Re: Glottal stops (was: B. Cthia and Nom)
McReynolds 
Tue, 22 Apr 1997 15:39:06 -0500

Dr Maggie Hellstrom, GSI Darmstadt wrote:
> 
> Errhh...
> Could someone of you more linguistics-oriented guys out there quote me the
> description/definition of "glottal stop"? I thought I knew what it was, but
> now I am thoroughly confused...

I am not a linguist, but I do study {tlhIngan Hol}, which uses glottal
stops extensively.  Let me quote The Klingon Dictionary, by Marc Okrand:

' The apostrophe indicates a sound which is frequently uttered, but not
written in English.  It is a glottal stop, the slight catch in the
throat between the two syllables of uh-oh or unh-unh, meaning "no."

Most words in Standard American English that begin with vowels actually
begin with a glottal stop.  For example, when I say "apple," I am really
pronouncing 'apple, but we don't write the stop.  It is normally quite
difficult for English speakers to begin a vowel-started word without a
glottal stop, and I have only got it down through practice.  It is much
like saying a soft "h" before the word.  As a mater of fact, the word
"Hawaii" actually doesn't have an "h" at the beginning, but is written
that way because that's how it is pronounced: without the glottal stop. 
Conceivably, it would be impossible to have a glottal stop between two
consonants; there has to be a vowel sound for it to "catch."  However,
on this last point I'm not very certain.

Hope all of that helps.  If a linguist can give a better description, do
so, but that's what little I know about it.

-McReynolds