Which are the aspirated and unaspirated voiceless stops

In most varieties of English, aspiration happens in these predictable environments. One thing that I want you to remember is that this pattern of aspiration is particular to the grammar of English, but stops behave differently in other languages.

In French and Spanish, for example, voiceless stops are almost always unaspirated. And some languages, like Thai, actually have a three-way distinction between voiced, unaspirated voiceless, and aspirated voiceless stops.

Skip to content Chapter 3: Transcribing Speech Sounds. Not all stops are pronounced the same way. Native speakers of English produce the voiceless stops [p, t, k] as aspirated in some environments, but unaspirated in other environments. This unit deals with the systematic, predictable environments in English where aspiration occurs on voiceless stops.

Voiceless stops are aspirated at the beginning of a word, and at the beginning of a stressed syllable. Voiceless stops are unaspirated at the beginning of an unstressed syllable. And even if a syllable is stressed, a voiceless stop is unaspirated if it follows [s]. In English, voiced stops are never aspirated. Previous: 3. Next: 3. First, English only distinguishes between Aspirated and Voiced stops.

Your writing system has been lying to you! When we realize that in English, [k] and [g] are functionally the same thing, the difference between our two choices:. Or, curse me for linguistically corrupting an otherwise good song. Either or, really. For most English dialects, the two environments where voiceless plosives are aspirated are: At the beginning of a stressed syllable. The [k] of skill isn't at the beginning of the syllable -- there's a [s] before it.

At the beginning of a word -- whether the syllable is stressed or not. So aspiration can be used as another way of telling if some syllables are stressed or not. We can tell that the final -to of potato is completely unstressed even though it has an [o] instead of a schwa , because its t has becomed tapped as we expect in an unstressed syllable instead of aspirated as we expect in a stressed syllable.

Plosives are not aspirated in French. The English word two and the French word tout 'all' might both be given the broad transcription [tu] , but they differ in the presence or absence of aspiration:. One of the most characteristic features of an English accent in French is aspirating plosives which should not be aspirated.

Similarly, failure to aspirate plosives in the appropriate environments can contribute to a French accent in speaking English.