Ballistic syllables are a phonemic distinction in Otomanguean languages:

Chinantec The Chinantec or Chinantecan languages constitute a branch of the Oto-Manguean family. Though traditionally considered a single language, ''Ethnologue'' lists 14 partially mutually unintelligible varieties of Chinantec.Palancar, Enrique L. (2014 ...

and

Amuzgo The Amuzgos are an indigenous people of Mexico. They primarily live in a region along the Guerrero/ Oaxaca border, chiefly in and around four municipalities: Xochistlahuaca, Tlacoachistlahuaca and Ometepec in Guerrero, and San Pedro Amuzgos in O ...

. They have been described as characterized with increased sub- glottal pressure (Mugele 1982) or laryngeal abduction (Silverman 1994). The acoustic effect is a fortis release of the consonant, a gradual surge in the intensity of the vowel, followed by a rapid decay in intensity into post-vocalic aspiration. They may thus be a form of

phonation The term phonation has slightly different meanings depending on the subfield of phonetics. Among some phoneticians, ''phonation'' is the process by which the vocal folds produce certain sounds through quasi-periodic vibration. This is the defi ...

. Non-ballistic syllables are, by contrast, called "controlled." See Chinantec of Ozumacín for examples.

References

* * Phonation {{phonetics-stub