Ejectives

(Click here to go back to the list of all language demos)

See also SoWL for K'ekchi, Avar, Lakhota, Navaho, Quechua.

Amharic

IPA Handbook p. 45ff:
"Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia is the Semitic language with the greatest number of speakers after Arabic."

Material

Contrasts of ejective with voiceless pulmonary consonant.
Note fricative (actually affricate) ejective in the alveolar series.
Graphic representation of velar ejective.

t
Stəkkələ
k
Skəbbəbə
t'
St'ərrəgə
k'
Sk'əddədə
s'
Ss'afə

See also:
Ultrasound videos of ejectives: alveolar plosive [t'], velar plosive [k'], alveolar fricative [s']
Comparison of sonagrams for alveolars
Comparison of sonagrams for velars
For more audio examples click here (UCLA Website).