phonetics Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds or, in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians ...

, ejective consonants are usually

voiceless In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, it is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word phonation implies v ...

consonants In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...

that are pronounced with a glottalic egressive airstream. In the phonology of a particular language, ejectives may contrast with aspirated, voiced and

tenuis consonant In linguistics, a tenuis consonant ( or ) is an obstruent that is voiceless, unaspirated and unglottalized. In other words, it has the "plain" phonation of with a voice onset time close to zero (a zero-VOT consonant), as Spanish ''p, t, ...

s. Some languages have glottalized

sonorants In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant or resonant is a speech sound that is produced with continuous, non-turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; these are the manners of articulation that are most often voiced in the world's languages. Vowels are ...

with

creaky voice In linguistics, creaky voice (sometimes called laryngealisation, pulse phonation, vocal fry, or glottal fry) refers to a low, scratchy sound that occupies the vocal range below the common vocal register. It is a special kind of phonation in which ...

that pattern with ejectives phonologically, and other languages have ejectives that pattern with

implosives Implosive consonants are a group of stop consonants (and possibly also some affricates) with a mixed glottalic ingressive and pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism. That is, the airstream is controlled by moving the glottis downward in additio ...

, which has led to phonologists positing a phonological class of

glottalic consonant In phonetics, a glottalic consonant is a consonant produced with some important contribution (movement or closure) of the glottis. Glottalic sounds may involve motion of the larynx upward or downward, as the initiator of an egressive or ingres ...

s, which includes ejectives.

Description

In producing an ejective, the

stylohyoid muscle The stylohyoid muscle is one of the suprahyoid muscles. Its originates from the styloid process of the temporal bone; it inserts onto hyoid bone. It is innervated by a branch of the facial nerve. It acts draw the hyoid bone upwards and backwards. ...

and

digastric muscle The digastric muscle (also digastricus) (named ''digastric'' as it has two 'bellies') is a bilaterally paired suprahyoid muscle located under the jaw. Its posterior belly is attached to the mastoid notch of temporal bone, and its anterior belly ...

contract, causing the

hyoid bone The hyoid-bone (lingual-bone or tongue-bone) () is a horseshoe-shaped bone situated in the anterior midline of the neck between the chin and the thyroid-cartilage. At rest, it lies between the base of the mandible and the third cervical verte ...

and the connected glottis to rise, and the forward articulation (at the velum in the case of ) is held, raising air pressure greatly in the mouth so when the oral articulators separate, there is a dramatic burst of air. The

Adam's apple The Adam's apple is the protrusion in the neck formed by the angle of the thyroid cartilage surrounding the larynx, typically visible in men, less frequently in women. The prominence of the Adam's apple increases in some men as a secondary mal ...

may be seen moving when the sound is pronounced. In the languages in which they are more obvious, ejectives are often described as sounding like "spat" consonants, but ejectives are often quite weak. In some contexts and in some languages, they are easy to mistake for tenuis or even voiced stops.Fallon, 2002. ''The synchronic and diachronic phonology of ejectives'' These weakly ejective articulations are sometimes called ''intermediates'' in older American linguistic literature and are notated with different phonetic symbols: = strongly ejective, = weakly ejective. Strong and weak ejectives have not been found to be contrastive in any natural language. In strict, technical terms, ejectives are glottalic egressive consonants. The most common ejective is even if it is more difficult to produce than other ejectives like or because the auditory distinction between and is greater than with other ejectives and voiceless consonants of the same

place of articulation In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a consonant is an approximate location along the vocal tract where its production occurs. It is a point where a constriction is made between an active and a pa ...

. In proportion to the frequency of

uvular consonant Uvulars are consonants articulated with the back of the tongue against or near the uvula, that is, further back in the mouth than velar consonants. Uvulars may be stops, fricatives, nasals, trills, or approximants, though the IPA does not ...

s, is even more common, as would be expected from the very small oral cavity used to pronounce a

voiceless uvular stop The voiceless uvular plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. It is pronounced like a voiceless velar plosive , except that the tongue makes contact not on the soft palate but on the uvula. The symbol in ...

