In phonetics, a glottalic consonant is a consonant produced with some important contribution (movement or closure) of the glottis. Glottalic sounds may involve motion of the larynx upward or downward, as the initiator of an egressive or ingressive glottalic airstream mechanism respectively. An egressive glottalic airstream produces ejective consonants, while an ingressive glottalic airstream produces implosive consonants. Ejectives are almost always voiceless stops (plosives) or affricates, while implosives are almost always voiced stops.
However, when a sound is said to be glottalized, this is often not what is meant. Rather, glottalization usually means that a normal pulmonic airstream is partially or completely interrupted by closure of the glottis. Sonorants (including vowels) may be glottalized in this fashion. There are three ways this can be represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet: (a) with an apostrophe; (b) with a superscript glottal stop; or (c) with an under-tilde. For example, the Yapese word for 'sick' with a glottalized m could be transcribed . (In some conventions, the apostrophe is placed above the letter.) When an obstruent is glottalized but still uses a pulmonic airstream, it may be written , , , , , , , , etc.Collins & Mees, 1984, The Sounds of English and Dutch, p 281.
The constriction of the larynx and surrounding tissues when pronouncing a glottalized resonant may cause the larynx to rise (usually) or occasionally to fall. However, this is not normally interpreted as an ejective or implosive airstream mechanism, but rather individual variation in the glottalization.Esling, John H.; Moisik, Scott R.; Benner, Allison; Crevier-Buchman, Lise (2019). Voice Quality: The Laryngeal Articulator Model. Cambridge University Press.
A language may have more than one kind of glottalic consonant. However, a language that has one kind is not particularly likely to have others. For example, languages in the Americas which have both ejectives and glottalized sonorants may reflect an areal feature rather than an inherent feature common to the sounds in question. Since none of the three types are very common, languages containing more than one type are relatively rare.
Distribution in the world's languages
This section gives the distribution of "ejective and ejective-like consonants, implosive and implosive-like consonants, and glottalized resonants" according to the number of languages in which these sounds occur, the geographical location of these languages, and the total number of consonants in the languages. Note that fewer than 10% of the extant languages were surveyed; future research could change some of the conclusions here.
In the text accompanying his map, Maddieson writes:
Maddieson includes features such as stiff voice (but not breathy voice).
Geographic distribution
It appears that these types of consonants cluster in geographic regions more strongly than they cluster in language families (areal distribution rather than genealogical, according to Maddieson).
Ejectives Over half of the languages with ejectives are in the Western Hemisphere. Maddieson says:
Clusters elsewhere include the Semitic languages of Ethiopia and neighbouring countries.
Implosives Over half of the languages with implosives are in sub-Saharan Africa; another big cluster is in Southeast Asia. Only 16% of the languages with implosives occur elsewhere in world. Maddieson says that about three-quarters of the languages that have both ejectives and implosives occur in eastern and southern Africa.
Glottalized resonants Two-thirds of the languages with glottalized resonants are in the Americas. Nearly half of them co-occur with ejectives in the cluster from California to the Northwest Territories of Canada. Glottalized resonants are found only in three languages with ejectives outside the Western Hemisphere; Maddieson suggests:
Glottalized consonants compared to total number of consonants
Maddieson believes that complex consonants, requiring "more intricate coordination" of different parts of the mouth and throat, are more likely to occur in languages with larger numbers of contrasting consonant phonemes. He says:
See also Glottalization Guttural
References