Pronunciation of the Letter “t” in American English (Amglish) Accent

By Tom Zurinskas 12/09

 Someone asked about letter “t” pronunciation rules for English.  It’s the second most popular letter in English text (ref truespel book 4).  I’ll use my truespel phonetic database of Amglish to analyze this based on voicings I hear of TV announcers.

This analysis uses truespel phonetics.  Truespel is English-based phonetics using only letters so it can handle spreadsheets and copy/paste functions, which I  use in this analysis.  A tilde (~) indicates truespel, and quotes around a word indicate tradspel (traditional spelling) in this analysis (e.g., “quotes” ~kwoets).

Truespel recognizes 40 phonemes (sounds) for USA English of which the ~t sound is one, usually represented by the letter “t”.  The usual sound, ~t, is the first sound in the word “time”.  To say a ~t, the tongue goes up against the back of the upper teeth and the seals the airflow so that a dam of air is created.  The tongue slides open slightly to release the dam with a plosive sound including a hiss of air friction (fricative) between the teeth and tongue.  This ~t sound is “unvoiced” because the vocal chords do not vibrate. 

In Amglish a ~d or a glottal stop (~’) is often substituted for ~t.  A ~d sound is a made similarly to a ~t but the tongue is placed behind the top gums (alveolar ridge) rather than the teeth to make the air dam.  The dam is released with a plosive sound, but there is no fricative hiss.  A glottal stop is far different.  It is made by a closure to create an air dam back in the throat at the gap (glottis) between the vocal chords.  Interestingly, it’s the sudden initiation of the air dam that makes the sound substituting for a ~t.  There is no fricative hiss or voicing.  It’s basically a sudden chopping off of the previous sound rather than a sound in itself:  Thus the name glottal “stop”.

So the three pronunciations of letter “t” are ~t, ~d, and ~’.  Sometimes the letter “t” is not pronounced at all (elided).  The general rule is that letter “t” is spoken as ~t at the beginning of a word, sometimes ~d in the middle, and often a glottal stop (~’) at the end.  The rules for letter “t” are listed below as I hear them going A to Z through the alphabet.  (The examples in the list are the most popular words in English for each item – ref. truespel book 4.)

General rules.  Use…

(~t) for the start of a word (to, ~tue)

(~t) for the start of a stressed syllable (between, ~beetwween)

(~th) or (~thh) for letter string “th” (the thought, ~thu ~thhau’)

(~sh) or (~ch) for letter “t” in letter string “tion”. (action, ~akshin)

( ) silent “t” for letter string “tch” (watch, ~waach)

(~’) glottal stop for ending “t” preceded by a vowel (that, ~tha’)

(~d) for endings (“tal ter ted tic ties ting ty”).  Check preceding letter exceptions

Note that letter “t” in words can be pronounced as classic ~t without hurting understanding, but that would not typify conversational Amglish accent.

Letter “t” starting a word.

“t”   (~t) unless followed by “h s z” (the tsunami tzar, ~thu ~suennaamee. ~zaar)

         note: rarely “th” can be ~t  (Thomas ~Taamis)

 

Letter “a” before and after “t”

 “at”.  (~’) at end of a word, ( that at,what, ~tha’ ~a’ ~wu’).

“ta”.  (~d) before ending "al" (“total, hospital, ~toedool ~haaspidool)

 

Letter “b” before and after “t”

“bt”.  (~t) for ending "bt" which has silent b (e.g. doubt, debt is ~dout, ~det)

“tb”   (~’) rare - “t” is syllable ending (batboy, ~ba’boi )  

 
 Letter “c” before and after “t”

“ct”  (~t) for endings "ct" (fact, ~fakt),

        ( ) for "cts, ctly" (e.g. facts,~faks, exactly ~egzzaklee)

 “tc (~ch) for letter string “tch”

 

Letter “d” before and after “t”

“dt” ( ?) rare – (Humboldt hardtack, ~Humboel’ ~haartak)

“td” (~’) rare -“t” is syllable ending (shutdown ,~shu’doun)

 

Letter “e” before and after “t”

