For words ending in "t".

[David Borowitz]

On 7/2/07, Tom Zurinskas <truespel at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> I assume most words ending in the letter "t" have the "t" glottalized.


Well, "most" and "adept," the first two in your email, certainly don't for
me. IMO it's pretty context-dependent. I tend to flap final t's
intervocalically ("my hat is brown"), but I'd guess there's some variance
there. If the final t is before an s, I get something like "i?#tsays" for
"it says," where ? is a glottal stop and # is a syllable boundary. It also
depends on stress. I have a feeling the phonology is in fact far more
complicated than a simple glottalized/non-glottalized dichotomy, but I
haven't actually done any research here.

I think dictionaries should recognize this especially for folks not adept in
> English who might hear a word and think that there's no "t" in there.
> Dictionaries should at least point out that "t" is often glottalized as an
> alternative pronunciation.  My truespel dicitonary guide in truespel book
> 4
> does this.  Herar me at link below.
>
> http://engb.springdoo.com/Public/Play/Default.aspx?id=r1fac6e1a0ffb1cda8
>
> I think voice files are great and welcome others.  I send a Sprindoo voice
> message to myself, then copy the link to paste in an outgoing email.
>
> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
> See truespel.com - and the 4  truespel books plus "Occasional Poems" at
> authorhouse.com.
>

--
It is better to be quotable than to be honest.
    -Tom Stoppard

Borowitz

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