nasals. The first claim argues that nasals are part of stops while the second argument assumes the stops and nasals as separate manners because of the matter
of the airflow execution. By this case, the writer must have a standpoint to determine what is stated as a stop. By considering all these reviews, she counts
nasals as a part of stops in terms of manners of articulation. At this point, the problem of the outflow of the airstream whether it is
stopped completely in the oral cavity or it is released through the nose is favored as an alternative release. In other words, the main concern here is the complete
closure or blockage of the airflow in the oral tract as a key point to the basic separation as what has been classified as a stop in manners of articulation. It is in
line with the separation of sounds in terms of the oro-nasal process raising or lowering velum as a distinguished factor in determining oral and nasal sounds. In
this case, the matter of nasal stop and the oral stop is more precise to be differentiated as the distinctive feature in the oro-nasal process the oral cavity
the nasal cavity rather than in the articulation process that essentially deals with the articulators in the oral cavity.
3. Phonological Classification of Stops in English
In general, stops in English can be divided mainly based on their oro-nasal process, places of articulation, and voicing status. According to their oro-nasal
process, stops are classified into oral stop plosive and nasal stop or simply nasal Collins and Mees, 2003: 43-44. Oral stop is the complete closure of both the oral
and nasal cavities. Hence, it can be defined as the complete blockage of the airstream in the mouth. Force in the mouth will go up, the soft palate is raised so
that the airstream cannot escape through the nose then an oral stop will be
produced. The sounds for oral stop are p, t, k, b, d, and g. Meanwhile, nasal stop is the complete closure that occurs in the oral cavities only so that the
airstream go beyond the nasal cavity and a nasal stop will be formed. Here, the soft palate is downward and the airstream can escape through the nose. The
sounds for nasal stop are m, n and ŋ. With regard to places of articulation, stop sounds are articulated in three
places. They are in bilabials, alveolars, and velars. Firstly, bilabials are sounds that are produced by bringing both lips together. The stops for bilabials are p,
b, and m. Secondly, alveolars are sounds that are made by the raise of the tongue to the bony tooth ridge. This bony tooth ridge is called the alveolar ridge.
The stops of alveolars are t, d, and n. Thirdly, velars are sounds that are produced by raising the body of the tongue against the velum. There are three
stops for this place including k, g, and ŋ. Based on their voicing status, stops can be divided into voiceless and voiced
stop. Voiceless sounds are produced when the vocal cords are apart. In the extent, the airstream is not obstructed at the glottis and it releases freely through the
mouth. The sounds of voiceless stop are p, t, k. On the other hand, voiced sounds occur while the vocal cords are together which cause the airstream pushes
its way through and causes them to vibrate. The sounds for voiced stop are b, d, g, m, n, ŋ Ladefoged, 1993: 50; Fromkin Rodman, 1993: 187.
The differentiation between voiceless and voiced sounds is important in English because it may influence the other production of sounds which is
contracted to certain sounds. For example, there is a case of devoicing of nasals m, n, ŋ while meeting voiceless stop such as in the words limp lɪmp, hint
h ɪnt, and blink blɪŋk. Likewise, there is a case of pronouncing nothing as
[ ˈnʌθɪŋ] or [ˈnʌθɪn]. In this case, two different nasal sounds n and ŋ can vary
the pronunciation of the same word. In this extent, there is a case of homorganic
stop Ladefoged, 1993: 54. That is, two sounds which are both articulated on the same organ of speech. The examples are sudden dn, button tn, and also a case
of homorganic assimilation like in open [ ˈoʊpm] and bacon [ˈbeɪkŋ]. Moreover,
there is an occurrence of vowel length in monosyllables Collins and Mees, 2003: 52. That is, when vowel meets voiceless sounds, it tends to be shortened but
when it meets voiceless sound, the vowel will have its full length as in the case of lit
l ɪt and lid lɪd where t is voiceless and d is voiced, the vowel ɪ will tend
to be shortened in lit and just to be normal in lid.
4. Stop Deletion