. , on the other hand, is quite rare. That is the opposite pattern to what is found in the

implosive consonant Implosive consonants are a group of stop consonants (and possibly also some affricates) with a mixed glottalic ingressive and pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism. That is, the airstream is controlled by moving the glottis downward in additi ...

s, in which the bilabial is common and the velar is rare. Ejective fricatives are rare for presumably the same reason: with the air escaping from the mouth while the pressure is being raised, like inflating a leaky bicycle tire, it is harder to distinguish the resulting sound as salient as a .

Occurrence

Ejectives occur in about 20% of the world's languages. Ejectives that phonemically contrast with pulmonic consonants occur in about 15% of languages around the world. The occurrence of ejectives often correlates to languages in mountainous regions such as the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

which forms an island of ejective languages. They are also found frequently in the

East African Rift The East African Rift (EAR) or East African Rift System (EARS) is an active continental rift zone in East Africa. The EAR began developing around the onset of the Miocene, 22–25 million years ago. It was formerly considered to be part of a l ...

and the South African Plateau (see

Geography of Africa Africa is a continent comprising 63 political territories, representing the largest of the great southward projections from the main mass of Earth's surface. Within its regular outline, it comprises an area of , excluding adjacent islands. Its h ...

). In the Americas, they are extremely common in the

North American Cordillera The North American Cordillera, sometimes also called the Western Cordillera of North America, the Western Cordillera, or the Pacific Cordillera, is the North American portion of the American Cordillera, the mountain chain system along the Pacifi ...

. They also frequently occur throughout the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

and

Maya Mountains The Maya Mountains are a mountain range located in Belize and eastern Guatemala, in Central America. Etymology The Maya Mountains were known as the ''Cockscomb'' or ''Coxcomb Mountains'' to Baymen and later Belizeans at least until the mid ...

. Elsewhere, they are rare. Language families that distinguish ejective consonants include: *

Afroasiatic languages The Afroasiatic languages (also known as Afro-Asiatic, Afrasian, Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic) are a language family (or "phylum") of about 400 languages spoken predominantly in West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of th ...

, especially in the

Cushitic The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north in Egypt and Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As of 2 ...

and

Omotic The Omotic languages are a group of languages spoken in southwestern Ethiopia, in the Omo River region and southeastern Sudan in Blue Nile State. The Geʽez script is used to write some of the Omotic languages, the Latin script for some others. T ...

branches, and in some languages of the Semitic (

Ethio-Semitic Ethio-Semitic (also Ethiopian Semitic, Ethiosemitic, Ethiopic or Abyssinian) is a family of languages spoken in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Sudan. They form the western branch of the South Semitic languages, itself a sub-branch of Semitic, part of t ...

and

Modern South Arabian The Modern South Arabian languages, also known as Eastern South Semitic languages, are a group of endangered languages spoken by small populations inhabiting the Arabian Peninsula, in Yemen and Oman, and Socotra Island. Together with the Ethiosem ...

) and

Chadic The Chadic languages form a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken in parts of the Sahel. They include 196 languages spoken across northern Nigeria, southern Niger, southern Chad, and northern Cameroon. By far the most widely ...

branches (e.g.

Hausa Hausa may refer to: * Hausa people, an ethnic group of West Africa * Hausa language, spoken in West Africa * Hausa Kingdoms, a historical collection of Hausa city-states * Hausa (horse) or Dongola horse, an African breed of riding horse See also ...

) * All three families of the Caucasus: the

Northwest Caucasian languages The Northwest Caucasian languages, also called West Caucasian, Abkhazo-Adyghean, Abkhazo-Circassian, Circassic, or sometimes Pontic languages (from Ancient Greek, ''pontos'', referring to the Black Sea, in contrast to the Northeast Caucasian ...

( Circassian, Abkhaz and Ubykh); the

Northeast Caucasian languages The Northeast Caucasian languages, also called East Caucasian, Nakh-Daghestani or Vainakh-Daghestani, or sometimes Caspian languages (from the Caspian Sea, in contrast to ''Pontic languages'' for the Northwest Caucasian languages), is a langu ...

such as Chechen and Avar; and the

Kartvelian languages The Kartvelian languages ( ; ka, ქართველური ენები, tr; also known as South Caucasian or Kartvelic languages Boeder (2002), p. 3) are a language family indigenous to the South Caucasus and spoken primarily in Geor ...

such as Georgian * the

Athabaskan Athabaskan ( ; also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large branch of the Na-Dene language family of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, ...

