In English word-final plosives can be released or unreleased. The two articulations are not phonemic. Whether one releases the consonant or not, the meaning is the same. In other positions of the word, the consonant is always released.
Word-final plosives do not need to be released in English, but in French they do. However, in Vietnamese and Cantonese, word-final plosives must be unreleased. The rules for released and unreleased plosives vary from one language to another.
In words such as cap, look and red, the word-final plosive may be unreleased. However, in word-initial position such as big, cook and time, the plosive is always released. Word-initial plosives have greater airflow and are more perceptually salient.
English plosives can be unreleased at the end of the word. The unreleased articulation is especially common in casual conversation. At the beginning of the word, however, English plosives are always released.
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