 “et”  (~' ) for ending "et" (get, street, ~ge’, ~stree’)

         (~t) for t starting a syllable (between sometimes, ~beetwween ~sumtiemz)

        (~d) for “ett” (better letter, ~beder ~leter)

“te”  (~d) for “ter” ending but ( ~t) for endings “lter nter” (alter enter. ~alter ~enter)

(~d) for “ted” endings but (~t) for endings “nted” “lted” (wanted faulted, ~waantid, ~faultid)

        (~t) for “tes” endings (minutes states , ~minits ~staets)

        (~’) for “te” endings preceded by a vowel (quite white, ~kwie’ ~wie’)

 

Letter “f” before and after “t”

“ft”  (~t) for ending "ft" (left, ~left)  but ~t for t starting syllable (lifted, ~liftid)

        (  ) for “fts” (lifts ~lifs)

        (~d) for “ftd” (lifting ~lifdeeng)

“tf”  (~' ) before "f" (platform, ~pla’form) but (~t) if “f,s,p,x” are before “tf”

 

Letter “g” before and after “t”

“gt”  (~t) rare - for "gt" (figtree, ~figtree)

“tg”  ( ) rare - no sound (mortgage, ~morgij)

        (~t ) rare - if “f,s,p,x” are before “tf”  (leftgate, ~leftgaet)

 

Letter “h” before and after “t”

“ht”  (~' ) for ending "ht" (right might, ~rie’ ~mie’)

         (~d) starting an unstressed syllable (daughter, ~dauder)

“th”   (~th or ~thh)  voiced ~th (the, ~thu) or unvoiced ~thh (thought, thhau’)

 

Letter “i” before and after “t”

“it”  (~' ) for ending "it" and “ite” (it quite, ~i’ ~kwie’)

       (~d) for “tt” and ending “ity” (little better city, ~lidool ~beder, ~sidee)

“ti”  (~t) for ending “til” (till until, ~til ~unttil)

(~d) for endings “ting tic” (getting critic, ~gedeeng ~kridik)

(~t) for ending “stic ltic” (plastic celtic ~plastik ~keltic)

        (~d) for ending “ies” (activities ~akttivideez) but (~t) when prior syl has “t,n,l”

 

Letter “j” before and after “t”

“jt”  (~t) rare - “t” beginning a syllable (rojtime? ~raajtiem)

“tj”   (~’) rare - “t” ending a syllable (outjet? ~ou’jet)

 

Letter “k” before and after “t”

“kt”  (~t) rare - “t” as beginning a syllable (blacktop ~blaktaap)

“tk”  (~’) rare - “t” as ending a syllable (wetkit ~we’ki’)

 

Letter “l” before and after “t”

“lt”  (~' ) before "l" (felt difficult, ~fel’ ~difikul’)

(~t) for ending “lty lts lting” (lter)  (guilty  results resulting, ~giltee  ~rizzults ~rizzulteeng’

“tl”   (~d) for ending “ttle” (little ~lidool)

         (~’) for ending “ly” (slightly ~slie’lee)

 ( ) for ending “ctly stle stly ftly”(exactly castle mostly softly ~egzzaklee ~kasool     ~moeslee  ~sauflee)

 

Letter “m” before and after “t”

“mt”  (~t) rare - starts second syllable (tomtom ~taamtaam)

“tm”  (~’} at end of syllable (department ~deeppar’min’)

          ( ) for “stm” (investment Christmas ~invvesmin’ ~Krismis)

Letter “n” before and after “t”

“nt”  (~' ) ending "nt" “ntly”(went want frequently ~wen’ ~waan’ ~freekwin’lee)

(~t)  for endings “nted” “nter” “nts” “ntal” (wanted winter wants mental, ~waantid      ~winter ~waants ~mentool)

        (~ch) for “ntu” and “nti” (century, essential ~sencheree ~essenchool)

“tn”  (~’)  for end of syllable (partner witness, ~par’ner ~wi’nis)

 

Letter “o” before and after “t”

“ot”  (~' ) for ending "ot" (not got lot ~naa’ ~gaa’ ~laa’)

