Re: OT: Phonetics (IPA)

Nik Taylor likis:

> Nikhil Sinha wrote:
> > I was analysing the sound differences between English and Hindi. The
> > retroflex sounds of Hindi are 'T' and 'D'. They are pretty close to the
> > English t and d, which are alveolar. But the Hindi dental t and d are
> > different from the English alveoars. The Hindi retroflex and English
> > alveolars are so close, that even at the age of 15 I didn't know that
they
> > are pronounced differently.
>
> Interesting.  I, as a native English speaker, find dental and alveolar
> to be very hard to distinguish, but alveolar and retroflex, especially
> between vowels, to be rather different.  Just goes to show that "easy to
> distinguish" depends on your language.  :-)
True.
>
> > Firstly, I do not aspirate the t and d when they are at the beginning of
> > words. I always pronounce t and d as unaspirate, no matter where it
occurs
> > in the word.
>
> Many English-speakers would hear your _t_ as _d_, I suspect.
No, I pronounce t and d separately. Not many native English realise that
there are two sounds of both t and d ( and also of p). One sound is aspirate
and the other unaspirate. For example, compare 'space' and 'pace'. The p in
pace is stronger (aspirate), while p in space is unaspirate. Similar is the
case with t, one aspirate sound and other unaspirate. Compare 'tomato' and
'station'. I pronounce both the sounds as unaspirate. So, when I say 'space'
and 'pace', both the p's sound the same.

Nikhil

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