Allophone Showcase

/t/ — [t] and [tʰ]

The phoneme /t/ contains both the aspirated [tʰ] and unaspirated [t] alveolar plosive.

In the word “top” the /t/ is aspirated ([tʰap]), meaning there’s a puff of air when you say it.

But in the word “stop”, the /t/ is unaspirated ([stɑp]), with no puff of air.

/l/ — [l] and [ɫ]

The phoneme /l/ contains both the velarized [ɫ] and non-velarized [l] voiced alveolar lateral approximate.

In “leaf”, the /l/ is pronounced without velarization: [lif].

In “milk”, the /l/ becomes velarized ([mɪɫk]) and is made with the back of the tongue raised toward the velum.