in the case of consonants of japanese, if treated phonemically, a medial consonant might appear to double, thus creating a contrast, for example, between the word "hiki" (meaning 'pull' or 'influence') and "hikki" (meaning 'writing'). in terms of articulation and phonetics, the difference between the two words would be that, in the latter "hikki", the doubled closes the first syllable and is realized in the glottis as glottal plosive stop (with some anticipatory articulation evident in the velum of the mouth, where a is usually made) while starting the next syllable as a articulated and realized as the regular velar sound. in effect, this consonant doubling then adds one mora to the overall speech rhythm and timing. hence, among other contrasts, the word "hik-ki" is felt to be one mora or beat longer than "hi-ki" by a speaker of japanese.