pronunciation of "t"

K

Konstantinos

Senior Member
Athens, Greece
Greek - Athens
Sometimes, when I hear the "t" it sounds as "t h", not just "t".

Consider the English pronoun he, adding the sound t before it and pronounce it as /t hi/, not as /ˈðə/. Some examples in English: gatehouse, hothouse, hothead.

Some examples in Chinese:

问题： it is pronounced wen4 thi2, not wen4 ti2
人体：ren2 thi3, not ren2 ti3
无人艇：wu2 ren2 thing3, not wu2 ren2 ting3

the opposite:
探讨：tan4 tao3, not than4 thao3

So my questions:

Do you confirm that there are two different ways to pronounce the "t"?

If so, why in pinyin it is not visible? Why are they both written as "t"?

Is there a better system in Chinese that has two different symbols for the pinyin "t"? I think, in zhuyin again in both cases it is just "ㄊ".
 
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    • The pinyin <t> (i.e., zhuyin ㄊ) is always aspirated, that is, [tʰ]. From the standpoint of articulatory phonetics, I disagree with you that there are two sets of <t> (ㄊ). It still sounds standard to me if the <t> sounds in both 探 and 讨 are strongly aspirated. I think your observations concern your auditory perception of the phoneme. I noticed vowel differences between the two sets you gave. When <t> is followed by a high vowel (/i/ as in 题, 体, 艇), you seem to hear a clearer /h/. When <t> is followed by a low vowel (/a/ as in 探, 讨), you seem unable to hear the burst of breath. I assume you have no trouble hearing the aspiration of the <t> sound in 图 (as in 地图) as it is followed by a high vowel /u/. Am I right? If so, your perception of breathiness probably has something to do with the vowel height.
     
    Konstantinos said:
    Consider the English pronoun he, adding the sound t before it and pronounce it as /t hi/, not as /ˈðə/. Some examples in English: gatehouse, hothouse, hothead.
    Click to expand...
    In Engish, these words are not aspirated Ts. They are each an unaspirated /t/ followed by an /h/. The /h/ in "gatehouse" is the same /h/ as in "house". In English, /h/ is a consonant.

    In English, T is a voiceless stop that is sometimes aspirated (especially at the start of syllables).
    In Mandarin, T is a voiceless stop that is always aspirated.
    In Greek, T is a voiceless stop that is never aspirated.

    Our native language affects "what we hear". If you are not used to hearing an aspirated T, it will sound strange to you.
     
    It's interesting that Chinese learners often question English speakers: why can't we hear "t" in many words?
    Because Chinese don't know what is an "unaspirated t". When we hear English "t" is different to Chinese Pinyin, we feel strange. We may confuse it with "d" or something.
     
    SuperXW said:
    It's interesting that Chinese learners often question English speakers: why can't we hear "t" in many words?
    Because Chinese don't know what is an "unaspirated t". When we hear English "t" is different to Chinese Pinyin, we feel strange. We may confuse it with "d" or something.
    Click to expand...
    English has not only unaspirated t but also flapped t, glottal t, and nasal t. They're confusing for foreign learners.
     
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