Glottal stop

From UniLang Wiki

A glottal stop is a sound created by abruptly closing the glottis. Usually classified as a consonsant, it is common in many languages, such as

  • Arabic
  • Cheyenne: the glottal stop is marked by an apostrophe, e.g. ma'ome (ice)
  • Hebrew
  • (please add more)

Languages in which glottal stops are uncommon or only found in special cases:

  • English: you can find a glottal stop in the exclamation "uh-oh". It is however very common in Cockney slang, used as a replacement for the letter "t", e.g. the settee (sofa) would become se'ee.
  • German: a glottal stop appears in words such as Be'amter, cha'otisch, The'ater. (There also seems to be a glottal stop at the beginning of words starting with vowels, e.g. 'Ich 'esse 'ein 'Ei, so maybe German should be moved to the common list?)
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