Medial -/t/- (was New Britain, Conn)

[Rudolph C Troike]

This South Texan pronounces medial -/t/- in 'bottle', 'latter' as a voiced
stop (i.e. [d]), so that 'latter' and 'ladder' are homophonous, as in the
old conundrum, "The carpenter put down his ladder and saw, and then picked
up the [laed at r]. Which one did he pick up?" In British RP the -/t/- is
voiceless and aspirated. I'm not sure what Beverly meant by calling the
pronunciation of 'Clinton', 'Scranton', etc. "disputed" (I think that's
the term she used -- I can't check now). I have an unreleased [t] followed
by a syllabic nasal. Again, Rosemary Church on CNN and many news
announcers (I think even Dan Rather, when he tries) keep a tertiarily
stressed schwa in the final syllable of 'Clinton', etc., making it -[t at n].

        Rudy