Voiceless glottal affricate

Voiceless glottal affricate
ʔ͡h
ʔ͜h
ʔh
IPA number	113 146
Sound
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The voiceless glottal affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet is ⟨ʔ͡h⟩.

Features

Features of the voiceless glottal affricate:

• Its manner of articulation is affricate, which means it is produced by first stopping the airflow entirely, then allowing air flow through a constricted channel at the place of articulation, causing turbulence.

• Its place of articulation is glottal, which means it is articulated at and by the vocal cords (vocal folds).

• Its phonation is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords. In some languages the vocal cords are actively separated, so it is always voiceless; in others the cords are lax, so that it may take on the voicing of adjacent sounds.

• It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.

• It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.

• The airstream mechanism is pulmonic, which means it is articulated by pushing air solely with the lungs and diaphragm, as in most sounds.

Occurrence

Language		Word	IPA	Meaning	Notes
Chinese	Yuxi dialect[1][2]	可	[ʔ͡ho˥˧]	'can, may'	Corresponds to /kʰ/ in Standard Chinese.[2][3]
English	Received Pronunciation[4]	hat	[ʔ͡haʔt]	'hat'	Possible allophone of /h/, especially in stressed syllables.[4] See English phonology

References

1. Yang (1969), pp. 393–394.
2. Colarusso (2012), p. 2.
3. Yang (1969), p. 394.
4. Collins & Mees (2003), p. 148.

Bibliography

• Colarusso, John (2012), The Typology of the Gutturals (PDF)
• Collins, Beverley; Mees, Inger M. (2003), The Phonetics of English and Dutch, Fifth Revised Edition (PDF), ISBN 9004103406
• Yang, Shifeng (1969), A Report of Investigating Dialects in Yunnan Province [雲南方言調查報告]