p, t, and k are not aspirated??

Hi All,

When we pronounce "Speak", Stamp", "Sky, can we sound the p, t, and k aspirated after "s" ?

EngFan

Not a teacher, but a fellow learner

I don't understand what you mean by "aspirate", but I surely know that "p", "t", and "k" after "s", change into tense consonants. Those sound different from their normal sounds.

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Originally Posted by EngFan

Hi All,

When we pronounce "Speak", Stamp", "Sky, can we sound the p, t, and k aspirated after "s" ?

EngFan

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No, you don't aspirate those unvoiced plosives after an /s/.

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Originally Posted by keannu

Not a teacher, but a fellow learner

I don't understand what you mean by "aspirate", but I surely know that "p", "t", and "k" after "s", change into tense consonants. Those sound different from their normal sounds.

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The tenseness of a sound is a very vague notion. It describes different phenomena in different languages. What aspiration is, on the other hand, is quite clear. You can learn what the word means from this page.

I was wondering if any native speakers would aspirate those unvoiced plosives after an /s/? I hear some non-native speakers sometimes would aspirate those unvoiced plosives after an /s/, as you are native speaker, would you consider this is a wrong way in pronunciation?

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Originally Posted by EngFan

I was wondering if any native speakers would aspirate those unvoiced plosives after an /s/? I hear some non-native speakers sometimes would aspirate those unvoiced plosives after an /s/, as you are native speaker, would you consider this is a wrong way in pronunciation?

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I doubt if a native speaker could; you learn not to in the course of becoming a native speaker. ;-) (I would find it very difficult to do; and while I can hear something odd when others do it, my ability to identify it lasted only a year or two.*)

To see the effect of aspiration (a little puff of air) hold a piece of tissue in front of your mouth and see what happens when you say 'pin' as opposed to what happens when you say 'spin'

b

PS * In another thread I mentioned Audrey Hepburn - who because of her Dutch roots had some sort of strange behaviour about aspirating her voiceless stops. Most people think her voice has a certain je ne sais quoi, but not many would say she had a foreign accent.

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Originally Posted by BobK

I doubt if a native speaker could; you learn not to in the course of becoming a native speaker. ;-) (I would find it very difficult to do; and while I can hear something odd when others do it, my ability to identify it lasted only a year or two.*)

To see the effect of aspiration (a little puff of air) hold a piece of tissue in front of your mouth and see what happens when you say 'pin' as opposed to what happens when you say 'spin'

b

PS * In another thread I mentioned Audrey Hepburn - who because of her Dutch roots had some sort of strange behaviour about aspirating her voiceless stops. Most people think her voice has a certain je ne sais quoi, but not many would say she had a foreign accent.

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As you are native speaker, would you consider people say Speak, Spoon, Discover, Straw, Skin are same as to say Sbeak, Sboon, Disgover, Sdraw, Sgin?

If native speakers were to produce the non-words Sbeak, Sboon, Sdraw, Sgin, they would sound like Speak, Spoon, Straw, Skin. Disgover might well be uttered with a /g/ sound, as there might be a marginal break affter 'dis', perceived as a prefix.