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Maple Posted 19 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation

aspirated consonant after s

disposal

mysterious

restaurant

strange

expedition

steep



In ALL the above words, should the aspirated consonant after s sound the counterpart unaspirated consonant?

(I have a rough impression that there exists such a rule. But listening to the slowed down audio files, this is not always the case. Any MORE rules about it?)



[Added: my wild guess for the influential factors include: 1) whether in the same syllable. 2) speech speed 3) accent]



Thanks a lot for any comments!
  

Top answer

Yes they are unaspirated. Occasionally people may aspirate them for extreme emphasis.

— Anonymous

  • Yes they are unaspirated.
  • Occasionally people may aspirate them for extreme emphasis.
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10 Answers
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Yes they are unaspirated. Occasionally people may aspirate them for extreme emphasis.
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p, t, and k (c, q) are produced unaspirated in sp, spr, spl, st, str, sk, scr, scl, and squ, and in the analogous cases where x occurs instead of s. Actually, any unvoiced fricative instead of the s has the same effect, for example the f in after, softer. (I don't think the combinations thp, shp, thk,
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So this rule is universal, no matter whether s and t/p/k are in the same syllable.

Then my question is resloved.

(Now listen to the audio files again; I was wrong; you're right. Strange, my ears are different now. Maybe I have supersensitive suggestibility.
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Hi,
I know some exceptions, but they are not real exceptions, actually.
You don't aspirate a consonant if it is not part of the same word. That's why these two are different:

Night rate - Nitrate

So "suck up" should be different from "suh cup" too, and so on.

I found out about this not long ago. I find it difficult to pay attention to such things (I don't pay a
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Thread Header: aspirated consonant after s.

"I know some exceptions. ... Night rate - Nitrate"

Where is the s?

CJ
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Night rate: both t's are glottal stops.
Nitrate: the /t/ is often pronounced as [ tS ] . The [ r\ ] becomes voiceless.
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Can you give examples of words where you think this is not always true?
Hi Maple,
Were you by any chance thinking about words like newspaper and passport where the /p/ in the second syllable is aspirated? If so, I am inclined to think that the /p/ is usually aspirated when it is not in the same syllable as the fricative, as in newspaper and passport, in which the /p/ i
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>>

Only one exception, after (the attachment was from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

after

the [UK] sounds OK: /fd/

the [US] sounds /ft/ <<

Nope. There is no difference where it comes to the pronunciation in North American English and English English dialects of the /t/ in the word "after".
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Anonymous>>

Only one exception, after (the attachment was from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

after

the [UK] sounds OK: /fd/

the [US] sounds like /ft/ <<

Nope. There is no difference where it comes to the pronunciation in North American English and English Englis
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Orpheus,

I think that's generally true. Nevertheless, with very common words, like the two you mention, there is a tendency to break the word into syllables in such a way that makes the consonant after s unaspirated anyway, especially in faster speech. Just guessing, I believe I hear both news paper and new spaper, and I hear pa sport more often than
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