Siouan Siouan ( ), also known as Siouan–Catawban ( ), is a language family of North America located primarily in the Great Plains, Ohio and Mississippi valleys and southeastern North America with a few other languages in the east. Name Authors who ...

and

Salishan The Salishan languages ( ), also known as the Salish languages ( ), are a family of languages found in the Pacific Northwest in North America, namely the Canadian province of British Columbia and the American states of Washington, Oregon, Ida ...

families of North America along with the many diverse families of the Pacific Northwest from central

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

* Mayan family, as well as neighboring

Lencan languages The Lencan languages are a small linguistic family from Central America, whose speakers before the Spanish conquest spread throughout El Salvador and Honduras. But by the beginning of the 20th century, only two languages of the family survived, ...

and

Xincan languages Xinca (or ''Xinka'', Sinca, or ''Szinca'') is a small extinct family of Mesoamerican languages; formerly, the language was regarded as a single language isolate. Xinca was once spoken by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous Xinca p ...

* Aymaran family * the southern varieties of

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several Indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, an Indigenous South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language ...

( Qusqu-Qullaw) * Puelche and Tehuelche of the

Chonan languages The Chonan languages are a family of indigenous American languages which were spoken in Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia. Two Chon languages are well attested: Selkʼnam (or Ona), spoken by the people of the same name who occupied territory in t ...

* Alacalufan family * Gumuz, Meʼen, Tʼwampa and possibly other

Nilo-Saharan languages The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of around 210 African languages spoken by somewhere around 70 million speakers, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari River, Chari and Nile rivers, including historic Nubia, north of where the tw ...

* Sandawe, Hadza, and the

Khoisan Khoisan ( ) or () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for the various Indigenous peoples of Africa, indigenous peoples of Southern Africa who traditionally speak non-Bantu languages, combining the Khoekhoen and the San people, Sān peo ...

families of southern Africa *

Itelmen The Itelmens (; ) are an Indigenous ethnic group of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. The Itelmen language is distantly related to Chukchi and Koryak, forming the Chukotko-Kamchatkan language family, but it is now virtually extinct, the vas ...

of the

Chukotko-Kamchatkan languages The Chukotko-Kamchatkan or Chukchi–Kamchatkan languages are a Language families and languages, language family of extreme northeastern Siberia. Its speakers traditionally were indigenous hunter-gatherers and reindeer-herders. Chukotko-Kamchatk ...

* Yapese and Waima'a of the Austronesian family *

Kunigami is a List of villages in Japan, village in Kunigami District, Okinawa, Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It occupies the north tip of Okinawa Island, with the East China Sea to the west, Pacific Ocean to the east, and Municipalities ...

and several Northern Ryukyuan and Yaeyama varieties of the Japonic-Ryukyuan family According to the

glottalic theory The glottalic theory is that Proto-Indo-European had ejective or otherwise non- pulmonic stops, , instead of the plain voiced ones, as hypothesized by the usual Proto-Indo-European phonological reconstructions. A forerunner of the theory was ...

, the

Proto-Indo-European language Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Eu ...

had a series of ejectives (or, in some versions,

), but no extant Indo-European language has retained them. Ejectives are found today in Ossetian and some

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

dialects only because of influence of the nearby Northeast Caucasian and/or Kartvelian language families. It had once been predicted that ejectives and implosives would not be found in the same language but both have been found phonemically at several points of articulation in

( Gumuz, Me'en, and T'wampa),

Mayan language Mayan most commonly refers to: * Maya peoples, various indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Maya civilization, pre-Columbian culture of Mesoamerica and northern Central America * Mayan languages, language family spoken ...

(

Yucatec Yucatec Maya ( ; referred to by its speakers as or ) is a Mayan language spoken in the Yucatán Peninsula, including part of northern Belize. There is also a significant diasporic community of Yucatec Maya speakers in San Francisco, though m ...

), and the

Oto-Manguean The Oto-Manguean or Otomanguean () languages are a large family comprising several subfamilies of indigenous languages of the Americas. All of the Oto-Manguean languages that are now spoken are indigenous to Mexico, but the Manguean languages, Ma ...

Mazahua Mazahua may refer to: * Mazahua people, an Indigenous people of Mexico * Mazahua language, the Oto-Pamean language spoken by the Mazahua people {{disambiguation Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...

