One of the reasons that spoken American English is difficult to master is that many letters have more than one sound. There are 26 letters in the alphabet but linguists state that these letters have about 40 different sounds.
One letter with a variety of different pronunciations is the letter T. The letter T (like many letters) changes its sound according to its location within a word.
To demonstrate the varied sounds of the letter T we will use the name of the popular public speaking organization, Toastmaster’s International.
The name Toastmasters International contains five T’s, and in spoken American English each of these T’s has a slightly different sound.
The first T is located at the beginning of the word Toastmasters. This T has a strong, aspirated sound. T’s that are located at the beginning of words such as today, tomorrow, talk & Tuesday usually have this strong, aspirated sound. Linguists often refer to this sound as the aspirated T.
The next T is located at the end of the first syllable. This T does not have a strong, aspirated sound. The aspiration is held. Linguists call this sound the held t and it occurs when the letter T is located at the end of a stressed syllable as in certain, fountain & or at the end of a word such as let, it & Robert.
The third T is located before the word suffix er. This T sounds like a quick /d/. Linguists call this sound the tapped T sound. The tapped T sound occurs when a T is located before the suffix er as in water & better, before the suffix or as in doctor & motor and before a y as in party & forty. The tapped T sound is very common in spoken American English!
The fourth T is located after the N in International. In spoken American English T’s that are located after an N are often deleted in casual speech. Linguists often call this the silent T sound and it occurs when a T is located after an N in words such as Internet, interview and interesting.
The fifth and final T is located before the I in International. This T has a /sh/ sound. Linguists call this the palatalized T sound and it occurs when a T is located before an I in words such as action, diction & nutrition.
Just by looking at the name Toastmaster’s International, you can see that the letter T has a variety of pronunciations!
Many other letters including the O, the A and the X have more than one sound as well. This can create challenges for non native English speakers who are trying to master the spoken language.
Next week I will continue this discussion on phonetics by describing the various sounds of the letter O.
Susan Ryan is an American English pronunciation teacher and accent reduction coach. She currently lives in South Florida. Read more articles by Susan at http://www.confidentvoice.com/blog/
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