Long closure

Plosives are sometimes called maintainable stops because they can be held for varying periods of time. For instance, in a sequence of two plosives of the same kind, it is possible to produce a long closure, as if for two plosives: ‘coo[k] + [k]arrots’, ‘if I ha[d] + [d]one it’. The closure is made as for the end of the first word, but then held approximately twice as long before being released. There is only one release in such sequences, although of course it is possible to produce a sequence of two plosives. Long closures can be transcribed with the symbol [:] to mark length: [kυk:arəts], ; or as two plosives, but with the first marked as unreleased: . This is useful to make it easier to mark stress and word breaks: ‘cook carrots’, .