The glottal stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. In English, the feature is represented, for example, by the hyphen in uh-oh! and by the apostrophe or ʻokina in Hawaiʻi among those using a preservative pronunciation of that name.
The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is ⟨ʔ⟩. It is called the glottal stop because the technical term for the gap between the vocal folds, which is closed up in the production of this sound, is the glottis.
Read more about Glottal Stop: Phonetic and Phonological Features, Phonology and Symbolization of The Glottal Stop in Selected Languages, Occurrence
Famous quotes containing the word stop:
“When a man of sense happens to be in that disagreeable situation in which he is obliged to ask himself more than once, What shall I do? he will answer himself, Nothing. When his reason points out to him no good way, he will stop short, and wait for light. A little busy mind runs on at all events, must be doing; and, like a blind horse, fears no dangers, because he sees none. Il faut scavoir s’ennuïer.*”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)