glottale

Glottales are a group of consonants that are produced by constricting the vocal tract at the glottis, the space between the vocal folds. This constriction can be complete, as in the case of the glottal stop, or partial, as in the case of the voiced and voiceless glottal fricatives. Glottales are found in many languages around the world, including English, where the glottal stop is used in words like "uh-oh" and "uh-huh." In some languages, glottales are used to indicate a change in the grammatical person or number of a verb. For example, in the language of the Inuit people, the glottal stop is used to indicate the third person singular. Glottales are also used in some languages to indicate a change in the tense of a verb. For example, in the language of the Quechua people, the glottal stop is used to indicate the past tense. Glottales are an important part of the sound system of many languages, and their use can vary greatly from one language to another.