Phonation exercises

Develop your perception, production and understanding of the various states of the glottis by practicing all the phonation types in initial, medial and final positions:
 



Initial



Medial
Final
1. Glottal stop  

ʔɑ





ɑʔɑ


ɑʔ

2. Creaky voice

ɑ̰̰ɑ





ɑɑ̰̰ɑ


ɑɑ̰

3. Breathy voice

ɑ̤ɑ
ɦɑ





ɑɑ̤ɑ
ɑɦɑ


ɑɑ̤
ɑɦ

4. Whisper/voicelessness

ɑ̥ɑ





ɑɑ̥ɑ
ɑhɑ


ɑɑ̥
ɑh

Some real words to practise (note that the acute accent indicates high pitch):
 

Shona (western)
 

  

Shona (eastern)  









láha
‘to throw away’
  
mɦépó
‘wind’
kúɦa
‘to come’

femɦá
‘to smell’
ɦála
‘to be full’

femá
‘to breathe’
hoko
‘monkey’

mɦuká
‘animal’





muká
‘to get up’





nɦáŋga
‘pumpkin’





naŋgá
‘peace’








Burmese






mjɔ:dɛ:
‘it floats’

m̥jɔ:dɛ:
‘he floats it’
lwaʔ
‘be free’

l̥waʔ
‘set free’

Audio examples:
 

1. Glottal stop  
Arabic ‘asked’  saʔala  

 




Hebrew ‘light’  ʔor














2. Creaky voice
Mazatec ‘buttocks’

 ndǽ̰


vs. plain voiced ‘seed’
 tʰǽ










3. Breathy voice
Mazatec ‘horse’  ndǽ̤






Dutch hoed ‘hat’  ɦut






Hindi ‘brow’

 bɦɑl


vs. plain voiced ‘hair’
 bɑl


Hindi ‘knife edge’  d̪ɦɑɾ
vs. ‘lentil’

 d̪ɑl



Hindi ‘bundle’  gɦɑn
vs. ‘cheek’
 gɑl










4. Whisper/voicelessness
Japanese kuttsukemashita 
‘pressed-attached’

 kɯtːsɯ̥kemaʃi̥ta




The Mazatec examples were downloaded from the UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive. The other examples are from a database of audio examples relating to the IPA Handbook.