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Omen1989 Posted 16 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation

Aspiration...

how do we know when "T" in RP is aspirated?
I've got trial questions from exam and there is a question:

In wich of these words is /t/ realised as [t^h]? Why?
A) Mutton
B) Attack
C) Stop
D) Temple

I suppose that B will be correct, but I'm not sure and I don't know how to explain it:)
Could you help me, please?
  

Top answer

Of the four, only the third (Stop) definitely has no aspiration of the T. The same is true whenever S is the first element in a consonant blend: sp, st, sk . Here p , t , and k are not aspirated.

— CalifJim

  • Of the four, only the third (Stop) definitely has no aspiration of the T.
  • The same is true whenever S is the first element in a consonant blend: sp, st, sk .
  • Here p , t , and k are not aspirated.
  • What is meant by [t^h]?
  • Is that supposed to indicate aspiration?
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7 Answers
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Of the four, only the third (Stop) definitely has no aspiration of the T.

The same is true whenever S is the first element in a consonant blend: sp, st, sk. Here p, t, and k are not aspirated.

What is meant by [t^h]? Is that supposed to indicate aspiration? Or non-aspiration?

CJ
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[t^h] indicates aspiration as in diacritics chart ("^" means superscript:) )
http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/diacritics.html

anyway, thanks 
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That's what I thought. So they must want more than one answer, because more than one of those choices has aspirated "t" -- at least to my ear. Certainly "attack", because the "t" is at the beginning of an accented syllable.

RP is British, however, so I hope someone British comes along to help.

CJ
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if anyone would be interested the final solution is:
attack
temple

Explanation:
in these words "t" is aspirated because it appears in stressed syllable, before vowel
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So apparently in RP the "t" is not aspirated in "mutton". Interesting.

CJ
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Apparently yes. As far as I am concerned I think that "t" in "mutton" is unaspirated because one of rp rules tell us that if "t" appear in syllable final position before silence or consonant it became glotalized. I don't think glottalization and aspiration could appear at the same time. But this is only my interpretation.
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omen1989I don't think glottalization and aspiration could appear at the same time.
No. They can't co-exist. You could say that glottalization 'stops' the sound and aspiration 'continues' it. I know that the "unreleased t" (or "glottalized t, as you call it) occurs in "mutton" in American English, so I was surprised to learn that it also occur
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