Questions About Glottal Stop

Marky   Tue Jan 05, 2010 4:00 am GMT
T is commonly pronounce as a glottal stop if it is following an N in NAE right? Like in "button" and "certain", but I also hear it words like "network", "Britney", "definitely", "get ready", "what was that" and "right now". Can you give any rules where the glottal is used instead of the normal T?
Uriel   Tue Jan 05, 2010 5:43 am GMT
I think it happens whenever a T ends a syllable without eliding into the next one. You don't say geh tready or definih-tlee or whuh twas that, and you really can't say righ tnow, even if you wanted to.
Pedro   Tue Jan 05, 2010 8:44 pm GMT
button, certain, mountain, curtain, etc: they have glottalized /t/; or you can say /t/ is released nasally.

get ready, what was that, right now: you just see elision of /t/
Steak 'n' Chips   Tue Jan 05, 2010 9:06 pm GMT
That's an interesting way to decribe it, Uriel. I totally agree, for people with generally precise speech.

I have to say, however, that here in the UK there are many people that will propounce a glottal stop for almost any "t" they can except where it would be a great effort. In fact, I started wondering where it actually wasn't used. I didn't find very many examples.

I never hear it on an initial "t" (toad, tail, tinker)
I never hear it on a "t" following an "s" (piste, stop, cast).
I never hear it when "t" is before "r" (atrophy, patronise).

Glottal stops are looked down upon by many people in the UK, as a lazy and unattractive way of speaking. However, so many people here glottalise some of their "t"'s that it's also, in reality, fairly normal.

I really never noticed a glottal stop in American accents, but reading Uriel's comment, I realise it may be used (more gently) in an elided "t" context, such as "can't do it".

Sorry I haven't given a very good guide, just observations. I think my point is really that usage of the glottal stop depends on which accent the speaker has, and how much importance they ascribe to clear speech.

By the way, having been told off many times for using the glottal stop in my youth, I was rather pleased to discover that Arabic uses the glottal stop, with its very own letter, hamza.
Guest   Tue Jan 05, 2010 9:15 pm GMT
I am American and I sometimes use a glottal stop in button, certain, mountain, and curtain as well as other words, but I never use one in a word like "water", where I would use a flap T instead.
User   Tue Jan 05, 2010 9:20 pm GMT
American here. How is it even possibly to pronounce words like button or certain WITHOUT a glottal stop? I rarely actually pronounce a legit t.
Uriel   Wed Jan 06, 2010 2:07 am GMT
I've heard it done, and it sounds weird, that's for sure. I had classmates from Hawaii who were forever saying kitten and button with the full T, and it just grated on my ears -- quite unfairly to them!

The way you do it is to alter where one syllable ends and another begins. If you want to use a full T in "button", you say buh - ton. The rest of us divide the word at butt, which demands the glottal stop. (This is also why Americans have a glottal stop in mountain and fountain (mount-ain and fount-ain) while Brits have a full T (in moun-tain and foun-tain).

There is no real sense of disapproval concerning gloottal stops in American accents; they are simply a normal feature of many words. The characteristic flapped T is also perfectly acceptable and unworthy of anyone's notice. Other than Kelsey Grammer (Frasier), everyone uses them.
Marky   Thu Jan 07, 2010 3:44 am GMT
Thanks for all your replies!