Practice question · Match the pairs
Match each phase or property of a plosive to its description.
- Closure
- Hold
- Release
- Voice onset time
- The interval from release to the start of voicing
- Pressure builds behind the closure
- The burst as the closure is broken
- The articulators come together and airflow stops
Hints
- The first three are stages in time order.
- The fourth is measured from the third.
Show the answer
- Closure → The articulators come together and airflow stops
- Hold → Pressure builds behind the closure
- Release → The burst as the closure is broken
- Voice onset time → The interval from release to the start of voicing
Why
Setting the phases out in order makes VOT easy to place: it is measured from the release, so an aspirated stop is one where voicing has not yet begun when the burst happens. Everything in the lesson follows from that one measurement.
Practise English Consonants I: Plosives and Fricatives
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