--- colin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > say, ''i've got two'' or ''kitten'' quickly, > without thinking. the glottal > > stops occur when you release the air to pronounce > the t sounds in ''goT'' > > and ''kiTTen''. although maybe you don't have a > stop in ''kitten''. > > I don't get it. Is this something to do with > prouncing t's? I don't pronounce > my t's the Anerican way-i.e i don't leave them out. >
It's not really an American vs English thing, because some English or American people have it, and others don't - more likely it's something that happens sometimes but not all the time. It's almost as if the /t/ doesn't get pronounced at all, but there is a burst of air and then a stopping of air, between the vowels on either side of the /t/. Think of the way a Cockney might pronounce the /t/ in words like "kitten" (ki'' en) and it will probably make sense to you. I remember that my English grandmother (she was from Kent though, not London, certainly not a Cockney, just a farmgirl from Kent) had a glottal stop in words like "bottle". I always thought it was kind of funny, but if I'm talking quickly, I do the same thing myself. ______________________________________________________________________ Web-hosting solutions for home and business! http://website.yahoo.ca
