Pronunciation — Glottalized Consonants

The page on consonant sounds mentions glottal stop, which you'll see written sometimes as a plain apostrophe — ' — or here as . In Samala all of the consonants except h have forms in which you simultaneously make a glottal stop.

A sequence of consonant plus glottal stop is pronounced as a single unit. So for example kot "to break" is not just a k and then a glottal stop; the glottal stop starts at the same time as you begin the k, and then you release both together. This makes a distinctive popped sound.

Technically this is called glottalization, meaning that the consonant is pronounced with a glottal stop. You can hear glottalization fairly easily from someone who can do it, even though it may take a bit of practice to learn to produce it yourself.

Glottalization makes a difference in the meaning of words. Glottalization may be the only thing that's different between words that are otherwise identical. A pair of words with and without glottalization are just as distinct as pairs such as to and do or at and add in English.

Here are a few examples of pairs of words that differ only by having or not having a glottal stop along with the other consonant:

	to	"brother-in-law"		kot	"to break"
	to	"mussel species"		kot	"soaproot"
	xox	"to snore"		sp	"to wear the hair in a bun"
	xox	"heron species"		sp	"to carry in a back-net"

Glottalized consonants can show up almost anywhere in the word.
At the beginning:
	antk	"friend"
	kot	"to break, be broken"
	taya	"abalone"	taya	kot
In the middle:
	heki	"that, that one"		lkn
	nani	"too, also"
	lkn	"to sit"
At the end:
	pakas	"one"
	ikom	"two"
	aq	"turtle"	aq	pakas ha up

Tips for pronouncing glottalized consonants

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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.

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