ABSTRACT
Speech utilizes four different airstream mechanisms but only one of these – the pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism – is used regularly by all languages. This chapter focuses on the three non-pulmonic airstream mechanisms and the sounds they are used to produce – sounds located in the non-pulmonic consonant table on the International Phonetic Association (IPA) chart, ejectives, implosives and clicks. It discusses the relationship between these non-pulmonic sound types and the concept of double articulation. For normal speech purposes, the direction of flow is always egressive. However, speech on an ingressive pulmonic airstream is not unknown and is documented as occurring both linguistically and, especially, paralinguistically – linguistically to bring about change of meaning, paralinguistically to achieve some other effect or as a function of deviant speech. There is an excellent and comprehensive overview of instances of ingressive pulmonic airstream use in Robert Eklund, and a very readable summary in J. Laver.
