Re: YACQ: Plausibility of a sound change

H. S. Teoh scripsit:

> Excuse my ignorance... what *is* the difference between an ejective stop
> and an aspirated stop? :-)
Aspirated stops are the kind Chinese and English has (voiceless);
there's an exhalation after the stop, more or less like a following [h].
(Wu Chinese and various Indic langs have voiced aspirated stops, which
are a little different.)

Ejectives involve a complete closure at the glottis, and then making
the stop using just the air in the mouth.

--
John Cowan                                   cowan@ccil.org
One art/there is/no less/no more/All things/to do/with sparks/galore
        --Douglas Hofstadter