Alveolar ejective - Definition and Overview

The alveolar ejective is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is tʼ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is t_>.

IPA - Unicode	tʼ
IPA - image
X-SAMPA	t_>
Kirshenbaum	t`
Sound sample

Features of this consonant:

• Its manner of articulation is plosive or stop, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract.
• Its place of articulation is alveolar which means it is articulated with the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge.
• Its phonation type is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the center of the tongue, rather than the sides.
• The airstream mechanism is glottalic egressive, which means it is produced by pushing air out of the glottis, rather than from the lungs.

See also

• List of phonetic topics