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How is a glottal stop produced?

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Diagram of a human head in profile showing the location of vocal organs and possible places of articulation for speech sounds, with labels for lips, teeth, tongue, palate, uvula, pharynx, and vocal cords, and numbered regions corresponding to types of articulation such as bilabial, alveolar, and velar.
phonetics Diagram depicting the location of human vocal organs and possible places of articulation used for speech.

A glottal stop is produced by a momentary, tight closure of the glottis—the space between the vocal cords—which effectively stops the airstream and halts vocal cord vibration.12

This process, known as glottalization, involves the following stages:
* Closure: The vocal cords are held tightly together, creating a complete blockage of the airflow.12
* Hold: The airstream is momentarily checked at the level of the larynx.13
* Release: Upon the opening of the glottis, the sudden release of air creates a slight choke or cough-like explosive sound.1

While the glottal stop is not a distinct phoneme in English, it functions as an allophone of the t sound in many dialects (such as in the pronunciation of "bottle") and serves as a distinct phoneme in various other languages, including Arabic and many American Indian languages.132