ejectives

An ejective is a consonant produced with a glottalic egressive airstream mechanism. During articulation, the glottis is closed and raised, compressing air in the oral cavity. When the oral closure is released, a burst is heard. Because the airstream relies on glottal compression rather than pulmonic air, ejectives are typically non-pulmonic and are usually voiceless, though some languages may have rare voiced ejectives or other phonation on the release.

Ejective sounds occur across several consonant types, most commonly as stops (for example p’, t’, k’, q’), but also as affricates (such as ts’) and, in some languages, fricatives (such as s’ or z’). The exact inventory varies by language. In phonetic notation, ejectives are often written with a prime symbol after the consonant symbol, e.g., p’, t’, k’, ts’, to indicate the ejective airstream mechanism.

Geographic and linguistic distribution is broad but uneven. Ejectives are a prominent feature in many Caucasian languages (notably Georgian), and they occur in several Andean languages (such as Quechua and Aymara) as well as in various East African languages (for instance Amharic and Tigrinya). They also appear in languages outside these areas, contributing to distinctive consonant inventories where present.

Phonological significance includes their distinction from pulmonic consonants and from implosives, as well as their interaction with other timing and prosodic features of a language. Ejectives represent one of several non-pulmonic airstream mechanisms used in human language to generate contrastive sounds.