Plosive facts for kids
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A plosive is a type of sound we make when we speak. It's also called a stop or an occlusive. To make a plosive sound, you completely block the airflow in your mouth or throat for a moment. Then, you release the air with a small burst.
You can block the air with your lips (like for [p] and [b]). You can also use your tongue. The tip of your tongue can block the air (like for [t] and [d]). Or the back of your tongue can block it (like for [k] and [ɡ]). Sometimes, the block happens deep in your throat (like for [ʔ]).
Plosives are different from other sounds. For example, nasal sounds (like /m/ and /n/) also block the air in your mouth. But with nasal sounds, the air still escapes through your nose. Fricatives (like 's' or 'f') are different too. They only partly block the air, so it just squeezes through.
Contents
What do the words mean?
The words stop, occlusive, and plosive are often used to mean the same thing. But they actually point to different parts of how the sound is made.
- Stop means the airflow is completely stopped.
- Occlusive means the mouth or throat is blocked (occluded).
- Plosive refers to the little burst of air (the "plosion") when the sound is released.
The International Phonetic Association (IPA) uses the term "plosive." Sometimes, "stop" is used more broadly. It can include both plosives and nasal sounds. But usually, "stop" means a sound where the airflow is completely cut off.
Long ago, in Ancient Greek, plosives were called áphōnon. This meant "silent" or "unpronounceable" because you couldn't say them without a vowel. This idea came into Latin as mūta, which means "mute."
How are plosives made?
Making a plosive sound usually has three steps:
- Approach: Your tongue, lips, or throat move to block the air.
- Hold: The air is completely blocked. Pressure builds up behind the block.
- Release: The block is suddenly opened, and the trapped air bursts out. This makes the "pop" sound.
Sometimes, a plosive might not have all three steps. For example, if a plosive comes right after another sound that blocks air in the same spot, the "approach" might not be clear. Also, some languages, like Malay, have plosives at the end of words that don't have a clear release burst.
Nasal sounds are similar to plosives. They also have a "hold" phase where the mouth is blocked. But during the hold, air flows out through the nose.
Affricates are like a mix of a plosive and a fricative. They start with a complete block like a plosive. But then, the release is slow and hissy, like a fricative. An example in English is the 'ch' sound in "chair."
Common plosive sounds
All spoken languages in the world use plosives. Most languages have at least the voiceless plosives [p], [t], and [k].
However, there are a few exceptions:
- Colloquial Samoan doesn't have the [t] sound.
- Some North American languages, like Cherokee, and Arabic don't have the [p] sound.
- The Yanyuwa language has plosives made in seven different places in the mouth! It only has voiced plosives, not voiceless ones.
How are plosives classified?
Plosives can be grouped in different ways based on how they are made.
Voice
Voiced plosives are made with your vocal cords vibrating. You can feel this vibration in your throat. Examples are [b], [d], and [ɡ].
voiceless plosives are made without your vocal cords vibrating. Examples are [p], [t], and [k].
Many languages, like Mandarin Chinese, only have voiceless plosives. Other languages, like Yanyuwa, only have voiced plosives.
Aspiration
When you say some plosives, you release a puff of air. This is called aspiration.
- In aspirated plosives, there's a small delay before your vocal cords start vibrating for the next vowel. You can feel a puff of air.
- In tenuis plosives (also called unaspirated), your vocal cords start vibrating right away. There's little or no puff of air.
In English, the 'p' in pie is aspirated. If you hold your hand in front of your mouth, you'll feel a puff of air. But the 'p' in spy is tenuis (unaspirated). There's almost no puff of air. You can even test this with a candle flame! The flame will flicker more after par than after spar.
Length
Some languages have long or geminate plosives. This means the "hold" part of the sound lasts longer.
- In Italian, the double 't' in Vittoria is a long plosive.
- In Japanese, kita (came) has a short 't', but kitta (cut) has a long 't'.
Sometimes, features like voice, aspiration, and length work together. When this happens, linguists might use the terms fortis (strong) or lenis (weak) to describe the plosive. But these terms can be tricky because their exact meaning can change.
Nasalization
Normally, when you make a plosive, the air only comes out of your mouth. But sometimes, the air can also go through your nose.
