Pronunciation of The American “T” The American T is influenced very strongly by intonation and its position in a word or phrase. It can be a little tricky if you try to base your pronunciation on spelling alone. There are, however, 4 basic rules: [T is T], [T is D], [T is Silent], [T is Held]. 1 Beginning of a Word [T is T] If the T is at the beginning of a word (or the top of the staircase), it is a strong, clear T sound. a. In the beginning of a word: table, take, tomorrow, teach, ten, turn Thomas tried two times. b. With a stressed T and ST, TS, TR, CT, LT and sometimes NT combinations: They control the contents. c. In the past tense, D sounds like T, after an unvoiced consonant sound — f, k, p, s, ch, sh, th (but not T). picked [pikt], hoped [houpt], raced [rast], watched [wächt], washed [wäsht] It took Tim ten times to try the telephone. 2 Middle of a Word [T is D] If the T is in the middle of the word, intonation changes the sound to a soft D. Letter sounds like [ledder]. Water, daughter, bought a, caught a, lot of, got a, later, meeting, better Practice these sentences: What a good idea. [wd güdäi deey] Put it in a bottle. [pü di di n bädl] Get a better water heater. [gedda bedder wäder heeder] Put all the data in the computer. [püdall the dayd in the kmpyuder] Patty ought to write a better letter. [pædy äd ride a bedder ledder] 3 [T is Silent] T and N are so close in the mouth that the [t] can disappear. interview [innerview] international [innernational] advantage [ædvænj] percentage [percenj] If the T is at the end of a word, you almost dont hear it at all. put, what, lot, set, hot, sit, shot, brought. Thats quite right, isnt it? 4 End of a Word [T is Held] With -tain, -tten and some TN combinations, the T is held. The held T is, strictly speaking, not really a T at all. Written, certain, forgotten, sentence: Hes forgotten the carton of satin mittens. Shes certain that he has written it. Martin has gotten a kitten.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 00:55:13 +0000
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