glottal stop
What exactly is the glottal stop? What is the "sound" that native speaker
make when pronouncing words like continent, Clinton,enter etc.,and again why do they not use it in some of the words like internet (and some others which i am sorry to have forgotten) ?Can anybody tell me the exact position of the articulators for the glattal stop?
What's your native language? A lot of languages have it.
My native language is Pashto which i do not think you have ever heard about. It is roughly similar to Urdu (the national language of Pakistan).
What I dont understand is the position of articulators for the glottal stop, especially the tongue when we replace the voiced "t" with a stop.
Well, my lips will not press together if I use the Pashto "ayn" sound for the glottal stop in words like "cup", "trip", "shrimp" etc. where I think the lips press for a moment. what is the difference?
<<Those words don't have a glottal stop in most varieties of English. They are pronounced [kVp] [tr\Ip] and [Sr\Imp] in both RP and General American.>>
Glottal reinforcement is possible in RP, so [kV?p] [tr\I?p].
So where is the glottal stop used then?
Their is a glottal stop at the end of those words in standard NAE, so how do I pronounce it if i have to?
I would try not to use glottal stops, it sounds common and uneducated.
>><<Their is a glottal stop at the end of those words in standard NAE, so how do I pronounce it if i have to?>>
The glottal stop in this words is optional. Many speakers, maybe even most, don't ever use it, while others use it variably. It's not something I would worry about; you can use [p] for all those words and sound perfectly normal.<<
Depends. At least here, such glottal reinforcement is used to distinguish fortis obstruents and devoiced lenis obstruents after vowels. Especially in cases where the vowel length is not clearly short or long, whether glottal reinforcement is present will likely determine whether that being heard is perceived as fortis or devoiced lenis.
>>I would try not to use glottal stops, it sounds common and uneducated.<<
Just what do you mean by "common and uneducated" here? For starters, the use of [?] for /t/ before /@n/ is standard in North American English, and the preglottalization of fortis plosives after vowels is found throughout English in general, including in General American and RP. It would be strange if you lacked the former, if you are an NAE-speaker (which I doubt), and it would be even stranger if you lacked the latter, if you are any sort of native English-speaker.
Similarly, I have never heard anyone have such a view of the realization of /t/ as [?] before another consonant (whether in the same or in another word) or at the end of an utterance, which is common in North American English dialects. You must just be echoing many popular views of the use of [?] for intervocalic /t/ in English English dialects, without any real knowledge of the use of [?] in English dialects overall (aside from such popular views meaning absolutely nothing from a linguistic standpoint).
Travis, that's a common view with older U-RP speakers. Besides, I think he must be talking about glottal replacement, not preglottalisation.
Sorry for confusion, yes I'm talking about glottal replacement, eg saying "bu-er" instead of "butter", it sounds awful, and yes, I am a native speaker (not that old though!)
What about the sound which we call the "t" or "d" flap used in words like butter ,bottle ,better? Do we not use that sound in these words in standard American?
>>What about the sound which we call the "t" or "d" flap used in words like butter ,bottle ,better? Do we not use that sound in these words in standard American?<<
Oh, these alveolar flaps are a standard part of North American English (and have been showing recently in Australian English as well), but these are different things from the glottal stops we referred to earlier and show up in different positions. In NAE they show up in positions after vowels or /r/ and before unstressed vowels, except for /t/ before unstressed /@n/ which becomes a glottal stop instead, while glottal stops show up in NAE in the aforementioned case, as preglottalization of postvocalic fortis plosives, and in many dialects for /t/ before a consonant (including across word boundaries) or at the end of an utterance in many dialects.