occludenti

Occludenti, in phonetics often referred to as occlusives or stops, are a class of consonants produced with a complete closure or constriction of the vocal tract. During articulation, the oral cavity is momentarily sealed, stopping the airflow; the release of this closure generates a brief burst of sound. The term occludent emphasizes the closure, distinguishing these consonants from fricatives, nasals, and approximants.

Occludenti are typically described by place of articulation (for example bilabial, alveolar, velar, or glottal) and by voicing and aspiration. Common examples include the English p, b, t, d, k, and g, as well as the glottal stop ʔ. They can occur as voiceless or voiced, and many languages contrast aspirated versus unaspirated stops, affecting the timing and acoustic energy of the release. In some phonetic descriptions, affricates (such as t͡s and d͡z) are treated as a combination of an occlusion followed by a fricative release, and may be described as a subtype of occlusives.

Occludenti contrast with other manners of articulation such as fricatives (continuous airstream with rough turbulent noise), nasals (air released through the nasal cavity), and approximants (very close constriction without a turbulent release). They are a fundamental feature of the phonemic inventories of many languages, contributing to syllable structure and cross-linguistic sound patterns.

Etymology traces to Latin occludere, “to close,” reflecting the defining closure of the vocal tract in these consonants. In some languages, the term occludente or occlusivo is used in place of or alongside the English “stop” or “plosive.”