[Ads-l] /d/ for flapped /t/

[Joel S. Berson]

Answering Wilson also.

I can hear a difference when I speak knowing that there might be a 
difference.  And it sounds (I think!) somewhat like what Jon is 
describing.  I think I even lower the tone of the "a" when I say 
"ladder" as compared to "latter".  But am I biasing myself to prove a 
preconceived hypothesis?

Probably my test would only tell me what I can *hear* if I listened 
to someone else speak a (potential minimal) pair -- such as 
latter/ladder, butter/budder, better/bedder.  But then I would have 
to listen to someone who makes the distinction in speaking, wouldn't I?

Joel

At 11/15/2014 08:09 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>I believe I can hear the difference although it is subtle.
>
>/d/ sounds (and feels) to me minutely longer and more emphatic. (A
>phonologist could say that better.)
>
>Many of us will remember entire classrooms of students of whom only two or
>three could hear the difference between /a/ and /C/ (e.g., "pa" and "paw,"
>"hottie" and "haughty").  Practice helped, but it didn't help everybody.

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