ASPIRATION AND VOICING OF CHINESE AND ENGLISH PLOSIVES

David Deterding1 & Francis Nolan2
1Nanyang Technological University; 2University of Cambridge

ID 1049
[full paper]

The six plosives of Standard Chinese are compared with those of RP British English, to see if there is a difference in their aspiration and/or voicing. Recordings of 7 speakers from China reading words beginning with each of the 6 plosives are compared to similar recordings of 7 speakers of RP British English, and it is found that there is little difference in the aspiration of the plosives in the two languages, though there is a difference in the voicing during the closure when the plosive occurs between two vowels.