Standard US English Dialect?

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Apr 15, 2008, at 6:37 AM, Larry Horn wrote:

> ... Connecticutisms (e.g. the glottalizing of intervocalic /t/ in
> [kI?In], New [brI?In]).

connecticutism?  isn't this a much more general american feature
(outside the south)?  [t'] (or usually [?]) for /t/ after accented
vowel and before syllabic n, as in button, Britain, cotton, kitten,
written, Patton, beaten, sweeten, brighten, ...

i've used this bit of allophony in intro lx classes to illustrate more
specific taking precedence over more general: the glottalization rule
takes precedence over the more general "flapping" rule (after accented
vowel and before unaccented vowel), seen in butter, brittle, hotter,
fitting, beating, writer, ...  (if you don't have glottalization, then
you get flapping in button etc.  if you don't have flapping, then you
get unaspirated [t].)

arnold

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org