glottal "y"

[RonButters at AOL.COM]

The English word "oh" normally begins with a glottal stop. Indeed, this is a 
redundant feature for words beginning with vowels in English. We just don't 
hear it (as we don't hear the aspiration after initial voiceless stops) because 
it is totally redundant. 

So it would be difficult to say "uh oh" WITHOUT an intervening glottal stop.  
 If a word ends in an offglide, that offglide can replace the glottal stop, 
as in "beyond" [biyand]. Or the /y/ may be lost and the glottal stop remains, 
as in [bi?and]. The variant with the [?] is very common. But "uh" does not end 
in an offglide. 

There are different strategies for different dialects of English when two 
vowels come together. "Law and order" can be /la?Inordr/, /lawInordr/, or 
/larInordr/. Using an /h/ as a linking feature does not work for Americans (not that 
there is one in "uh" anyway).

In a message dated 9/12/08 11:29:10 PM, ymeroz at EARTHLINK.NET writes:


> The y is not just elided, but replaced with a glottal stop, as in "uh-oh".
> 
> 
> On 9/12/08 8:04 PM, "Tom Zurinskas" <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> >
> > I've never noticed anyone saying a glottal "y" such that "beyond" is 
> "be'ond".
> > Perhaps a dropped ( elided) "y".  Would you say an elided "y" is the same 
> as a
> > glottal "y"?
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> 
> 




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