Thread: Me speaking in English

d, b-то зачем? Они же не придыхательные. Придыхательными в английском языке могут быть только сильные (глухие) взрывные согласные.

Originally Posted by Marcus

d, b-то зачем? Они же не придыхательные. Придыхательными в английском языке могут быть только сильные (глухие) взрывные согласные.

Well, "aspiration" is relative. You are completely correct that English /b/ is less aspirated than English /p/. But, to my ears, English /b/ is more aspirated than Russian /б/. Or, to say it more generally, voiced "plosive" consonants in English are not as strongly aspirated as their voiceless counterparts, but even so, they may have more aspiration than the corresponding Russian plosive consonants.

So, I would recommend the "candle exercise" for Russians, but Marcus is correct that voiced English plosives such as /b/ and /d/ are not as strongly aspirated (meaning, the candle's flame shouldn't move as much) compared to voiceless plosives like /p/ and /t/.