Epiglottal consonant

Okay kiddo, so we all have this thing in our throats called the epiglottis. It's like a little flap that helps us swallow our food without it going into our lungs. When we swallow, the epiglottis covers up the opening to our windpipe so the food goes down to our stomach instead.

Now, some languages have special sounds, called consonants, that are made by moving the epiglottis instead of our lips, tongue or teeth. These sounds are called epiglottal consonants.

It's kind of like when you make a fart noise with your mouth by blowing air through your lips, except instead of your lips, the epiglottis vibrates and makes a sound.

Not all languages have epiglottal consonants, but some like Arabic, Hebrew and some languages spoken in Central Asia use them a lot. So it's like speaking a different language with your throat! Cool, huh?