Practice question · True or false
Aspiration of /p t k/ in English is fully predictable from position and is not noticed by native speakers.
Hints
- Consider the difference between pin and spin.
- The paper-strip test shows it immediately and nobody notices it unprompted.
Show the answer
True
Why
True, and both halves matter. It is predictable — aspirated in a stressed onset, unaspirated after /s/ — which makes it allophonic; and it is below awareness, which is what being allophonic feels like from the inside. Speakers of Thai or Hindi, where the difference is contrastive, notice it at once.
Practise English Consonants I: Plosives and Fricatives
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