Editing Plosive (section)

==Classification==
===Voice===
'''[[voiced consonant|Voiced]] plosives''' are pronounced with vibration of the [[vocal cords]], '''[[voiceless]] plosives''' without. Plosives are commonly voiceless, and many languages, such as [[Mandarin Chinese]] and [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]], have only voiceless plosives. Others, such as most [[Australian languages]], are indeterminate: plosives may vary between voiced and voiceless without distinction, some of them like [[Yanyuwa language|Yanyuwa]] and [[Yidiny language|Yidiny]] have only voiced plosives.

===Aspiration===
In '''[[Aspiration (phonetics)|aspirated]] plosives''', the [[vocal cords]] (vocal folds) are abducted at the time of release.  In a prevocalic aspirated plosive (a plosive followed by a vowel or sonorant), the time when the vocal cords begin to vibrate will be delayed until the vocal folds come together enough for voicing to begin, and will usually start with breathy voicing. The duration between the release of the plosive and the voice onset is called the ''[[voice onset time]]'' (VOT) or the ''aspiration interval''. Highly aspirated plosives have a long period of aspiration, so that there is a long period of voiceless airflow (a phonetic {{IPA|[h]}}) before the onset of the vowel. In [[Tenuis consonant|tenuis]] plosives, the vocal cords come together for voicing immediately following the release, and there is little or no aspiration (a voice onset time close to zero). In English, there may be a brief segment of breathy voice that identifies the plosive as voiceless and not voiced.  In voiced plosives, the vocal folds are set for voice before the release, and often vibrate during the entire hold, and in English, the voicing after release is not breathy.  A plosive is called "fully voiced" if it is voiced during the entire occlusion. In English, however, initial voiced plosives like {{IPA|/#b/}} or {{IPA|/#d/}} may have no voicing during the period of occlusion, or the voicing may start shortly before the release and continue after release, and word-final plosives tend to be fully devoiced: In most dialects of English, the final /b/, /d/ and /g/ in words like ''rib'', ''mad'' and ''dog'' are fully devoiced.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Cruttenden, Alan Gimsons Pronunciation of English}}{{full citation needed|date=August 2018}}</ref> Initial voiceless plosives, like the ''p'' in ''pie'', are aspirated, with a palpable puff of air upon release, whereas a plosive after an ''s'', as in ''spy'', is [[tenuis consonant|tenuis]] (unaspirated). When spoken near a candle flame, the flame will flicker more after the words ''par, tar,'' and ''car'' are articulated, compared with ''spar, star,'' and ''scar''.  In the common pronunciation of ''papa'', the initial ''p'' is aspirated whereas the medial ''p'' is not.

===Length===
In a [[Gemination|geminate]] or '''long''' consonant, the occlusion lasts longer than in simple consonants. In languages where plosives are only distinguished by length (e.g., Arabic, Ilwana, Icelandic), the long plosives may be held up to three times as long as the short plosives. [[Italian language|Italian]] is well known for its geminate plosives, as the double ''t'' in the name ''Vittoria'' takes just as long to say as the ''ct'' does in English ''Victoria''.  [[Japanese language|Japanese]] also prominently features geminate consonants, such as in the minimal pair 来た ''kita'' 'came' and 切った ''kitta'' 'cut'. [[Estonian language|Estonian]] is unusual for contrasting three lengths, as in the minimal triplet ''kabi'' {{IPA|/kɑpi/}} 'hoof', ''kapi'' {{IPA|/kɑpːi/}} 'wardrobe [gen. sg.]', and ''kappi'' {{IPA|/kɑpːːi/}} 'wardrobe [ill. sg.]'.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Türk |first1=Helen |last2=Lippus |first2=Pärtel |last3=Šimko |first3=Juraj |title=Context-dependent articulation of consonant gemination in Estonian |journal=Laboratory Phonology |date=2017 |volume=8 |issue=1 |page=26}}</ref>

There are many languages where the features voice, aspiration, and length reinforce each other, and in such cases it may be hard to determine which of these features predominates. In such cases, the terms [[fortis and lenis|fortis]] is sometimes used for aspiration or gemination, whereas [[lenis]] is used for single, tenuous, or voiced plosives. However, the terms ''fortis'' and ''lenis'' are poorly defined, and their meanings vary from source to source.

===Nasalization===
{{Further|Nasal consonant|Nasalization}}
Simple [[Nasal occlusive|nasals]] are differentiated from plosives only by a lowered [[Soft palate|velum]] that allows the air to escape through the nose during the occlusion. Nasals are acoustically [[sonorant]]s, as they have a non-turbulent airflow and are nearly always voiced, but they are articulatorily [[obstruent]]s, as there is complete blockage of the oral cavity. The term [[occlusive]] may be used as a cover term for both nasals and plosives.

A [[prenasalized stop]] starts out with a lowered velum that raises during the occlusion. The closest examples in English are consonant clusters such as the [nd] in ''candy'', but many languages have prenasalized stops that function phonologically as single consonants. [[Swahili language|Swahili]] is well known for having words beginning with prenasalized stops, as in ''ndege'' 'bird', and in many languages of the South Pacific, such as [[Fijian language|Fijian]], these are even spelled with single letters: ''b'' [mb], ''d'' [nd].

A [[Nasal release|postnasalized plosive]] begins with a raised velum that lowers during the occlusion. This causes an audible nasal ''release'', as in English ''sudden''. This could also be compared to the /dn/ cluster found in [[Russian language|Russian]] and other Slavic languages, which can be seen in the name of the [[Dnieper River]].

The terms ''prenasalization'' and ''postnasalization'' are normally used only in languages where these sounds are phonemic: that is, not analyzed into sequences of plosive plus nasal.

===Airstream mechanism===
Stops may be made with more than one [[airstream mechanism]]. The normal mechanism is [[pulmonic egressive]], that is, with air flowing outward from the lungs. All spoken languages have pulmonic stops. Some languages have stops made with other mechanisms as well: [[Ejective consonant|ejective stops]] ([[glottalic egressive]]), [[implosive consonant|implosive stops]] ([[glottalic ingressive]]), or [[click consonant]]s ([[lingual ingressive]]).

===Tenseness===
{{further|Tenseness}}
A '''[[fortis and lenis|fortis]] plosive''' is produced with more muscular tension than a '''[[lenis]] plosive'''. However, this is difficult to measure, and there is usually debate over the actual mechanism of alleged fortis or lenis consonants.

There are a series of plosives in the [[Korean language]], sometimes written with the IPA symbol for ejectives, which are produced using "[[stiff voice]]", meaning there is increased contraction of the glottis than for normal production of voiceless plosives. The indirect evidence for stiff voice is in the following vowels, which have a higher fundamental frequency than those following other plosives. The higher frequency is explained as a result of the glottis being tense. Other such [[phonation]] types include [[breathy voice]], or murmur; [[slack voice]]; and [[creaky voice]].