Ejectives, was Re: New H/G lang?

Thanks, Rob.  That clears things up considerably.  Though how anyone
could tell the difference between an ejective and a consonant followed
by a glottal stop is beyond me!

I don't believe ejective nasals are possible, because the glottis
cannot be used to produce an airstream in the nasal tract, only the
oral cavity.  And there can be no voice with an ejective, because the
vocal cords are shut completely in order to produce the ejective
pressure.  And ejectives must be of fairly short duration, because
there is a fairly small volume of air available above the glottis.
But beyond that, anything's possible: glottalic fricatives and
affricates are certainly common enough.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Ed doesn't know everything, but he hasn't figured that out yet.
Please break it to him gently.              edheil@postmark.net
---------------------------------------------------------------

R. Nierse wrote:
> I used a different definition of glottalic.
> When I said glottalic I meant 'consonant followed by glottal stop'.
> I made this distinction because in Yucatec there is a minimal pair this
> way.
> Maybe the above definition is better.
> What about ejective nasals and sonorants and sibilants?
> They cannot simply be ejective, because the airstream is still there, even
> though they function that way in a phonology.
>