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Dokterjokkebrok Posted 17 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation
Allophone [t] at end of short words
Hi
I would like to know if there are any differences between the allophones of
British (RP) /t/ and American (GA) /t/ specifically at the end of words
such as 'bat', 'cat' , or 'hesitant' and 'restaurant'.
Because, to me, it seems as if word endings in words like 'cat' and 'hat' are slightly different.
Is that true?
Thank you in advance.
I would like to know if there are any differences between the allophones of
British (RP) /t/ and American (GA) /t/ specifically at the end of words
such as 'bat', 'cat' , or 'hesitant' and 'restaurant'.
Because, to me, it seems as if word endings in words like 'cat' and 'hat' are slightly different.
Is that true?
Thank you in advance.
Top answer
What do you mean? There are allophones of /t/, yes... At the end of a word (if nothing follows), /t/ can be pronounced in three different ways, as far as I know: 1) Released: you can hear the /t/, which is sometimes aspirated to some extent 2) Not released: you can't hear the /t/, but the tongue touches the roof of the mouth anyway.
- What do you mean?
- There are allophones of /t/, yes...
- At the end of a word (if nothing follows), /t/ can be pronounced in three different ways, as far as I know: 1) Released: you can hear the /t/, which is sometimes aspirated to some extent 2) Not released: you can't hear the /t/, but the tongue touches the roof of the mouth anyway.
- 3) Glottal stop: you can't hear the /t/, which becomes pretty much of a glottal stop (and so the tip of your tongue doesn't even move) I get the impression #2 is the usual one in American English, #1 is only used occasionally, or when speaking carefully (or frequently in posh RP), and #3 is common in several British accents and some American accents (maybe African American Vernacular English).
- Just my non-native guess.
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7 Answers
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What do you mean? There are allophones of /t/, yes...
At the end of a word (if nothing follows), /t/ can be pronounced in three different ways, as far as I know:
1) Released: you can hear the /t/, which is sometimes aspirated to some extent
2) Not released: you can't hear the /t/, but the tongue touches the roof of the mouth anyway.
3) Glottal stop: you can't hear the /t
At the end of a word (if nothing follows), /t/ can be pronounced in three different ways, as far as I know:
1) Released: you can hear the /t/, which is sometimes aspirated to some extent
2) Not released: you can't hear the /t/, but the tongue touches the roof of the mouth anyway.
3) Glottal stop: you can't hear the /t
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Anonymouswhat are the difficult for learning English about allophones?I don't understand your question, but one thing about allophones is that you don't need to learn them in order to be understood: you'll be understood anyway.
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One of the biggest differences in the allophones of /t/ in American vs British English, is that it is common in GA English for the intervocalic /t/ in words like 'city' or 'duty', to be pronounced as an alveolar tap: [?]
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1. Preglottalization is a feature of British English varities, since you ask for the coda /t/.
http://linguistlessons.blogspot.com/2008/06/pre-glottalization-in-brit
http://linguistlessons.blogspot.com/2008/06/pre-glottalization-in-brit
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