What three letters have puffs of air in english but not in spanish

Question

what 3 letter. if you put your hand up to your mouth you feel air when you say them in english but not in spanish

• please note that it is mandatory on this forum to use correct spelling, grammar, and capitalization in your posts. - - Heidita Sep 2, 2009

Answer 1

I would say:

"F", "P" and "T".

I expect disagreement.

If you get an correct answer later, please add it to this thread.

Recuerdos/Best Wishes

Moe

Answer 2

Strictly speaking there are no such letters in English. "P", "t" and "k" have two allophones on English (one is simply occlusive and one is plosive). The occlusive version corresponds to the Spanish pronunciation). The plosive version occurs in some languages (e.g. Hindi but it and the occlusive versions are distinct phonemes in Hindi).) In English, when "k/"t"/"p" are preceded by an "s", we use the occlusive allophone (in other phonetic contexts we use the "explosive" allophone.) However, we do this without thinking (and without any awareness of the difference). The problem is that in Spanish (and French), only the occlusive form is used (irrespective of the phonetic context).

As a simple exercise, listen to the way you pronounce the "t" in "stop" and in "top" (hint: the former is an occlusive and the latter is a plosive).

• pero cómo sabes tanto de esto sam...estoy impresionada. - Heidita Sep 3, 2009
• very interesting, indeed! I did it...speaking "stop" and "top"....now, which was which, did you say? :-) - Janice Sep 3, 2009

Answer 3

Is this a homework assignment?

Answer 4

I'm probably doing your homework, but the letters are K, P, and T. (Great job on two of them, Moe!)

Pronunciation Tips: http://studyspanish.com/pronunciation/

For letters K, P, T: http://studyspanish.com/pronunciation/letter_kw.htm http://studyspanish.com/pronunciation/letter_p.htm http://studyspanish.com/pronunciation/letter_t.htm

Answer 5

On popular demand I am opening the thread again. After all it has been answered.

Answer 6

As a simple exercise, listen to the way you pronounce the "t" in "stop" and in "top" (hint: the former is an occlusive and the latter is a plosive).

I've spent many years of my life pronouncing "stop" as plosive, because I was told at school that the English "t" is plosive, but no one ever mentioned to me that it has an occlusive allophone... until one day someone finally corrected me (that was before I studied phonetics). Now I find it very hard to change the way I pronounce it.