Great Aspirations

Here's an experiment for you to try. Put your index finger in front of your mouth.

Say the word pin. Now say the word spin.

Feel the difference? You probably felt a little puff of air on the p of pin, but the p in spin didn't have that extra air.

[If you want to actually see the difference, take a strip of tissue paper and hold it in front of your mouth as you repeat the experiment, pronouncing pin and spin.]

The technical term for that little puff of air is aspiration. In English, it doesn't make any difference whether a consonant is aspirated or not -- most people aren't even aware that the difference exists.

In Korean pronunciation, however, it does make a difference if a consonant is aspirated or not. This is reflected in their alphabet.

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