States of the Glottis for Voiceless Plosives

While the state of glottis of voiceless aspirated stops has been well documented, the state of the glottis of voiceless unaspirated stops has not. We have therefore concentrated on the states of glottis of voiceless unaspirated stops including glottal stop. Breath and nil phonation are traditionally regarded as the phonation types of voicelessness. Catford has described both as having a wide open glottis, but differing in airflow turbulence. By contrast, stops made with either the glottis closed or no air passing through it he termed ÒunphonatedÓ. We consider existing definitions of nil phonation, breath, and unphonated to be inappropriate for describing the state of the glottis during the articulatory stricture phase of voiceless unaspirated oral stops. We describe that state of the glottis and propose the term prephonation be used to refer to it. We also offer a detailed description of the state of the glottis during the stricture phase of glottal stop.