English voiceless plosives can be aspirated or unaspirated. They are aspirated when they are the only segment of the syllable onset and they precede a stressed vowel. When they occur after [s], aspiration is blocked.
Aspiration occurs in words such as cat, kite, pot and top. It also occurs in the second syllable of potato. No aspiration occurs in words such as apple, lucky, spot and stop.
English plosives can be divided into two categories, voiced and voiceless. However, voiceless segments can be divided into aspirated and unaspirated. Aspirated plosives only occur when they are the only segment of the syllable onset and they are followed by a stressed vowel. Aspirated and unaspirated plosives thus never occur in the same environment.
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