Re: OT: Phonetics (IPA)

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.  :-)

> 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.

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