Is the word plenty pronounced like "plendi" in AmE?

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royal999

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Hello!

1- Longman Pronunciation Dictionary - 3rd Edition writes ˈplen i as the better American pronunciation for the word plenty.

2- But many audio samples from other American or American version of dictionaries sound like "plenti".
Webster
Random House Dictionary
American Heritage
Oxford Advanced American Dictionary
(I have used their free online version)

3- some sound like "plendi": like:
Macmillan English Dictionary (American English)
Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary
(I have used their free online version)

4- I ask this because Longman Pronunciation Dictionary is a specialized dictionary both for BrE and AmE and an error for such a famous word is very improbable.

5- I know that in AmE, part is pronounced like "part", but "party" is more like "pardi". I know that Longman Pronunciation Dictionary knows such rules.

6- Do not pay attention to the italic t in the ˈplen i.


So, is "plendi" incorrect, acceptable or better (i.e. used more in AmE)?

Thanks.
 

SlickVic9000

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I can't speak for BrE, but 'plendi' doesn't sound right at all. Maybe 'plenny' if your talking fast, but the 'd' sound after an 'n' is very conspicuous. If you're in the States, please use a hard 't'.
 

SoothingDave

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I would not ever insert a "d" sound in this word. In common speech, the "t" would basically disappear and you would hear "plenny."

Same thing with the word "twenty." The way I say it is like "twunny."

This will vary by region in AmE, of course. If I was speaking formally, I would enunciate the "t."
 

Tdol

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I think the same's true of BrE- you'll hear the /t/ dropped.
 

5jj

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The LPD uses the symbol for the alveolar tap, usually voiced, for plenty and twenty, not /d/, the voiced alveolar (sometimes dental). plosive. Could it be that in General American, the variety that the LPD records, the consonant we are talking about is more dental/voiced than the /t/ of, for example, tea - assuming it is not omitted altogether?
 

royal999

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I think the same's true of BrE- you'll hear the /t/ dropped.

Yes,
LPD
writes:
A casual-speech form ˈplen i is also heard in British English.
 

royal999

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The LPD uses the symbol for the alveolar tap, usually voiced, for plenty and twenty, not /d/, the voiced alveolar (sometimes dental). plosive. Could it be that in General American, the variety that the LPD records, the consonant we are talking about is more dental/voiced than the /t/ of, for example, tea - assuming it is not omitted altogether?

I can't understand your text clearly.
 

Barb_D

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Plenny or plenty, but never plendy.

Just like, as said above, twenny or twenty, but never twendy.
 

5jj

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Plenny or plenty, but never plendy.
LPD did not claim it was 'plendy'. The transcription was with an alveolar tap rather than a plosive. My contact with Americans suggests that many use something like a tap. It's not the full /t/, but the consonant is not dropped altogether. The tap is so brief that the preceding nasal and following vowel mean that the sound is (partly at least) voiced.
 

Barb_D

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Sorry, I was replying to the very first post. I have to confess that my study of phoenetics was so long ago I am unable to either refute or confirm just about any statement about tapped sounds - unless it's a keg!
 

royal999

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5jj! look how t is pronounced here at learnersdictionary dot com
I used "d" as an approach and I know that these are different from each other.
Do you mean
ˈpleni
is correct? (t̬ sound exactly like the sound of t in particle at learnersdictionary dot com)
 

5jj

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5jj! look how t is pronounced here at learnersdictionary dot com
I used "d" as an approach and I know that these are different from each other.
Do you meanˈpleni is correct? (t̬ sound exactly like the sound of t in particle at learnersdictionary dot com)
You have to be careful which symbols you are talkng about. learnersdictionary.com uses /t/ for both particle and plenty; LPD also uses the same symbol for both words, though it uses //.

When I listen to the words at learnersdictionary.com, I hear an unvoiced plosive in plenty and a voiced tap in particle. However, my ear is not particularly good these days, and I no longer have access to a spectogram.

Unfortunately, my LPD CD is not working, so I cannot check on the words Wells was transcribing. Interestingly, the Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary agrees with Wells' LPD. That's all I can really say on the subject, I am afraid. As I am not a speaker of AmE, and have not studied AmE pronunciation in any depth, I am not qualified to say what the actual pronunciation of the word is for most Americans. My experience of working with Americans suggests that the LPD and the Cambridge EPD transcriptions are right, for some Americans at least, but that experience is very limited.
 

birdeen's call

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The LPD uses the symbol for the alveolar tap, usually voiced, for plenty and twenty, not /d/, the voiced alveolar (sometimes dental). plosive. Could it be that in General American, the variety that the LPD records, the consonant we are talking about is more dental/voiced than the /t/ of, for example, tea - assuming it is not omitted altogether?

I'm inclined to think this is what the OP had in mind. The alveolar tap is generally voiced in English, no matter which of the phonemes /t/ and /d/ it realizes. However, I think if "twendy" were a word, it wouldn't be pronounced with a tap, as "Wendy" isn't (I believe).
 

royal999

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It seems be to this simple question is getting overcomplicated.
Take the word plenty.
look it up in learnersdictionary dot com and listen to the sample voice.
the T in plenty should sound either similar to one of these:

1- t as in part, as in track, etc.

2- Alveolar flap as the sample voice in Wikipedia article "Alveolar flap" that Wikipedia detects it as R, but some say similar (not identical) to D, (maybe both are almost the same) as the sample voice of the word letter in learnersdictionary dot com, however learnersdictionary dot com for entries like party, somewhat ignores this for the sample voice of party.

Which do you detect?

I don't care about not pronouncing T as: /ˈpleni/
 
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