Alveolar ejective fricative

The alveolar ejective fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is sʼ, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is s_>.

[edit] Features

Features of the alveolar ejective fricative:

Its manner of articulation is sibilant fricative, which means it is produced by directing air flow through a groove in the tongue at the place of articulation and directing it over the sharp edge of the teeth, causing high-frequency turbulence.
Its place of articulation is alveolar, which means it is articulated with either the tip or the blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge, termed respectively apical and laminal.
Its phonation type is voiceless, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the center of the tongue, rather than the sides.
The airstream mechanism is glottalic egressive, which means it is produced by pushing air with the glottis, rather than with the diaphragm.