Re: A question for the ejective gurus: strong~weak ejectives

--- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Paul Roser <pkroser@E...> wrote:
>.... I don't recall all of the
> characteristics that distinguish the two types,
> but one that I do recall is that tense ejectives have a longer gap
> between stop release and glottal release, and a longer Voice Onset
> Time, while lax ejectives have a very short gap (or none at all).
>
> While no known language makes this distinction (so far as I'm
> aware), I'm not sure that it's impossible from a phonological view
<snip>

I've always been intrigued by Yucatec Maya that has k?- (that is [k]
plus glottal stop) as first person plural prefix. Once prefixed to a
root beginning with a vowel, a minimal pair can ocur between [k'] and
[k?], as in:
k'ak' 'fire'
k?ak'  'our grapevine'

Rob