         (~d) for endings “oted oter” (noted voter, ~noedid  ~voeder)

“to”   (~d) for endings "tor ter” (doctor after, ~daakder ~afder)

          (~t)  for “sto”  (stood history  ~stood ~histeree)

 

Letter “p” before and after “t”

“tp”   (~' ) for p starting new syllable (output, ~ou’poo’)

          ( ~t) for rare “stp” “ltp” “ftp”(fastpaced ~fastpaesd)

“pt”  (~t) for ending "pt" (kept ~kept)  

         (~t) for ending “pting” (attempting ~uttempdeeng)

         (~d) for “pted pter pty” (accepted empty ~akssepdid ~empdee)

         ( ) for endings “mpt mptly’ (attempt promptly ~uttemt ~praamplee)

 

Letter “q” before and after “t”

“tq”  (~’) rare “t” ending a syllable (hotquart? ~haa’kor’)

“qt”  (~d) rare “t” starting a syllable (laqted? ~lakdid)

 

Letter “r” before and after “t”

“rt”  (~' ) for ending "rt"   (part sort ~paar’ sor’)

        (~d) for endings “rty rted rter” (party started, quarter ~paardee ~staardid ~korder)

        (~t) for ending “rts’ (parts, ~paarts)

        (~’) for ending “rtly” (partly ~par’lee)

“tr”  (~t) for “tr”  (country try, ~kuntree ~trie)

       

Letter “s” before and after “t”

“st”  (~t) after s, (just first state, ~just ~ferst ~stae’)

         (~d) for ending “ster sted” (mister interested, ~misder ~intrisdid)

        (  ) for “iste st’n” (listen mustn’t, ~lisin ~musin’)

“ts”  (~t) ending “ts”  (its parents ~its ~pairints)

        (~’) syllable split (outside ~ou’sied)

        ( ) for ending “cts fts” (facts gifts, ~faks ~gifs)

 

Letter “t” before and after “t”

“tt”  (~d) for “tt” (little better matter, ~lidool ~beder ~mader)

       (~t)  for “tt”starting stressed syllable (attention ~uttenchin)

       (~’) for endings “tten tton” (written cotton, ~ri’in ~kaa’in)

 

Letter “u” before and after “t”

“ut”  (~' ) for ending "ut"  (but out, ~bu’ ~ou’)

        (~d) for ending “uter uted”  (computer shouted ~kumpyyueder ~shoudid)

“tu”  (~t) before "u"  (turn ~tern)

         (~ch) for ending "ture" (future nature ~fyuecher ~naecher)

         (~sh) for “ctual” (actual ~akshuwool)

 

Letter “v” before and after “t”

 “vt”   (~t) rare – t starts a syllable (luvtree? ~luvtree)

“tv”    (~’) rare  - t ends a syllable (Mountville ~Moun’vil)

 

Letter “w” before and after “t”

“wt”   ( ) for newt ~nue’

          (~t) when t starts a new syllable (Newtown ~Nuetoun)

          (~’) for ending “ton” (Newton ~Nue’in)

“tw”  (~t)  start stressed syllable (between ~beettween)

          (~’) at end of syllable (network ~ne’werk)

 

Letter “x” before and after “t”

“xt”  (~t) for ending "xt" and stressed “t” (next extent, ~nekst ~ekstten’)

        (~j) for ending "xture" (mixture ~mikscher)

        (~d)  for “xty” (sixty ~siksdee)

“tx”  (~t) rare (metxer? ~metzer)

 

Letter “y” before and after “t”

“yt”   (~t) rare (flytime? ~flietiem)

“ty”  (~d) for ending “ty” (party society, ~paardee ~sussie’idee)

         (~t) for ending “lty lity” (difficulty guilty, difikultee ~giltee )

         ( ) for ending “nty” (twenty ~twunee)

 

Letter “z” before and after “t”

“zt”   (~t) rare – when t starts a new syllable (jazztune? ~jaztuen)

“tz”   (~’) rare – when t ends a syllable (artzy? ~ar’zee)