One of the remarkable characteristics for the languages spoken in East Asian continent, like Southern Chinese dialects, Thai, Vietnamese and Korean, regardless of their genealogical origins, is that the stops, like -p,-t,-k, are pronounced without their oral releases at the syllable final positions.

Fiberoptic observations of the larynx on Southern Chinese and Thai revealed that final stops were pronounced with the glottis being closed, and particularly in the case of Southern Chinese, with the supraglottal structures being constricted. On the other hands in Korean final stops were characterized by a slight degree of glottal opening.

Different laryngeal strategies are employed among East Asian languages in producing the final stops. It is suggested that this might reflect the difference in syllabicity and suprasegmental features among these languages.