“to choke” can be both intransitive and transitive.

intrans.:

“Little Ed gasped, then choked on the half-eaten nuts in his mouth. Françoise thumped him on the back several times until he caught his breath. When he could ...“

„Concerned mum shares how her baby daughter choked on the stuffing of a popular toy. She hopes her warning saves other families. Kath Milroy Pattingale ...“

—intransitive choking doesn’t necessarily lead to death (see first example above).

trans.:

“She choked him with a pillow.”

The intransitive use of “choke” denotes asphyxiation due to an internal cause; the transitive use denotes asphyxiation due to an external cause (e.g., a pillow, or strangulation).

“to asphyxiate” is as far as I know always transitive (or reflexive):

“She asphyxiated him with a pillow.”

“He climbed into his car and asphyxiated himself with carbon monoxide.”

(There are numerous figurative uses of “to choke,” but I guess you’re not interested in those since they have nothing to do with “to asphyxiate.”)

'to choke' bedeutet nicht nur einfach, dass man sich verschluckt, sondern schon auch, dass man an einem Fremdkörper erstickt.

Eben nicht immer: He nearly choked when he heard that. Aber das ist eine andere Verwendung (ich nehme an, dass Bion unter anderem so was mit 'figurative' meint), deshalb habe ich ja extra gesagt 'etwas anderes'.

Gibson @#5

No, I wasn’t thinking of that sense of “choke,” which I would call a literal one. The figurative uses are multifarious: a field or a stream can be choked with weeds, you can choke a fire/flames or your feelings (all these uses in the sense of “smother”) or an engine, or feelings can choke your voice, etc.

I wasn’t aware of the intransitive use of “asphyxiate,” but I see it’s listed in M-W, Pons, and other dictionaries. (I’m used to using intransitive “suffocate” there.)

P.S. Sorry, I misread you---yes, I guess I'd call that a figurative use, too.

(I’m used to using intransitive “suffocate” there.)

I'm wildly guessing here, but I'd see this mainly as a difference in register/jargon - 'asphixiate' is something I'd expect to hear from a doctor (or pathologist - I watch all those crime series ;-); 'suffocate' I use myself. Does that sound plausable, or is 'asphyxiate' as normal for you as 'appendix'?