Airstream mechanisms
Outline
 General overview
 Pulmonic AM
 Glottalic AM
 Velaric AM
1. Airstream mechanisms – general overview
Airstream
mechanism
Airflow
initiator
Airflow
direction
language
Pulmonic
egressive
lungs
outwards
Most languages, for
many it is the sole AM
Velaric
ingressive
Glottalic
egressive
velum
inwards
Zulu (S. Africa)
glottis
outwards
Navajo (N. America)
Glottalic
ingressive
glottis
inwards
Sindhi (India)
2. Pulmonic AM
Pulmonic egressive AM
 basic to speech production
 standard AM (e.g. English, Spanish, Polish, Indonesian, Chinese)
 the sole AM
Pulmonic ingressive AM
 is possible
 is not used systematically for distinctive phonological purposes
 paralinguistic uses (Western cultures):
- [ja] in Norwegian and Danish
commiseration
– sympathy, agreement or
- [nei] – surprise (Norwegian and Danish), sympathy (Danish)
2.1 Pulmonic egressive AM
 the outward-flowing airstream is generated by the respiratory system
- inspiration – an active process
- expiration – a passive process
 it is easier to control comparing to other AM
 it requires less overall articulatory effort
Schematic diagram showing the inhalation and exhalation phase of breathing.
Inhalation:
 diaphragm and intercostal muscles contract and the lungs expand as well
as the air inside them (a gas will always fill its container)
 the air pressure in the lungs drops
 the air in the lungs is at a lower pressure than the air outside
 the air flows into the lungs from outside (the air flows always from higher
to lower pressure)
Exhalation:
 a passive process because – it does not involve muscle contraction
 relaxation of diaphragm and intercostal muscles
 lungs recoil elastically and reduce their volume
 the volume of air in the lungs decreases and the air pressure increases
 the air in the lungs is at a higher pressure than the air outside
 the air flows out of the lungs
 the lungs recoil, the diaphragm is pulled up and the ribcage moves
downward
2.2 Different activity of the respiratory system
 breathing
- about 12 inspirations and expirations per minute
- expiration phase only slightly longer
- inspiration involves muscular action (active process)
- expiration uses mechanical and elastic recoil force (passive
process)
 speech
- expiration phase much longer
- expiration is a controlled process with co-activation of the
inspiratory and expiratory muscles
3. Glottalic AM
It uses the air above the glottis. The airflow is initiated by an upward or
downward movement of the larynx controlled by elevator and depressor
laryngeal muscles:
 upward movement – egressive AM – ejectives
 downward movement – ingressive AM – implosives
3.1 Ejectives
 include stops, fricatives and affricates
 they precede or follow sounds using pulmonic AM
Schematic representation of pronunciation of a glottalic egressive velar stop [k’].
Ejectives are found in languages of:
 Africa (Hausa),
 North (Montana Salish, Lakhota, Navajo), Central (K’ekchi) and South
America
 Asia (mainly in the Caucasus area: Georgian and Circassian)
 Sound examples: http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/nonpulmonics.html
3.2 Implosives
 realized with incomplete closure of the glottis – there is some voicing
 voiceless implosives – extremely rare (found only in two languages)
 include only oral stops
 implosives are found in languages of Africa (Zulu, Hausa, Margi), Asia
(Sindhi) and America (Maidu)
The estimated sequence of events in a Sindhi glottalic bilabial implosive [б].
4. Velaric AM
 generated entirely within oral cavity
 2 closures – double articulation:
- the back of the tongue – velum
- anterior closure – the lips, the tip, blade or front of the tongue
 only ingressive airflow
 cliks – stops and affricates
 phonological distinctions – rather uncommon (African languages
Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania)
of
 paralinguistic uses of cliks: tsk, tsk signalling impatience or exasperation
2 closures are formed:
1. the tip of the tongue is pressed
against the upper teeth,
2. the back of the tongue forms velic
closure
the back of the tongue moves backwards
and downwards the slope of the roof of
the mouth, the velic closure is kept
the closure in the front of the mouth is
released
Schematic representation of pronunciation of a velar ingressive voiceless dental [k].