Aspirated Sounds
Aspiration
Aspiration is a "breath" that follows a speech sound. Compare the sounds associated with the English letter t for example. Hold the back of your hand close to your mouth and say "Top." Now say "Stop." Can you feel the burst of air that follows the t in "Top" but not in "Stop"? The same contrast exists between the p in "Peak" and the one in "Speak." That burst of air after the t in "Top" and the p in "Peak" is called "aspiration."
Aspiration is an important part of the phonetic system of some languages. In Classical Greek, for example, some letters must never be aspirated, while others are always aspirated. In fact, aspirating a sound that should not be aspirated would cause it to be understood as a different sound. The sounds represented by the pairs of letters below differed only in terms of aspiration in the Classical Period.
