Producing /pʰ/

How to produce /pʰ/

At the start of a stressed syllable, English /p/, /t/, /k/ release a puff of air — hold your hand in front of your mouth and you should feel it on 'pie', 'tie', 'kite'. Without aspiration, these sounds can be heard as /b/, /d/, /g/. No aspiration AFTER /s/: 'spy' has a plain /p/.

Practice the sound in isolation

Say 'pie' slowly. Hold the target sound. Record yourself — does it match your mental model of the native version?

A few varied words

• Initial: pie, pen, top
• Medial: apart, atop, attach
• Final: stop, cat, book