A Re-Evaluation of Implosives in Sindhi

Abstract

Implosive stop consonants are described as glottalic ingressive sounds, produced when the vibrating glottis is lowered to cause negative air pressure in the oral cavity. However, some phoneticians have noted that in languages such as Hausa & Igbo, although implosives remain contrastive, they are actually rarely accompanied by negative pressure or ingressive airflow because the vocal cords do not close entirely. To obtain further data on the aerodynamic characteristics of implosives, production of bilabial implosives & plosives by speakers of Sindhi (N = 31) was analyzed. Measurements of supraglottal air pressure during speech show that negative pressure in the mouth is consistently generated with implosives. Upon release of the closure, airflow is definitely ingressive. It is suggested that a phonetic feature [+/-suction] be adopted to distinguish the implosives of Sindhi from those of Hausa & Igbo. K. Pizer.