The Pronunciation of the Aspirated Consonants P, T, and K in English by Native Speakers of Spanish and French

This study examines whether explicit phonetic instruction helps Spanish and French speakers more closely approximate native pronunciation of the aspirated variants of the English consonants p, t, and k. The study results indicate that phonetic instruction clearly benefited the subjects, and the findings warrant further investigation. Native speakers of English consistently use aspirated variants of the consonants p, t and k when they occur at the beginning of words (i.e., these three consonants are pronounced with a small puff of air when they occur in initial position). These aspirated variants are phonemes, basic units of sound that native speakers can distinguish; phonemes are indicated by a slash mark on either side. The use of the aspirated phonemes helps the listener to distinguish minimal pairs in English, which are pairs of words, such as pill/bill, that differ only by a single sound. English consonants that are aspirated often present difficulties for speakers of languages, such as Spanish or French, which lack these sounds. Does explicit phonetic instruction that targets the description and practice of these aspirated consonants offer any benefit to native speakers of Spanish and French? This study specifically focuses on the production of the aspirated variants of voiceless stop consonants in English by native speakers of Spanish or French. English, like Spanish and French, has two sets of stop consonants, consonants produced by stopping the airflow completely. The phonemes /b/, /d/ and /g/ are voiced stops because the vocal chords vibrate; /p/, /t/ and /k/ are voiceless stops because the vocal chords do not vibrate. This underscores the function and importance of aspirating initial voiceless stops in English because the single small difference between the initial consonants in pairs like pill/bill is that one is voiced and the other is voiceless. Spanish and French speakers may simply fail to aspirate initial voiceless stops in English as a result of familiarity with the written forms of Spanish, French, and English. They may not realize that the letters p, t, and k do not necessarily represent the same phonemes in English as they do in Spanish or French. Further, they may not understand that aspirating initial voiceless stops is an important phonological cue for the listener and that communication may be unsuccessful when the expected aspiration is absent. This paper reports on a study of pronunciation patterns for English language learners whose native language, which is hereafter referred to as L1, is Spanish or French. The students were tested, both before and after phonetic instruction, for the pronunciation of /p/, /t/, and /k/ in initial position as they occur in English, the second language that the student is learning. The student’s second language is hereafter referred to as L2. The data and results from the studies reviewed below rather convincingly demonstrate the benefits of explicit phonetic instruction in developing phonological L2 competence. The bulk of existing studies concentrate on L1 English speakers who are learning Spanish or French. Consequently, it seems justified to develop a methodology that measures the effect of