Questions tagged [aspiration]
The aspiration tag has no usage guidance.
18
questions
0
votes
2answers
47 views
Are /t, p, k/ aspirated when they are at the start of a syllable after another syllable that ends in /s/?
In English (native speakers' speech), voiceless plosives such as /t/, /p/ and /k/ are produced with a strong burst of air when they are in the start of a syllable before a vowel. That is called "...
0
votes
1answer
113 views
Is the /p/ aspirated in /pr/ combination in the beginning of a stressed syllable?
In English the /p/ is generally aspirated (produced with a strong burst of air) when it comes in the start of a stressed syllable. For example, the /p/ in "pin" is aspirated (produced with a ...
0
votes
1answer
53 views
The usage of article 'an' in the following case [duplicate]
It is common to use
1a an historical event
2a an hotel
rather than
1b a historical event
2b a hotel
Why 'an' is used in such case?
4
votes
1answer
200 views
Can a plosive consonant in a word be pronounced as an unreleased consonant?
ESL teachers always tell people to suppress the normal release of the consonant "p b k g t d" if it's at the end of a word and the next word also begins with a consonant.
But what about words with a ...
0
votes
0answers
167 views
Is the phoneme /k/ in the word cube aspiated or unaspirated?
I have a debate in class about the aspiration status of the phoneme /k/ in the word "cube". By the rule, it should be. However, some people's pronunciation with the sheet paper in front of the subject'...
3
votes
2answers
1k views
How does the unaspirated /t/ differ from /d/?
For example, how is 'stop' pronounced differently from 'sdop', in terms of tongue position and other aspects?
3
votes
2answers
1k views
Aspiration in American English
I would like know which consonants are aspirated in American English and when? Also, when are they not aspirated?
1
vote
1answer
697 views
is the first sound /k/ in the word “confused” aspirated or unaspirated?
I thought that it is aspirated because of the rule of aspiration : the stops like /p t k/ become aspirated when they occur in the word initial position OR in the onset position of the stressed ...
3
votes
2answers
2k views
Why does /t/ after a consonant (ex: /ˈnaɪn.ti/) produce less air than /t/ at the beginning of word (ex: /ˈtaɪlænd/) or after a vowel (ex: /ˈraɪ.tər/)?
My mother tongue is Vietnamese and I often have difficulty making the English /t/ sound.
Here is what I discovered.
If a /t/ is the beginning of word (e.g. /taɪ/ tie, /tɪn/ tin, /ˈtaɪ.lænd/ Thailand) ...
8
votes
1answer
190 views
In English, can a whole syllable be aspirated?
Living in Merseyside, I've noticed a phonetic oddity that I can't find described anywhere [I did a Web search and found a transcript of Liverpool speech on a Liverpool University site, but no mention ...
0
votes
2answers
2k views
Aspiration in 'lecture'
Why in a word 'lecture' /k/ is unaspirated? Shouldn't it be weakly aspirated because of the fact that it's in unstressed syllable?
20
votes
4answers
10k views
Why are 'student' and 'suspend' not pronounced as written?
I am a Chinese student beginning to learn English. I am curious to know why the word student is pronounced with the sound of d instead of t. Likewise, why is the sound of b used instead of p when ...
2
votes
1answer
483 views
Why do the first and last “t” in “taste” sound different?
When I listened to the audio pronunciation of "taste" /teɪst/, I noticed that the first and last "t" sound different: the first "t" sounds like [tʰ] while the second one sounds more like [tsʰ]. Words ...
3
votes
2answers
4k views
Pronunciation of final T sounds in English
What's the word to describe the phenomenon of the final 't' sound becoming a stop without aspiration, vs. how it sounds at the beginning of a word?
Does any one particular dialect/accent of English ...
20
votes
4answers
1k views
Why do photons and protons exhibit such anomalous behavior?
I first noticed in this answer that there is something sneaky going on with the word photon: its ‹t› is the stressed allophone of /t/, a fully aspirated [tʰ]. It does not reduce to [t] or [ɾ] the way ...
9
votes
3answers
4k views
Why do we spell “eureka”, not “heureka”?
Why is the spelling "eureka" by far more preferable to "heureka" in English? Greek vocabularies give "heureka" for the perfect to "heurisko".
-1
votes
2answers
2k views
Usage of “an” before nouns beginning with an “h” where that “h” is not silent [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“A historic…” or “An historic…”?
Such as
an heinous crime
an hideous monstrosity
an hallucination
This always looks wrong to me. I ...
0
votes
3answers
10k views
Aspirated letters vs. Silent letters
How are aspirated letters different from silent letters when pronouncing a word?
