. | |
| Ryukyuan | Okinawan | 音/utu | [ʔutu] | 'sound' | ||
| Indo-Iranian | Persian | معنی/ma'ni | [maʔni] | 'meaning' | SeePersian phonology. | |
| Slavic | Polish | era | [ʔɛra] | 'era' | Most often occurs as ananlaut of an initial vowel (Ala ‒>[Ɂala]). SeePolish phonology#Glottal stop. | |
| Mura | Pirahã | baíxi | [ˈmàí̯ʔì] | 'parent' | ||
| Romance | Portuguese[28] | VernacularBrazilian | ê-ê[29] | [ˌʔe̞ˈʔeː] | 'yeah right'[30] | Marginal sound. Does not occur after or before a consonant. In Brazilian casual speech, there is at least one[ʔ]–vowel length–pitch accent minimal pair (triply unusual, theideophones shortih vs. longih). SeePortuguese phonology. |
| Some speakers | à aula | [ˈaˈʔawlɐ] | 'to the class' | |||
| Oceanic | Rotuman[31] | ʻusu | [ʔusu] | 'to box' | ||
| Slavic | Russian | не-а /ne-a | [ˈnʲeʔə] | 'nope' | ||
| Polynesian | Samoan | maʻi | [maʔi] | 'sickness/illness' | ||
| Romance | Sardinian[32] | Some dialects ofBarbagia | unu pacu | [ˈuːnupaʔu] | 'a little' | Intervocalic allophone of/n,k,l/. |
| Some dialects ofSarrabus | sa luna | [saʔuʔa] | 'the moon' | |||
| Slavic | Serbo-Croatian[33] | i onda | [iːʔô̞n̪d̪a̠] | 'and then' | Optionally inserted between vowels across word boundaries.[33] SeeSerbo-Croatian phonology | |
| Isolate | Seri | he | [ʔɛ] | 'I' | ||
| Cushitic | Somali | baʼ | [baʔ] | 'calamity' | though/ʔ/ occurs before all vowels, it is only written medially and finally.[34] SeeSomali phonology | |
| Romance | Spanish | Nicaraguan[35] | más alto | [ˈmaˈʔal̻t̻o̞] | 'higher' | Marginal sound or allophone of/s/ between vowels in different words. Does not occur after or before a consonant. SeeSpanish phonology. |
| Yucateco[36] | cuatro años | [ˈkwatɾo̞ˈʔãɲo̞s] | 'four years' | |||
| Salishan | Squamish | Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim | [sqʷχʷoʔməʃsnit͡ʃim] | 'Squamish language' | ||
| Philippine | Tagalog | aaâ | [ʔɐʔɐˈʔaʔ] | 'to poo' (fut.) | SeeTagalog phonology. | |
| Polynesian | Tahitian | puaʻa | [puaʔa] | 'pig' | ||
| Tai-Kadai | Thai | อา/'ā | [ʔaː] | 'uncle/aunt' (father's younger sibling) | ||
| Polynesian | Tongan | tuʻu | [tuʔu] | 'stand' | ||
| Samoyedic | Tundra Nenets | выʼ/vy' | [wɨʔ] | 'tundra' | ||
| Vietic | Vietnamese[37] | oi | [ʔɔj˧] | 'sultry' | Infree variation with no glottal stop. SeeVietnamese phonology. | |
| Finnic | Võro | piniq | [ˈpinʲiʔ] | 'dogs' | "q" is Võro plural marker (maa,kala, "land", "fish";maaq,kalaq, "lands", "fishes"). | |
| Isolate | Wagiman | jamh | [t̠ʲʌmʔ] | 'to eat' (perf.) | ||
| Omotic | Welayta | 7írTi | [ʔirʈa] | 'wet' | ||
| Polynesian | Wallisian | maʻuli | [maʔuli] | 'life' | ||
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