Nguni languages The Nguni languages are a group of Bantu languages spoken in southern Africa (mainly South Africa, Zimbabwe and Eswatini) by the Nguni people. Nguni languages include Xhosa, Tsonga, Ndebele, and Swati. The appellation "Nguni" derives from t ...

, such as Zulu have an implosive ''b'' alongside a series of allophonically ejective stops. Dahalo of

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, has ejectives, implosives, and

click consonants Click consonants, or clicks, are speech sounds that occur as consonants in many languages of Southern Africa and in three languages of East Africa. Examples familiar to English-speakers are the '' tut-tut'' (British spelling) or '' tsk! tsk!' ...

. Non-contrastively, ejectives are found in many varieties of

British English British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...

, usually replacing word-final fortis plosives in utterance-final or emphatic contexts.

Types

Almost all ejective consonants in the world's languages are stops or

affricate An affricate is a consonant that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative, generally with the same place of articulation (most often coronal). It is often difficult to decide if a stop and fricative form a single phoneme or a consonant pai ...

s, and all ejective consonants are

obstruent An obstruent ( ) is a speech sound such as , , or that is formed by ''obstructing'' airflow. Obstruents contrast with sonorants, which have no such obstruction and so resonate. All obstruents are consonants, but sonorants include vowels as well ...

s. is the most common ejective, and is common among languages with uvulars, less so, and is uncommon. Among affricates, are all quite common, and and are not unusual ( is particularly common among the

Khoisan languages The Khoisan languages ( ; also Khoesan or Khoesaan) are a number of Languages of Africa, African languages once classified together, originally by Joseph Greenberg. Khoisan is defined as those languages that have click languages, click consonant ...

, where it is the ejective equivalent of ). A few languages have ejective fricatives. In some dialects of

, the standard affricate is a fricative ; Ubykh (Northwest Caucasian, now extinct) had an ejective lateral fricative ; and the related Kabardian also has ejective labiodental and alveolopalatal fricatives, .

Tlingit The Tlingit or Lingít ( ) are Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. , they constitute two of the 231 federally recognized List of Alaska Native tribal entities, Tribes of Alaska. Most Tlingit are Alaska Natives; ...

is an extreme case, with ejective alveolar, lateral, velar, and uvular fricatives, ; it may be the only language with the last type.

Upper Necaxa Totonac Upper Necaxa Totonac is a native American language of central Mexico spoken by 3,400 people in and around four villages— Chicontla, Patla, Cacahuatlán, and San Pedro Tlaloantongo —in the Necaxa River Valley in Northern Puebla State.Beck ...

is unusual and perhaps unique in that it has ejective fricatives (alveolar, lateral, and postalveolar ) but lacks any ejective stop or affricate (Beck 2006). Other languages with ejective fricatives are

Yuchi The Yuchi people are a Native American tribe based in Oklahoma, though their original homeland was in the southeastern United States. In the 16th century, the Yuchi lived in the eastern Tennessee River valley. By the late 17th century, they had ...

, which some sources analyze as having (but not the analysis of the Wikipedia article), Keres dialects, with , and

Lakota Lakota may refer to: *Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language Lakota ( ), also referred to as Lakhota, Teton or Teton Sioux, is a Siouan languages, Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of ...

, with .

Amharic Amharic is an Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It is spoken as a first language by the Amhara people, and also serves as a lingua franca for all other metropolitan populati ...

is interpreted by many as having an ejective fricative , at least historically, but it has been also analyzed as now being a sociolinguistic variant (Takkele Taddese 1992). An ejective retroflex stop is rare. It has been reported from

Yawelmani Yawelmani Yokuts (also spelled Yowlumne and Yauelmani) is an endangered dialect of Southern Valley Yokuts historically spoken by the Yokuts living along the Kern River north of Kern Lake in the Central Valley of California. Today, most Yawelmani ...

and other Yokuts languages,

Tolowa The Tolowa people or Taa-laa-wa Dee-ni’ are a Native American people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethno-linguistic group. Two rancherías (Smith River and Elk Valley) still reside in their traditional territory in northwestern California. Tho ...

