Lesson 2

Lesson 2 — Pronouncing and writing glottalized consonants

Pronouncing a glottalized consonant can pose a challenge. Here are some tips on how to do it, along with sound clips so you can hear it.
	Close off your air as if you’re lifting something heavy. Pronounce the consonant sound. Then continue breathing out.
	Say k a. Say it faster and run the consonant and glottal stop together into ka.
	As you say the word, pronounce the consonant then glottal stop and then the vowel.
	Say suk u. Do this quickly enough and the consonant and glottal stop run together
	Stick an extra vowel between the consonant and the glottal stop, then say the word as you make the extra vowel weaker and weaker until the consonant and glottal stop run together.
	Say sukuu, then sukau, suk u and finally suku. Do this quickly enough and the consonant and glottal stop run together.

How you pronounce and write glottalized consonants depends on two things: what consonant is being glottalized and where in the word it shows up.

When it comes to describing glottalization, consonants fall into three types: liquids, stops, and fricatives, as you'll see below. The easiest to pronounce are glottalized liquid consonants.

Glottal stop with "liquid" consonants

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Liquids: These sounds have a flowing sound that you can draw out.

The liquid consonants of Samala are m, n, l, w, and y. You'll encounter this grouping of sounds several times, since they all behave in similar ways.

Glottalization with liquids is written as glottal stop plus liquid, since you hear the glottal closure before the liquid sound.

In most dialects of American English, a "T" sound is actually pronounced as a glottal stop when it comes before certain other consonants, including the liquids. This means that you probably already know how to pronounce some of the glottalized liquid sounds of Samala.

If you wrote English words as if they were Samala, some glottalized liquids would be:

	“motley”	mali	“not win”	nawin
	“got me”	gami	“got new”	ganu
The Santa Barbara County placename Casmalia comes from Chumash kasmali. Make the last two syllables sound like English "motley" and you've successfully pronounced the glottalized l in this word.

Glottalized liquids occur only in the middle and end of words.
In the middle:
	uli	“to hold, grasp, take hold of”
	nani	“too, also”
	pa ki heki nani	“[I’m] OK too” literally “just like that also”	uli
	otoyin	“to lie, be lying down”		otoyin

At the end:
	l	“foot, leg”
	ikom	“two”
	pon	“tree, stick, wood”	l
	hy	“man, male”		pon	hy

Glottal stop with "stop" consonants

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Stops: This class of sounds is called stops because you briefly stop the flow of breath as you pronounce them.
The stops of Samala are p t c k and q, plus glottal stop — .
Glottalization is written after the stop consonant, since you hear the release of the glottal stop after the stop consonant.
At the beginning of the word:
	amn	"to know"
	coyini	"other, another"
	taya	"abalone"	taya
In the middle:
	icis	"younger sibling"		icis
	ukal	"to be strong"
	lkn	"to sit"	ukal
At the end:
	wot	"chief"
	apap	"ball"
	onokok	"lizard"	apap	onokok
Here are words with two glottalized stops:
	cc	"to be sharp"
	makak	"to stammer, stutter"		cc

Glottal stop with "fricative" consonants

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Fricatives: These sounds involve friction or air turbulence when you constrict the flow of air.
The fricatives of Samala are s, and x, plus h.
At the beginning and middle of a word: Glottalization is written after the fricative consonant, since you hear the release of the glottal stop after it. Examples with glottalized fricatives at the beginning of the word:
	xox	"heron"
	xono	"tarantula"
In the middle:
	asay	"to be dry"	xox
	anax	"elder, old man"		asay
At the end: At the end of a word, you hear the glottal closure immediately before the fricative, so the glottal stop is written before it.
	pakas	"one"
	lox	"to beat, surpass"

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