implosiven

Implosiven, also known as implosive consonants, are a class of consonants produced with an ingressive glottalic airstream mechanism. In these sounds, air is drawn inward by a lowering of the glottis rather than being pushed outward by the lungs. The oral constriction is released to form a stop-like or constricted sonorant, and the vocal folds are typically voiced during production. This combination gives implosives a distinctive acoustical profile compared with pulmonic stops or ejectives.

Articulatory and phonetic details emphasize that the airstream is glottalic ingressive. The larynx lowers during the release phase, creating a suction that pulls air into the oral cavity. Most implosives are voiced, though voiceless or partially voiceless instances have been described in some languages. Because the mechanism is different from pulmonic egressive (normal) stops and from ejectives, implosives often contrast with other stops in a language’s inventory and can influence adjacent vowels through unique timing and voice onset patterns.

Notation and typology: In the International Phonetic Alphabet, implosives are commonly represented by symbols such as ɓ (bilabial), ɗ (alveolar), ɠ (velar), and ʄ (palatal). Additional implosive series may occur cross-linguistically, with some languages containing multiple implosive phonemes across place of articulation. Implosives are especially well documented in sub-Saharan Africa and have been reported in other regions as well, where they may appear alongside other distinct airstream mechanisms in mixed phoneme inventories.

See also: implosive consonant, glottalic ingressive, voicing contrasts.