, and Gwich'in. Because the complete closing of the glottis required to form an ejective makes voicing impossible, the allophonic voicing of ejective phonemes causes them to lose their glottalization; this occurs in Blin (modal voice) and Kabardian (creaky voice). A similar historical sound change also occurred in Veinakh and

Lezgic The Lezgic languages (also Lezgian or Lezghian) are one of seven branches of the Northeast Caucasian language family. Lezgin and Tabasaran are literary languages. Khinalug may either be Lezgic or an independent branch of the Northeast Caucasia ...

in the Caucasus, and it has been postulated by the

for Indo-European. Some

have voiced ejective stops and voiced ejective clicks; however, they actually contain mixed voicing, and the ejective release is voiceless. s aren't attested in any language, even allophonically. An ejective would necessarily be voiceless, but the vibration of the trill, combined with a lack of the intense voiceless airflow of , gives an impression like that of voicing. Similarly, ejective nasals such as (also necessarily voiceless) are possible. (An apostrophe is commonly seen with ''r'', ''l'' and nasals, but that is

Americanist phonetic notation Americanist phonetic notation, also known as the North American Phonetic Alphabet (NAPA), the Americanist Phonetic Alphabet or the American Phonetic Alphabet (APA), is a system of phonetic notation originally developed by European and American ...

for a

glottalized consonant In phonetics, a glottalic consonant is a consonant produced with some important contribution (movement or closure) of the glottis. Glottalic sounds may involve motion of the larynx upward or downward, as the initiator of an egressive or ingres ...

and does not indicate an ejective.) Other ejective

sonorant In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant or resonant is a speech sound that is produced with continuous, non-turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; these are the manners of articulation that are most often voiced in the world's languages. Vowels a ...

s are not known to occur. When sonorants are transcribed with an apostrophe in the literature as if they were ejective, they actually involve a different airstream mechanism: they are

glottalized Glottalization is the complete or partial closure of the glottis during the articulation of another sound. Glottalization of vowels and other sonorants is most often realized as creaky voice (partial closure). Glottalization of obstruent conso ...

consonants and vowels whose glottalization partially or fully interrupts an otherwise normal voiced pulmonic airstream, somewhat like English ''uh-uh'' (either vocalic or nasal) pronounced as a single sound. Often the constriction of the larynx causes it to rise in the vocal tract, but this is individual variation and not the initiator of the airflow. Such sounds generally remain voiced.Esling, John H.; Moisik, Scott R.; Benner, Allison; Crevier-Buchman, Lise (2019). Voice Quality: The Laryngeal Articulator Model. Cambridge University Press.

Yeyi Yeyi may refer to: *Ye County, Henan, China, formerly known as Yeyi *Yeyi people *Yeyi language Yeyi (autoethnonym ''Shiyɛyi'') is a Bantu language spoken by approximately 50,000 Yeyi people along the Okavango River in Namibia and Botswana. Ye ...

has a set of prenasalized ejectives like /ⁿtʼ, ᵑkʼ, ⁿtsʼ/.

Orthography

In the

International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standard written representation ...

, ejectives are indicated with a "modifier letter apostrophe" , as in this article. A reversed apostrophe is sometimes used to represent light aspiration, as in

linguistics ; this usage is obsolete in the IPA. In other transcription traditions (such as many romanisations of Russian, where it is transliterating the

soft sign The soft sign (Ь ь; italics: ) is a letter in the Cyrillic script that is used in various Slavic languages. In Old Church Slavonic, it represented a short or reduced front vowel. However, over time, the specific vowel sound it denote ...

), the apostrophe represents

palatalization Palatalization may refer to: *Palatalization (phonetics), the phonetic feature of palatal secondary articulation *Palatalization (sound change) Palatalization ( ) is a historical-linguistic sound change that results in a palatalized articulati ...

: = IPA . In some Americanist traditions, an apostrophe indicates weak ejection and an exclamation mark strong ejection: . In the IPA, the distinction might be written , but it seems that no language distinguishes degrees of ejection. Transcriptions of the Caucasian languages often utilize combining dots above or below a letter to indicate an ejective. In alphabets using the Latin script, an IPA-like apostrophe for ejective consonants is common. However, there are other conventions. In

, the hooked letter ƙ is used for . In Zulu and

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

, whose ejection is variable between speakers, plain consonant letters are used: ''p t k ts tsh kr'' for . In some conventions for

Haida Haida may refer to: Haida people Many uses of the word derive from the name of an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. * Haida people, an Indigenous ethnic group of North America (Canada) ** Council of the Haida Nati ...

and Hadza, double letters are used: ''tt kk qq ttl tts'' for (Haida) and ''zz jj dl gg'' for (Hadza).

