Alveolar and dental ejective stops are consonantal sounds, usually described as voiceless, that are pronounced with a glottalic egressive airstream. In the International Phonetic Alphabet, ejectives are indicated with a "modifier letter apostrophe" â¨üâ©, as in this article. A reversed apostrophe is sometimes used to represent light aspiration, as in Armenian linguistics â¨pâ tâ kâÂÂâ©; this usage is obsolete in the IPA. In other transcription traditions, the apostrophe represents palatalization: â¨püâ© = IPA â¨pòâ©. In some Americanist traditions, an apostrophe indicates weak ejection and an exclamation mark strong ejection: â¨kà, k!â©. In the IPA, the distinction might be written â¨kü, küüâ©, but it seems that no language distinguishes degrees of ejection.
In alphabets using the Latin script, an IPA-like apostrophe for ejective consonants is common. However, there are other conventions. In Hausa, the hooked letter àis used for /kü/. In Zulu and Xhosa, whose ejection is variable between speakers, plain consonant letters are used: p t k ts tsh kr for /pü tü kü tsü tÃÂü kxü/. In some conventions for Haida and Hadza, double letters are used: tt kk qq ttl tts for /tü kü qü tìü tsü/ (Haida) and zz jj dl gg for /tsü tÃÂü cÃÂÃÂ¥ÃÂü kxü/ (Hadza). In Oromo, one of the Ethopian languages that have this consonant, it is written with the letter x.
Features of an alveolar ejective stop: