Plosive sounds in English language prepared by Farhad Ahmad and Sarwan Ayob, students in college of arts, university of Duhok.

2. Plosive Consonants
• Plosives: Oral stops
– The air is stopped completely in the oral
cavity for a brief period.
– Then it explodes with the release of the
closure, producing loud-enough noise to
be heard.
– English plosives:
• Bilabials: /p, b/
• Alveolars: /t, d/
• Velars: /k, g/

3. Plosive Consonants
• Bilabials: /p, b/
• /p/ is Voiceless, Bilabial, Plosive.
Party → /ˈpɑˈ.ti/
speak → /spiˈk/
lip → /lɪp/
• /b/ is Voiced, Bilabial, Plosive.
bird → /bɜˈd/
abandon → /əˈbæn.dən/
cab → /kæb/

4. Plosive Consonants
• Alveolars: /t, d/
• /t/ is Voiceless, Alveolar, Plosive.
tea → /tiˈ/
heater → /ˈhiˈ.tə/
cut → /kʌt/
• /d/ is Voiced, Alveolar, Plosive.
drive → /draɪv/
edit → /ˈed.ɪt/
bed → /bed/

5. Plosive Consonants
• Velars: /k, g/
• /k/ is Voiceless, Velar, Plosive.
cat → /kæt/
action → /ˈæk.ʃən/
book → /bʊk/
• /g/ is Voiced, Velar, Plosive.
gift → /gɪft/
eagle → /ˈiˈ.gl̩/
egg → /eg/

6. Plosive Consonants
Differences
Group A Group B
/p/ /b/
/t/ /d/
/k/ /g/

7. Plosive Consonants
1- Voicing
- G.A → V. Cords → Open → no vibration → voiceless.
- G.B → V. Cords → Closed gently → vibration → Voiced.
2- Production:-
- G.A is difficult to produce. We need effort.
- G.B is easy.
- Perception:- G.A is difficult to be heard.
G.B is easy to be heard.

8. Plosive Consonants
3- Length:-
- Voiceless plosives Shorten the preceding Vowel.
For example:- heart [hɑ•t ] , hard [ha:d].
4- Aspiration:-
- G.A has aspiration. For example:- pet [ph
et].
- G.B has no aspiration. For example:- bet [bet].

9. Plosive Consonants
Aspiration
The phenomenon in which a small
“puff of air” escapes through the vocal
folds after the release phase. It is
transcribed as [ Ch
].

10. Plosive Consonants
Rules of Aspiration
1- Voiceless plosive + a vowel sound → aspirated.
/p/ pen → /pen/ → [ph
en]
/t/ ten → /ten/ → [th
en]
/k/ cat → /kæt/ → [kh
æt]

11. Plosive Consonants
Rules of Aspiration
2- /s/ + Voiceless plosive → unaspirated.
/p/ spy → /spaı/ → [spaı]
/t/ stay → /steı/ → [steı]
/k/ sky → /skaı/ → [skaı]

12. Plosive Consonants
Rules of Aspiration
3- Voiceless plosives in final position →
unaspirated.
/p/ stop → /stɒp/ → [stɒp]
/t/ start → /start/ → [start]
/k/ take → /teık/ → [teık]

13. Thanks for listening
Done by
Farhad Ahmad