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A stop with no audible release, also known as an unreleased stop or an applosive, is a
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 (, ), li ...
with no release burst: no audible indication of the end of its occlusion (hold). In the
International Phonetic Alphabet The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin script. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century as a standardized representation ...
, lack of an audible release is denoted with an upper-right corner
diacritic A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacrit ...
() after the consonant letter: , , . Audibly released stops, on the other hand, are not normally indicated. If a final stop is aspirated, the aspiration diacritic is sufficient to indicate the release. Otherwise, the "unaspirated" diacritic of the Extended IPA may be employed for this: ''apt'' .


English

In most dialects of
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...
, the first stop of a cluster has no audible release, as in ''apt'' , ''doctor'' , or ''logged on'' . Although such sounds are frequently described as "unreleased", the reality is that since the two consonants overlap, the release of the former takes place during the hold of the latter, masking the former's release and making it inaudible. That can lead to cross-articulations that seem very much like deletions or complete
assimilation Assimilation may refer to: Culture * Cultural assimilation, the process whereby a minority group gradually adapts to the customs and attitudes of the prevailing culture and customs ** Language shift, also known as language assimilation, the prog ...
. For example, ''hundred pounds'' may sound like but X-ray and electropalatographic studies demonstrate that since inaudible and possibly-weakened contacts may still be made, the second in ''hundred pounds'' does not entirely assimilate a labial place of articulation but co-occurs with it. In
American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the most widely spoken language in the United States and in most circumstances ...
, a stop in syllable-final position is typically realized as an unreleased stop; that is especially the case for /t/, but in that position, it is also analyzed as experiencing glottal reinforcement. Such sounds may occur between vowels, as in some pronunciations of ''out a lot''. The overlap there appears to be with a
glottal stop The glottal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents thi ...
, : the is pronounced, and since it is between vowels, it must be released. However, its release is masked by the
glottal stop The glottal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents thi ...
.'no (audible) release'
''John Wells's phonetic blog'', 2012 March 14.
(See:
T-glottalization In English phonology, ''t''-glottalization or ''t''-glottalling is a sound change in certain English dialects and accents, particularly in the United Kingdom, that causes the phoneme to be pronounced as the glottal stop in certain positions ...
, in some dialects). The term "unreleased" is also used for a stop before a
homorganic In phonetics, a homorganic consonant (from ''homo-'' "same" and ''organ'' "(speech) organ") is a consonant sound that is articulated in the same place of articulation as another. For example, , and are homorganic consonants of one another sinc ...
nasal Nasal is an adjective referring to the nose, part of human or animal anatomy. It may also be shorthand for the following uses in combination: * With reference to the human nose: ** Nasal administration, a method of pharmaceutical drug delivery * ...
, as in ''catnip''. In such cases, however, the stop is released as a nasal in a ''
nasal release In phonetics, a nasal release is the release of a stop consonant into a nasal. Such sounds are transcribed in the IPA with superscript nasal letters, for example as in English ''catnip'' . In English words such as ''sudden'' in which historically ...
'' and so it would be more precisely transcribed .


Other languages

In most languages in
East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...
and
Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
with final stops, such as
Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding a ...
,
Hokkien The Hokkien () variety of Chinese is a Southern Min language native to and originating from the Minnan region, where it is widely spoken in the south-eastern part of Fujian in southeastern mainland China. It is one of the national languages ...
, Korean, Malay, Thai, and West Coast Bajau, the stops are not audibly released: ''mak'' . That is true even between vowels. That is thought to be caused by an overlapping
glottal stop The glottal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents thi ...
and is more precisely transcribed . A consequence of an inaudible release is that any aspirated–unaspirated distinction is neutralized. Some languages, such as Vietnamese, which are reported to have unreleased final stops, turn out to have short voiceless
nasal release In phonetics, a nasal release is the release of a stop consonant into a nasal. Such sounds are transcribed in the IPA with superscript nasal letters, for example as in English ''catnip'' . In English words such as ''sudden'' in which historically ...
s instead. The excess pressure is released (voicelessly) through the nose and so there is no audible release to the stop.


Formosan languages

The
Formosan languages The Formosan languages are a geographic grouping comprising the languages of the indigenous peoples of Taiwan, all of which are Austronesian. They do not form a single subfamily of Austronesian but rather nine separate subfamilies. The Taiwa ...
of
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...
, such as Tsou and Amis, are unusual in that all
obstruent An obstruent () is a speech sound such as , , or that is formed by ''obstructing'' airflow. Obstruents contrast with sonorants, which have no such obstruction and so resonate. All obstruents are consonants, but sonorants include vowels as well as ...
s are released but not aspirated, as in Tsou "four" and "to pierce", or Amis "one" and "four". (The symbol for a release burst, , is acknowledged but not supported by the IPA.)


Gyalrong languages

In
Gyalrongic languages The Gyalrongic languages (also known as Rgyalrongic or Jiarongic) constitute a branch of the Qiangic languages of Sino-Tibetan, although some propose that it may be part of a larger Rung languages group, and do not consider it to be particularly ...
, plosives and nasal stops could be unreleased after a
glottal stop The glottal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents thi ...
,Page 27, ''A Grammar of RGyalrong, Jiǎomùzú (Kyom-kyo) Dialects: A Web of Relations'' Marielle Prins 2016, 9789004324565 for example: * > * >


Pirahã

In Pirahã, the only surviving dialect of the Mura language, there is a special register of speech using solely humming, which doesn't involve an audible release and may be transcribed as of different length and tone.


See also

*
Checked tone A checked tone, commonly known by the Chinese calque entering tone, is one of the four syllable types in the phonology of Middle Chinese. Although usually translated as "tone", a checked tone is not a tone in the phonetic sense but rather a sy ...
* Glottal reinforcement * Lateral release (phonetics) *
Nasal release In phonetics, a nasal release is the release of a stop consonant into a nasal. Such sounds are transcribed in the IPA with superscript nasal letters, for example as in English ''catnip'' . In English words such as ''sudden'' in which historically ...
*
T-glottalization In English phonology, ''t''-glottalization or ''t''-glottalling is a sound change in certain English dialects and accents, particularly in the United Kingdom, that causes the phoneme to be pronounced as the glottal stop in certain positions ...


References


Sources

* * * * * {{refend


External links


'Unreleased'
( John C. Wells)
'No (audible) release'
( John C. Wells)
'Unreleased stops'
(
University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Plosives