Uvular ejective stop

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Uvular ejective stop
IPA Number111 + 401
Audio sample
Encoding
Entity (decimal)q​ʼ
Unicode (hex)U+0071 U+02BC
X-SAMPAq_>

The uvular ejective is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is .

Features[edit]

Features of the uvular ejective:

Occurrence[edit]

One ejective
A single plain uvular ejective is found in almost all Northeast Caucasian languages, all South Caucasian languages, and some Athabaskan languages, as well as Itelmen, Quechua and Aymara.

  • Itelmen, where it is written ӄ': ӄ'ил'хч [qʼilˀxt͡ʃ] to depart.
  • Georgian, where it is written : ტავი [ˈtʼqʼävi] skin, pelt. Unlike its velar counterpart, it does not contrast with voiced or voiceless uvular stops; the voiceless uvular stop of Old Georgian has merged with the voiceless velar fricative in modern Georgian. Some scholars view this Georgian phoneme as being rather an uvular ejective fricative /χʼ/.
  • Tahltan: [qʼaχaːdiː] door.

Two ejectives
Most Salishan languages, the Tlingit language, and Adyghe and Kabardian (Northwest Caucasian) demonstrate a two-way contrast between labialised and plain uvular ejectives.

  • Klallam: wəə́ [wəqʼəqʼ] frog, sq̕ʷúŋi(ʔ) [sqʷʼuɴi(ʔ)] head.
  • Lezgian, where the two are written кь and кьв: кьакьан [qʼaqʼan] tall, high, кьвех [qʷʼeχ] groin.
  • North Straits Salish, where the two are written K and in the Saanich orthography: Saanich KEYOṮEN [qʼəjat͡ɬʼənˀ] slug, snail, SEḰĆES [sqʷʼəqʷt͡ʃəs] red huckleberry.

The Akhvakh language appears to have a contrast between lax and tense uvular ejectives: [qʼaː] soup, broth (lax) vs. [qːʼama] cock's comb (tense).

Three ejectives

  • Abkhaz contrasts plain, palatalised and labialised uvular ejectives, written ҟ ҟь ҟə: аҟаҧшь [aqʼapʃ] red, -ҵəҟьа [-t͡ɕʷʼqʲʼa] really, indeed (a verbal suffix), Аҟәа [aqʷʼa] Sukhum. As with Georgian, Abkhaz has no non-ejective uvular stops; the historically present uvular aspirates have merged with their corresponding fricatives, although the aspirates are preserved in Abaza.

Five ejectives

  • The plain uvular ejective is one of the most common consonants in Ubykh, due to its presence in the past tense suffix /-qʼɜ/. But in addition to palatalised, labialised and plain uvular ejectives, Ubykh also possesses a pharyngealised version and a concurrently labialised and pharyngealised version, making a total of five: [qʼɜqʼɜ] he said it, [mɨqʲʼ] small and round, [qʷʼɜ] to seize, [qˤʼɜqˤʼ] to chew, [qʷˤʼɜ] cavern.
Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Abaza къапщы/apśə [qʼapɕə] 'red'
Abkhaz аҟаԥшь/aapš [aqʼapʃ]
Adyghe Hakuchi къӏэ/e [qʼa] 'hand' Dialectal. Corresponds to [ʔ] in other dialects.
Archi къам/am [qʼam] 'forelock'
Azeri North dialects qədim [qʼæˈd̪i̞m] 'ancient'
Batsbi არ/ar [qʼar] 'rain'
Chechen къийг / iyg / ڨییگ [qʼiːg] 'crow'
Georgian[1] ვავილი/vavili [ˈqʼvävili] 'flower'
Haida qqayttas [qʼajtʼas] 'basket'
Laz ოროფონი/mqoroponi [mqʼɔrɔˈpʰɔni] 'loving'
Lushootseed il̕bid [qʼil̰bid] 'canoe'
Mingrelian ორტაფუ/orṭapu [ɔrtʼqʼapʰu] 'belt'
Quechua q'illu [qʼɛʎʊ] 'yellow'
Svan ინტ/č̣inṭ [t͡ʃʼqʼintʼ] 'boy'
Tlingit k̲ʼateil [qʼʌtʰeːɬ] ‘pitcher’
Ubykh ee/ɜɜ [qʼɜqʼɜ] '(s)he said it' or '(s)he said

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Shosted, Ryan K.; Chikovani, Vakhtang (2006). "Standard Georgian" (PDF). Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 36 (2): 255–264. doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659. ISSN 1475-3502.

External links[edit]