Are the two words "ladder" and "latter" pronounced the same way in american english?
ladder & latter
They're exactly the same for me.
ladder - [l{4@`]
latter - [l{4@`]
Except when I emphasize the ''t'' in ''latter''.
I think some Americans would have a vowel length distinction between the two words.
ladder - [l{4@`]
latter - [l{4@`]
Except when I emphasize the ''t'' in ''latter''.
I think some Americans would have a vowel length distinction between the two words.
I do not pronounce them the same, as there is a vowel length distinction between the realizations of the two words, as in
"latter" : /"l{t@`/ -> [5{.4@`]
"ladder" : /"l{d@`/ -> [5{:.4@`]
as while the lenis/fortis (aka "voicing") distinction between /t/ and /d/ themselves is neutralized with respect to their merger as [4], it still manifests itself with respect to the production of allophonic vowel length of the preceding vowel, ignoring any interceding sonorant consonants. More specifically, lenis non-sonorant phonemes trigger the preceding vowel to be long and fortis non-sonorant phonemes trigger the preceding vowel to be short, regardless of the actual realization or even non-realization of the phonemes in question themselves.
"latter" : /"l{t@`/ -> [5{.4@`]
"ladder" : /"l{d@`/ -> [5{:.4@`]
as while the lenis/fortis (aka "voicing") distinction between /t/ and /d/ themselves is neutralized with respect to their merger as [4], it still manifests itself with respect to the production of allophonic vowel length of the preceding vowel, ignoring any interceding sonorant consonants. More specifically, lenis non-sonorant phonemes trigger the preceding vowel to be long and fortis non-sonorant phonemes trigger the preceding vowel to be short, regardless of the actual realization or even non-realization of the phonemes in question themselves.
Ack, that should be:
"latter" : /"l{t@`/ -> ["5{.4@`]
"ladder" : /"l{d@`/ -> ["5{:.4@`]
"latter" : /"l{t@`/ -> ["5{.4@`]
"ladder" : /"l{d@`/ -> ["5{:.4@`]