Re: Phonological terminology question

Danny Wier wrote:
> From: "Garth Wallace" <gwalla@...>
>
>>Looking at the IPA/X-SAMPA chart, I see sections for "pulmonic" and
>>"non-pulmonic" consonants. What does that mean?
>
> Lemme try... pulmonic consonants (and vowels) involve movement of air to and
> from the lungs. The vast majority of sounds in the world's languages are
> pulmonic egressive, that is uttered while breathing outward. Pulmonic
> ingression is involved in a "gasp", but I know of no natural languages with
> pulmonic ingression.
Hmm...that'd be an idea. A language with both egressive and ingressive
vowels, so speakers would never have to stop for breath.

> After pulmonic, glottalic consonants are next in order of frequency. The
> most common is glottalic egressive, the consonants known as "ejective",
> found in languages as diverse as Amharic, Georgian, Navajo, Quechua and
> <shameless conlang plug>Tech</shameless conlang plug>. These involve
> pressure caused by a closure and raising of the glottis in the lower throat
> region, then a release of pressure at first the oral articulation (labial,
> dental, velar etc.) then the glottis. But glottal ingressive, or "implosive"
> consonants can be found, mostly in African languages like Hausa, Somali and
> Swahili, as well as other languages like Sindhi and Khmer. The glottis is
> lowered, creating a suction in the upper throat and mouth. Voiced implosives
> are more common than voiceless.
So, would a bilabial ejective be a spitting sound, and a bilabial
ingressive be a kiss?

> The clicks of Khoisan languages in southern Africa are classified as "velar
> ingressive", meaning that there is closure at the soft or rear palate as
> well as another stop at the dental, alveolar, palatal/retroflex and lateral
> position (but there are also bilabial clicks and I don't know how these are
> produced). The front of the tongue is released just before the back,
> creating a vacuum then a "click" sound. These are also the sounds of
> "giddy-up" and "tsk-tsk".
Ahh, I see.

> Finally, there are buccal egressives (air released from the cheeks, the
> speech of Donald Duck) and gastric egressive (BURP!!).
Heh heh. That last one is a bit hard to control, but not impossible...a
friend back in grade school could belch complete sentences.

I'm also a little unclear on how epiglottal and pharyngeal consonants
are produced...is a pharyngeal fricative a choking sound? Because that's
what I get when I try it.

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