The pronunciation of the last letter D "Mind", "God", "Good".....

[Williamyh]

Hi Everybody,

I was wondering how do you pronounce the following english words, "Mind","God","Good","Sound,"head"......so on and so on, all of them have "d" at the end. How come I ask this question? Because I hear some native speakers would pronounce these words with "t" sound at the end, but not all of native speakers would say it in this way, please tell me why the last one is "d", but some pronounce as "t" sound....Please advise.

W

[Raymott]

Hi Everybody,

I was wondering how do you pronounce the following english words, "Mind","God","Good","Sound,"head"......so on and so on, all of them have "d" at the end. How come I ask this question? Because I hear some native speakers would pronounce these words with "t" sound at the end, but not all of native speakers would say it in this way, please tell me why the last one is "d", but some pronounce as "t" sound....Please advise.

W

I've never heard what I'd interpret as /t/ from a native speaker.
The /d/ in 'mind' and 'sound' are probably less aspirated than when they follow a vowel, because in /nd/ the tongue is already on the alveolar ridge for /n/, and /d/ is only produced in releasing.

The 'o' in 'God' is longer than the 'o' in, say 'mod' or 'good', and /d/ might not sound as strong.

If the word after 'good', etc. starts with an unvoiced letter, as in 'good song!" for example, the /d/ might also be less voiced, and sound closer to a /t/.

German speakers tend to pronounce terminal /d/ as /t/, because that's what happens in their language.