In
phonetics and
phonology
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
, nonexplosive stops are posited class of
non-pulmonic ("non-obstruent")
stop consonant
In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or simply a stop, is a pulmonic consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases.
The occlusion may be made with the tongue tip or blade (, ), tongue body (, ), lip ...
s that lack the pressure build-up and burst release associated with pulmonic
stops, but also the laryngeal lowering of
implosive
Implosive consonants are a group of stop consonants (and possibly also some affricates) with a mixed glottalic ingressive and pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism.''Phonetics for communication disorders.'' Martin J. Ball and Nicole Müller. Ro ...
stops. They are reported to occur in
Ikwere, an
Igboid (
Niger–Congo) language of
Nigeria
Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...
.
Ikwere's two nonexplosive stops, transcribed as voiced and
pre-glottalized , are reflexes of
labial-velars and , respectively, in most other Igboid languages, and to
implosives and in some varieties of
Igbo. Ikwere's stops resemble both, in that they are
velarized
Velarization is a secondary articulation of consonants by which the back of the tongue is raised toward the velum during the articulation of the consonant.
In the International Phonetic Alphabet, velarization is transcribed by one of four dia ...
and have a non-pulmonic airstream mechanism.
References
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Plosives
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