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When listening to normal conversation or fast spoken Mandarin chinese, can native speakers still hear the aspiration in 他 vs 大, particularly if relying only on sound or what is heard?
As an English speaker, I have to say that I find that I hear little difference.
他 starts with a [tʰ] (pinyin "t") which is aspirated. It is like most of the "t"s in English, for example: top or tap
大 starts with a [t] (pinyin "d") which is non-aspirated. It is like the "t"s in "start" or "stop"
The problem is in the pinyin. The "d" in pinyin is not a true voiced consonant. it is just a non-aspirated t. It is not the same as an English d.
As a native Chinese speaker, I only realized this when I started to learn French where most "t"s are non-aspirated.
Check this two links for more information about t and aspiration:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_dental_and_alveolar_plosives
Please check the video files to hear the differences between the pronunciations of 大 and 他, and their starting sound - ㄉ(d) and ㄊ(t) respectively.
● 大 [dà/ㄉㄚˋ] https://www.zdic.net/hans/%E5%A4%A7
● 他 [tā/ㄊㄚˉ] https://www.zdic.net/hans/%E4%BB%96
Other Examples - pay attention to 0:20 (ㄉ); 0:34 (ㄊ)
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