Release and unreleased plosives

1. By: Diana Agudo & Massiel Álvarez

2. Phonemes
• The occlusion may be made with the tongue tip or blade ([t],
[d]), tongue body ([k], [ɡ]), lips ([p], [b]), or glottis ([ʔ]).
Plosives contrast with nasals, where the vocal tract is blocked
but airflow continues through the nose, as in /m/ and /n/,
and with fricatives, where partial occlusion impedes but does
not block airflow in the vocal tract.

3. Place of articulation
• Refers to the specific location where your tongue comes into
contact with another part of your mouth or throat to create a
closure. Some common places of articulation include:
• Bilabial: Lips come together (e.g., /p/, /b/)
• Alveolar: Tongue tip touches the alveolar ridge (bumpy part
behind your upper front teeth) (e.g., /t/, /d/)
• Velar: Back of the tongue touches the velum (soft palate)
(e.g., /k/, /g/).

4. Manner of articulation
• Describes how the airflow is blocked or modulated by the closure
created at the place of articulation. Here, we'll focus on the
manner of articulation relevant to released and unreleased
consonants:
• Plosive: A complete closure is formed, trapping air momentarily
before releasing it with a pop or burst (e.g., /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/,
/g/)

5. Examples
Released Consonants
• Start of words: In most cases,
consonants at the beginning of
words are released. Notice the pop
or burst of air at the beginning of
these words:
⚬ pit /pɪt/
⚬ bet /bɛt/
⚬ kit /kɪt/
⚬ top /tɒp/
⚬ dog /dɒg/
Unreleased Consonants
• End of words: Plosive consonants
(p, b, t, d, k, g) at the end of words
are often unreleased, especially in
casual speech. There's no pop or
burst because the closure carries
over into silence:
⚬ cat /kæt̚/ (notice the little corner
symbol indicating unreleased sound)
⚬ dog /dɒg̚/
⚬ stop (unreleased /p/ if followed by a
pause) /stɒp̚/

6. IPA CHART

7. Explanation video