Glottalic and velaric airstreams Summary

We have looked at a group of sounds produced using the velaric and glottalic airstream mechanisms that are not typically thought of as ‘sounds of English’. However, it is relatively easy to find examples of both clicks and ejectives in English. These sounds are not part of the phonemic inventory of English. Nevertheless, both kinds of sound do seem to pattern in an orderly way, but currently we have only a poor grasp of this orderliness.

The study of ‘non-lexical sounds’ in English may prove to be a rich and rewarding aspect of study.