Avoiceless retroflex implosive is an extremely rareconsonantal sound, used in very fewspokenlanguages. There is no official symbol in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound, but ⟨ᶑ̊ ⟩ or theoretically ⟨ʈʼ↓⟩ may be used, or the old convention ⟨𝼉⟩ (ƭ̢).
Itsmanner of articulation isocclusive, which means it is produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract. Since the consonant is also oral, with nonasal outlet, the airflow is blocked entirely, and the consonant is aplosive.
Itsplace of articulation isretroflex, which prototypically means it is articulatedsubapical (with the tip of the tongue curled up), but more generally, it means that it ispostalveolar without beingpalatalized. That is, besides the prototypical subapical articulation, the tongue can beapical (pointed) or, in some fricatives,laminal (flat).
Itsphonation is un-voiced, which means it is produced without vibrations of the vocal cords.
It is anoral consonant, which means that air is not allowed to escape through the nose.
It is acentral consonant, which means it is produced by directing the airstream along the center of the tongue, rather than to the sides.
Theairstream mechanism isimplosive (glottalic ingressive), which means it is produced by pulling air in by pumping theglottis downward. As it is voiceless, the glottis is completely closed, and there is no pulmonic airstream at all.