List

Stops

* bilabial ejective stop (in Abkhaz, Adyghe,

, Archi, Chechen,

Ingush Ingush may refer to: * Ingush language, Northeast Caucasian language * Ingush people, an ethnic group of the North Caucasus See also *Ingushetia (disambiguation) Ingushetia is a federal republic and subject of Russia. Ingushetia may also refer ...

, Georgian,

Mingrelian Mingrelian may refer to: *the Mingrelians *the Mingrelian language The Mingrelian or Megrelian language ( ) is a Kartvelian language spoken in Western Georgia (regions of Mingrelia and Abkhazia), primarily by the Mingrelians. Mingrelian has hist ...

, Laz, Svan, Hadza, Kabardian, Lezgian,

Nez Perce The Nez Perce (; autonym in Nez Perce language: , meaning 'we, the people') are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who still live on a fraction of the lands on the southeastern Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest. This region h ...

Tigrinya Tigrinya may refer to: * Tigrinya language Tigrinya, sometimes romanized as Tigrigna, is an Ethio-Semitic languages, Ethio-Semitic language, which is a subgrouping within the Semitic languages, Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages. It i ...

, Zulu) **labialized bilabial ejective stop (in Adyghe) **pharyngealized bilabial ejective stop (in Ubykh) * dental ejective stop (in Dahalo, Lakota, Tigrinya) * alveolar ejective stop (in Abkhaz, Adyghe, Amharic, Archi, Avar, Bats, Chechen,

, Kabardian, Georgian,

, Laz, Svan, Gwich’in, Nez Perce, Quechua,

, Zulu) **labialized alveolar ejective stop (in Abkhaz, Adyghe, Ubykh) **labial–velar ejective stop (in Abkhaz, Ubykh) * retroflex ejective stop (in Gwich’in) *

palatal ejective stop The palatal ejective is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages, and the symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) that represents this sound is ⟨cʼ⟩. Also the symbol ⟨t͡ʃʼ⟩ represents a palatal ejective af ...

(in Bats,

, Giwi, Nez Perce) *

velar ejective stop The velar ejective is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . Features Features of the velar ejective: Occurrence See also * List of ...

(in Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Amharic, Archi, Avar,

Bats Bats are flying mammals of the order Chiroptera (). With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most birds, flying with their very long spread-out ...

, Chechen,

, Georgian,

, Laz, Svan, Giwi, Gwich’in, Hausa, Kabardian, Lakota, Nez Perce, Quechua, Sandawe, Tigrinya,

, Zulu) **palatalized velar ejective stop (in Abaza, Abkhaz,

Shapsug The Shapsug ( , , , , ) (also known as the Shapsugh or Shapsogh) are one of the twelve major Circassians, Circassian tribes. Historically, the Shapsug tribe comprised one of the largest groups of the Black Sea Adyghe (Причерноморск ...

, Ubykh) **labialized velar ejective stop (in Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Archi, Kabardian,

, Ubykh) *

uvular ejective stop 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 . Features Features of the uvular ejective: Occurrence A single plain u ...

(in Abaza, Abkhaz, Archi, Bats, Chechen, Ingush, Georgian,

, Laz, Svan, Hakuchi, Nez Perce, Quechua,

) **palatalized uvular ejective stop (in Abaza, Abkhaz, Ubykh) **labialized uvular ejective stop (in Abaza, Abkhaz, Archi, Hakuchi,

, Ubykh) **pharyngealized uvular ejective stop (in Archi, Ubykh) **labialized pharyngealized uvular ejective stop (in Archi, Ubykh) *

epiglottal ejective The epiglottal or pharyngeal ejective is a rare type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . Features Features of the pharyngeal ejective: Occ ...

(in Dargwa)

Affricates

labiodental ejective affricate The labiodental ejective affricate is a type of consonantal sound. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . Features Features of the labiodental ejective affricate: Occurrence See also * List of ...

(in

Venda Venda ( ), officially the Republic of Venda (; ), was a Bantustan in northern South Africa. It was fairly close to the South African border with Zimbabwe to the north, while, to the south and east, it shared a long border with another black hom ...

