English voiceless plosives: aspiration 1

When /p/, /t/ and /k/ appear on their own in word-initial position or at the beginning of a stressed syllable, they are aspirated, i.e. pronounced with more force applied than for example in consonant clusters, in other positions or in unstressed syllables. The spelling of these allophones (for they are not phonemes in English) is [p^h], [t^h] and [k^h].

Ex. The following words contain aspirated plosives. Find their counterparts that contain one more sound before them so that the plosives are unaspirated.

[p^h] paid, pan, park, pat, pay, peck, pie, pill, pin, pit, pot, port

[t^h] tab, tack, tag, talk, tan, tart, Tate, team, tick, till, top, tuck

[k^h] cam, can, cool, coop, cot, kale, Kate, key, kill, Kim, kin, kit

KEY

spade, span, spark, spat, spay, speck, spy, spill, spin, spit, spot, sport

stab, stack, stag, stalk, Stan, start, state, steam, stick, still, stop, stuck

scam, scan, school, scoop, Scot, scale, skate, ski, skill, skim, skin, skit,