Editing Plosive (section)

==Terminology==
The terms ''stop, occlusive,'' and ''plosive'' are often used interchangeably. Linguists who distinguish them may not agree on the distinction being made. "Stop" refers to the stopping of the airflow, "occlusive" to the articulation which occludes (blocks) the vocal tract, and "plosive" to the plosion (release burst) of the consonant. Some object to the use of "plosive" for [[unreleased stop|inaudibly released stops]], which may then instead be called "applosives". The [[International Phonetic Association]] and the [[International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association]] use the term "plosive".

Either "occlusive" or "stop" may be used as a general term covering the other together with nasals. That is, 'occlusive' may be defined as [[oral consonant|oral]] occlusive (plosives and [[affricate]]s) plus nasal occlusives (nasals such as {{IPAblink|m}}, {{IPAblink|n}}), or 'stop' may be defined as oral stops (plosives) plus nasal stops (nasals). [[Peter Ladefoged|Ladefoged]] and [[Ian Maddieson|Maddieson]] (1996) prefer to restrict 'stop' to oral non-affricated occlusives. They say,<ref>{{SOWL|102}}</ref>

{{blockquote|what we call simply nasals are called nasal stops by some linguists. We avoid this phrase, preferring to reserve the term 'stop' for sounds in which there is a complete interruption of airflow.}}

In addition, they restrict "plosive" for [[pulmonic consonant]]s; "stops" in their usage include [[ejective consonant|ejective]] and [[implosive consonant|implosive]] consonants.<ref>{{SOWL|77–78}}</ref>

If a term such as "plosive" is used for oral non-affricated obstruents, and nasals are not called nasal stops, then a ''stop'' may mean the [[glottal stop]]; "plosive" may even mean non-glottal stop. In other cases, however, it may be the word "plosive" that is restricted to the glottal stop. Generally speaking, plosives do not have plosion (a release burst). In English, for example, there are plosives with [[no audible release]], such as the {{IPA|/p/}} in ''apt''. However, English plosives do have plosion in other environments.

In [[Ancient Greek]], the term for plosive was {{lang|grc|ἄφωνον}} (''áphōnon''),<ref>{{LSJ|a)/fwnos|ἄφωνος|ref}}</ref> which means "unpronounceable", "voiceless", or "silent", because plosives could not be pronounced without a vowel. This term was [[calque]]d into [[Latin]] as {{lang|la|mūta}}, and from there borrowed into English as ''mute''.<ref>{{OED|mute}}</ref> ''Mute'' was sometimes used instead for voiceless consonants, whether plosives or fricatives, a usage that was later replaced with ''surd'', from Latin {{lang|la|surdus}} "deaf" or "silent",<ref>{{L&S|surdus|ref}}</ref> a term still occasionally seen in the literature.<ref>{{OED|surd}}</ref> For more information on the Ancient Greek terms, see {{section link|Ancient Greek phonology|Terminology}}.