Uvular ejective stop

Uvular ejective stop
qʼ
IPA number111 + 401
Audio sample
Encoding
Entity (decimal)q​ʼ
Unicode (hex)U+0071 U+02BC
X-SAMPAq_>

The uvular ejective is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨qʼ⟩.

Features

Features of the uvular ejective:

Occurrence

A single plain uvular ejective is found in almost all Northeast Caucasian languages, all South Caucasian languages, and some Athabaskan languages, as well as Itelmen, Quechua and Aymara.

Most Salishan languages, the Tlingit language, and Adyghe and Kabardian (Northwest Caucasian) demonstrate a two-way contrast between labialised and plain uvular ejectives.

The Akhvakh language appears to have a contrast between lax and tense uvular ejectives: [qʼaː] 'soup, broth' (lax) vs. [qːʼama] 'cock's comb' (tense).

Abkhaz contrasts plain, palatalised and labialised uvular ejectives, written ⟨ҟ, ҟь, ҟə⟩, e.g., аҟаҧшь [aqʼapʃ] 'red', -ҵəҟьа [-t͡ɕʷʼqʲʼa] 'really, indeed (a verbal suffix)', Аҟәа [aqʷʼa] 'Sukhum'. As with Georgian, Abkhaz has no non-ejective uvular stops; the historically present uvular aspirates have merged with their corresponding fricatives, although the aspirates are preserved in Abaza.

The plain uvular ejective is one of the most common consonants in Ubykh, due to its presence in the past tense suffix /-qʼɜ/. But in addition to palatalised, labialised and plain uvular ejectives, Ubykh also possesses a pharyngealised version and a concurrently labialised and pharyngealised version, making a total of five: [qʼɜqʼɜ] 'he said it', [mɨqʲʼ] 'small and round', [qʷʼɜ] 'to seize', [qˤʼɜqˤʼ] 'to chew', [qʷˤʼɜ] 'cavern'.

Examples

Language Word IPA Meaning Notes
Abaza къапщы/q̇apśə [qʼapɕə] 'red'
Abkhaz аҟаԥшь/aq̇apš [aqʼapʃ]
Adyghe Hakuchi къӏэ/q̇e [qʼa]ⓘ 'hand' Dialectal. Corresponds to [ʔ] in other dialects.
Archi къам/q̇am [qʼam] 'forelock'
Azeri North dialects qədim [qʼæˈd̪i̞m] 'ancient'
Batsbi ყარ/q̇ar [qʼar] 'rain'
Chechen къийг/q̇iyg/ڨـییگ [qʼiːg] 'crow'
Dargwa Mehweb[1] uq’laha [uq’ˈlaha] 'window' contrasts with /q/, /qʷ/, and /q’ʷ/
Georgian[2] ყვავილი/q̇vavili [ˈqʼvävili] 'flower' Unlike the velar ejective, it does not contrast with voiced or voiceless uvular stops; the Old Georgian voiceless uvular stop has merged with the voiceless velar fricative in modern Georgian. Some scholars view this Georgian phoneme as being rather an uvular ejective fricative /χʼ/.
Haida qqayttas [qʼajtʼas] 'basket'
Itelmen ӄ'ил'хч [qʼilˀxt͡ʃ] 'to depart'
Klallam wəq̕ə́q̕ [wəqʼəqʼ] 'frog' contrasts with labialized uvular ejective stop, e.g., sq̕ʷúŋi(ʔ) [sqʷʼuɴi(ʔ)] 'head'.
Kutenai ʔaq̓am [ʔaq’am] 'St. Mary’s or deep dense woods'
Laz მყოროფონი/mqoroponi [mqʼɔrɔˈpʰɔni] 'loving'
Lezgian кьакьан [qʼaqʼan] 'tall', 'high' contrasts with labialized version, e.g., кьвех [qʷʼeχ] 'groin'
Lushootseed q̓il̕bid [qʼil̰bid] 'canoe'
Mingrelian ორტყაფუ/orṭq̇apu [ɔrtʼqʼapʰu] 'belt'
North Straits Salish KEYOṮEN [qʼəjat͡ɬʼənˀ] 'slug, snail' contrasts with the labialized version, e.g., SK̴EḰĆES [sqʷʼəqʷt͡ʃəs] 'red huckleberry'.
Quechua q'illu [qʼɛʎʊ] 'yellow'
Svan ჭყინტ/č̣q̇inṭ [t͡ʃʼqʼintʼ] 'boy'
Tahltan [qʼaχaːdiː] 'door'
Tlingit k̲ʼateil [qʼʌtʰeːɬ]ⓘ ‘pitcher’
Ubykh qʼeqʼe/qʼɜqʼɜ [qʼɜqʼɜ] '(s)he said it' or '(s)he said

See also

References

  1. ^ Moros, George (2019). "Phonology of Mehweb". In Daniel, Michael; Dobrushina, Nina; Ganenkov, Dmitry (eds.). The Mehweb language: Essays on phonology, morphology and syntax. Languages of the Caucasus. Vol. 1. Berlin: Language Science Press. p. 24. doi:10.5281/zenodo.3402056. hdl:/20.500.12657/23417. ISBN 978-3-96110-208-2.
  2. ^ Shosted, Ryan K.; Chikovani, Vakhtang (2006). "Standard Georgian" (PDF). Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 36 (2): 255–264. doi:10.1017/S0025100306002659. ISSN 1475-3502.