Place typology and evolution of implosives in Indo-Aryan languages

Abstract

It is widely known that implosives are prevalent in African languages. While Sindhi is considered a textbook example of implosives in Indo-Aryan, the exact distribution of implosives, their development, and place typology are still poorly understood. The present study investigates the typology and evolution of implosives in Indo-Aryan languages and shows that the relationship between implosion and place of articulation in these languages is different from what is seen in global studies. We argue that the relatively high frequency of retroflex implosives in Indo-Aryan languages is due to the high frequency of retroflexes in those languages in general. The findings also indicate that South Asia is another hotspot where languages possess typologically-overloaded inventories of implosives at bilabial, dental-alveolar, retroflex, palatal, and/or velar places of articulation. The aerodynamic constraints and articulatory similarities between implosives and voiced geminates indicate a plausible sound change which led to the evolution of implosives in Indo-Aryan languages.