In most languages, including all the languages of Europe (excluding the Caucasus), all phonemes are pulmonic egressives. The vast majority of sounds used in human languages are pulmonic egressives. Initiation by means of the lungs (actually the diaphragm and ribs) is called pulmonic initiation. The only language where such sounds are known to be contrastive in normal vocabulary is the extinct ritual language Damin (also the only language outside Africa with clicks) however, Damin appears to have been intentionally designed to differ from normal speech. For example, in countries as diverse as Sweden, Turkey, and Togo, a pulmonic ingressive ('gasped' or 'inhaled') vowel is used for back-channeling or to express agreement, and in France a lingual egressive (a 'spurt') is used to express dismissal. In interjections, the other two mechanisms may be employed. Most other languages utilize at most two airstream mechanisms. In normal vocabulary, the various Khoisan languages have pulmonic, ejective, and click consonants the Chadic languages, some Mayan languages, and scattered Nilo-Saharan languages such as Gumuz, Uduk and Meʼen have pulmonic, implosive, and ejective consonants, and the Nguni languages of the Bantu family utilize all four, – pulmonic, click, implosive, and ejective, – as does the Dahalo language of Kenya. These mechanisms may be combined into airstream contours, such as clicks which release into ejectives. No standalone percussive occurs in any language, but alveolar clicks may have a sublingual percussive release in Sandawe, where after the click is pronounced, the tongue strikes the floor of the mouth. percussive, where two organs are striked against each other.lexical) words in fewer than 2% of the world's languages, all in Africa. Clicks are regular sounds in ordinary (i.e. lingual ingressive, AKA velaric ingressive, where the air in the mouth is rarefied by a downward and sometimes rearward movement of the tongue.Despite the name, the airstream may not actually flow inward: While the glottis moves downward, pulmonic air passes outward through it, but the reduction in pressure makes an audible difference to the sound. Implosive and implosive-like consonants occur in 13% of the world's languages. glottalic ingressive, where the air column is rarefied as the glottis moves downward.Ejective and ejective-like consonants occur in 16% of the languages. glottalic egressive, where the air column is compressed as the glottis moves upward.All human languages employ such sounds (such as vowels), and nearly three out of four use them exclusively. pulmonic egressive, where the air is pushed out of the lungs by the ribs and diaphragm.

Of these six resulting airstream mechanisms, five are found lexically around the world: These changes in pressure often correspond to outward and inward airflow, and are therefore termed egressive and ingressive respectively. Types of airstream mechanism Īny of the three principal initiators − diaphragm, glottis or tongue − may act by either increasing or decreasing the pressure generating the airstream. Percussive consonants are produced without any airstream mechanism.

the pharynx, and replacing the glottis using the tongue and the upper alveolus, the palate, or the pharyngeal wall.

the cheeks (buccal mechanisms, notated for electrolaryngeal speech).

These mechanisms are collectively called alaryngeal speech mechanisms (none of these speech mechanisms are used in non-disordered speech): There are also methods of making sounds that do not require the glottis.

the tongue (lingual or 'velaric' mechanisms).

the glottis (glottalic mechanisms), and.

the diaphragm together with the ribs and lungs (pulmonic mechanisms),.

The organ generating the airstream is called the initiator and there are three initiators used phonemically in non-disordered human oral languages: The airstream mechanism is mandatory for most sound production and constitutes the first part of this process, which is called initiation.

Along with phonation and articulation, it is one of three main components of speech production. In phonetics, the airstream mechanism is the method by which airflow is created in the vocal tract. For the distinction between, / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

Circles sounds on the lungs