noun
- Consonant sounds produced by a sharp, sudden release of air from the lungs, common in many African and indigenous languages.
Usage: linguistics; plural form
Examples
- Ejectives are a distinctive feature of Amharic and other Afro-Asiatic languages.
- The linguist studied how ejectives differ from regular stops in articulation.
- Many indigenous languages of the Americas use ejectives in their phoneme inventory.
- Ejectives require a buildup and sudden release of air pressure in the vocal tract.
- Students learning Swahili must practice the pronunciation of ejectives carefully.