) * dental ejective affricate (in Chipewyan, Gwich’in) *

alveolar ejective affricate The alveolar ejective affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . Features Features of the alveolar ejective affricate: Occur ...

(in Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Amharic, Archi, Avar, Chechen,

, Georgian,

, Laz, Svan, Giwi, Gwich’in, Hadza, Hausa, Kabardian, Sandawe, Tigrinya,

, Ubykh) **labialized alveolar ejective affricate (in Archi) * palato-alveolar ejective affricate (in Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Amharic, Archi, Avar, Chechen, Ingush, Bats, Chipewyan, Georgian,

, Laz, Svan, Gwich’in, Hadza, Hausa, Kabardian, Lakota, Quechua, Tigrinya,

, Ubykh, Zulu) **labialized palato-alveolar ejective affricate (in Abaza, Archi) *

retroflex ejective affricate The retroflex ejective affricate is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , though it is frequently simplified to or . Features Features of t ...

(in Abkhaz, Adyghe, Ubykh) * alveolo-palatal ejective affricate (in Abaza, Abkhaz, Ubykh) **labialized alveolo-palatal ejective affricate (in Abkhaz, Ubykh) * palatal ejective affricate * velar ejective affricate (in Hadza, Zulu) * uvular ejective affricate (in Avar, Giwi, Lillooet) * alveolar lateral ejective affricate (in Baslaney, Chipewyan, Dahalo, Gwich’in, Haida, Lillooet, Nez Perce, Sandawe,

, Tsez) * palatal lateral ejective affricate (in Dahalo, Hadza) *

velar lateral ejective affricate The velar lateral ejective affricate is a rare type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is (extIPA; strict IPA: ). It is found in two forms in Archi, ...

(in Archi, Gǀui) **labialized velar lateral ejective affricate (in Archi) * uvular lateral ejective affricate (in Gǀui, ǂʼAmkoe)

Fricatives

* bilabial ejective fricative *

labiodental ejective fricative The labiodental ejective fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . Features Features of the labiodental ejective fricative: O ...

(in Abaza, Kabardian) *

dental ejective fricative The dental ejective fricative is a rare type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . Features Features of the alveolar ejective fricative: Occur ...

(in

Chiwere Chiwere (also called Iowa–Otoe–Missouria or ) is a Siouan language originally spoken by the Missouria, Otoe, and Iowa peoples, who originated in the Great Lakes region but later moved throughout the Midwest and plains. The language is close ...

) *

alveolar ejective fricative The alveolar ejective fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . Features Features of the alveolar ejective fricative: In man ...

(in Chiwere, Lakota,

) *

alveolar lateral ejective fricative The alveolar lateral ejective fricative is a type of consonantal sound, reported in the Northwest Caucasian languages and in Modern South Arabian languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . Featu ...

(in Abaza, Adyghe, Kabardian,

, Ubykh) * palato-alveolar ejective fricative (in Adyghe, Lakota) **labialized palato-alveolar ejective fricative (in Adyghe) * retroflex ejective fricative (in

Keres In Greek mythology, the Keres (; Ancient Greek: Κῆρες) were female death-spirits. They were the goddesses who personified violent death and who were drawn to bloody deaths on battlefields. Although they were present during death and dyin ...

) *

alveolo-palatal ejective fricative The alveolo-palatal ejective fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . Features Features of the alveolo-palatal ejective fricative: ...

(in Kabardian) * palatal ejective fricative *

velar ejective fricative The velar ejective fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . Features Features of the velar ejective fricative: Occurrence ...

(in Tlingit) **labialized velar ejective fricative (in Tlingit) * uvular ejective fricative (in Tlingit) **labialized uvular ejective fricative (in Tlingit)

Clicks

* Simple ejective clicks (all five in ǂ’Amkoe) * Ejective-contour clicks :: :: :: ~ ~ :: ~ ~

Hypothesis

A pattern can be observed wherein ejectives correlate geographically with mountainous regions. argues that the geographic correlation between languages with ejectives and mountainous terrains is because of decreased air pressure making ejectives easier to produce, as well as the way ejectives help to reduce water vapor loss. The argument has been criticized as being based on a

spurious correlation In statistics, a spurious relationship or spurious correlation is a mathematical relationship in which two or more events or variables are associated but '' not'' causally related, due to either coincidence or the presence of a certain third, u ...