- A prenasalized stop starts with air coming out of the nose, then the velum (the soft part at the back of your mouth) closes, and the sound becomes a normal plosive. In Swahili, words like ndege (bird) start with a prenasalized sound.
- A postnasalized plosive starts as a normal plosive, but the release of air happens through the nose. An example in English is the 'dn' sound in sudden.
Airstream mechanism
Most plosives are made by pushing air out from your lungs. This is called the pulmonic egressive mechanism. But some languages use other ways to make plosives:
- Ejective stops use air pushed out by closing the glottis (in your throat).
- Implosive stops use air sucked in by closing the glottis.
- Click consonants use air sucked in by the tongue.
Tenseness
A fortis plosive is made with more muscle tension than a lenis plosive. This can be hard to measure, but it affects how the sound feels and sounds. For example, in Korean, some plosives are made with a "stiff voice," meaning the throat muscles are tighter. This can make the following vowel sound higher.
How are plosives written in IPA?
The IPA has special symbols for different plosives.
| ⟨p⟩ | voiceless bilabial plosive (like 'p' in pat) | ⟨b⟩ | voiced bilabial plosive (like 'b' in bat) |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⟨t⟩ | voiceless alveolar plosive (like 't' in top) | ⟨d⟩ | voiced alveolar plosive (like 'd' in dog) |
| ⟨ʈ⟩ | voiceless retroflex plosive (tongue curled back, like some 't' sounds in Indian languages) | ⟨ɖ⟩ | voiced retroflex plosive (tongue curled back, like some 'd' sounds in Indian languages) |
| ⟨c⟩ | voiceless palatal plosive (middle of tongue to roof of mouth) | ⟨ɟ⟩ | voiced palatal plosive (middle of tongue to roof of mouth) |
| ⟨k⟩ | voiceless velar plosive (back of tongue to soft palate, like 'k' in cat) | ⟨ɡ⟩ | voiced velar plosive (back of tongue to soft palate, like 'g' in go) |
| ⟨q⟩ | voiceless uvular plosive (back of tongue to uvula) | ⟨ɢ⟩ | voiced uvular plosive (back of tongue to uvula) |
| ⟨ʡ⟩ | epiglottal plosive (made with the epiglottis in the throat) | ||
| ⟨ʔ⟩ | glottal stop (like the sound in uh-oh) | ||
English plosives
Here's how some English plosives are described:
| [p t k] | These are voiceless. They are aspirated (have a puff of air) at the start of words (like 'p' in pie). They are unaspirated after 's' (like 'p' in spy). At the end of words, they often have no clear release. |
|---|---|
| [b d ɡ] | These are unaspirated. They are partly voiced at the start of words. They are fully voiced between vowels. At the end of words, they often lose their voicing. |
| [ʔ] | The glottal stop (like the break in uh-oh) is not a main sound in most English dialects. |
Variations
You can add small marks called diacritics to IPA symbols to show more details about a plosive.
| ⟨ t⟩ | voiceless | ⟨ d⟩ | voiced |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⟨t˭⟩ | tenuis (unaspirated) | ⟨tʰ⟩ | aspirated (with a puff of air) |
| ⟨ dʱ⟩ | breathy-voiced (with a breathy sound) | ||
| ⟨t⟩ | ⟨d⟩ | pulmonic egressive (air from lungs, pushed out) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ⟨tʼ⟩ | ejective (air pushed out by glottis) | ⟨ɗ⟩ | implosive (air sucked in by glottis) |
| ⟨!⟩ | click (air sucked in by tongue) | ||
| ⟨ⁿd⟩ | prenasalized (starts with nasal sound) | ⟨dⁿ⟩ | nasally released (ends with nasal sound) |
|---|
| ⟨d̥⟩ | lenis (weak): ⟨d⟩ with voicelessness diacritic |
⟨t͈⟩ | tense (made with more muscle tension) | ⟨tt dd⟩ ⟨tː dː⟩ |
geminate (long) |
|---|
See also
In Spanish: Consonante oclusiva para niños
- Continuant (the opposite of a stop)
- List of phonetics topics
- Pop filter
- Nonexplosive stop
