[ə]→[ʔ]Certainty: 5/5Commonality: 5/5
Mid central vowel to Glottal stop
The shift from the neutral schwa [ə] to a glottal stop [ʔ] is a universal phonetic process known as glottal reinforcement or 'hard attack'. It occurs at the beginning of words to clearly initiate the vocalic sound, or as a strategy for hiatus resolution between vowels.
Phonetic Effects
Glottalization, Hard Attack, Hiatus Resolution
Language Examples
a book [ə]→[ʔə] book— Glottal reinforcement of the initial reduced vowel.
Related Transformations
More Germanic Shifts
Sources & References
Spotted a mistake or have a better example?
EchoDrift is community-driven. You can suggest a change directly through GitHub.
Propose an Edit on GitHub