Voiced retroflex implosive

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The voiced retroflex implosive is a type of consonantal sound. Wadiyara Koli phonemically distinguishes it from the alveolar /ɗ/. Sindhi has an implosive that varies between dental and retroflex articulation, while Oromo, Saraiki and Ngad'a have /ᶑ / but not /ɗ/.[1]

Voiced retroflex implosive
Audio sample
Encoding
Entity (decimal)ᶑ
Unicode (hex)U+1D91

The 'implicit' symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet is ᶑ  (a D with a tail for retroflex and a hook-top for implosive).[2][3]

Features

Features of the voiced retroflex implosive:

  • Its manner of articulation is occlusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with no nasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is a plosive.
  • Its place of articulation is retroflex, which prototypically means it is articulated subapical (with the tip of the tongue curled up), but more generally, it means that it is postalveolar without being palatalized. That is, besides the prototypical subapical articulation, the tongue can be apical (pointed) or, in some fricatives, laminal (flat).
  • Its phonation is voiced, which means the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation.
  • It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth only.
  • It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
  • The airstream mechanism is implosive (glottalic ingressive), which means it is produced by pulling air in by pumping the glottis downward. Since it is voiced, the glottis is not completely closed, but allows a pulmonic airstream to escape through it.

Occurrence

LanguageWordIPAMeaningNotes
Marwari[citation needed]कॾहिं[kaᶑahin]
Ngadhamodhe[ˈmoᶑe]'good'
Oromodhuma[ᶑʊmɐ]'end'
Saraikiݙاک[ᶑak]'mail'Either apical or subapical, place of articulation is more forward than
for the retroflex stops, does not contrast with a dental implosive[4]
Wadiyara Koli[example needed]Contrasts /ɓ ɗ ᶑ ʄ ɠ/.

See also

References