Pronounce a letter end of a word.

Status
Not open for further replies.

anhnha

Senior Member
Joined
May 5, 2012
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Vietnamese
Home Country
Vietnam
Current Location
Vietnam
Hi everyone,
I learnt English pronounciation from my firiend and he told me that I have to pronounce the letter at the end of all words.
I did it but there are some problems that I have encountered when pronouncing.
In one hand, I feel that the pronounciation the letter at the end of a word make it easy for me in liasion.
For example:
"Think about it"
When speaking this sentence the pronounciation k sound in think and t sound in about make it easy for liasion.
In other hand, in some case the pronouncing the sound ending of a word make me difficult in speaking faster and smooth.
For example:
"We encourage student participation in moral and virtue developement programs."
In this sentence if I pronounce the t sound in student and t in developement, I feel it is not easy to speak fluency.
Would you tell me if i need to pronounce these t sound in the sentence?
And I have heard in a website a native speaker saying:
"I forgot my mom's birthday"
I don't know it is right or wrong that seem he not pronounce t sound in forgot.He only make the tongue and lip like when pronounciation t [It is like t shape pronounciation with no air is push out]
Thanks a lot.
 
Joined
Sep 23, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
You have good ears! It is possible the native speaker said "I forgo' my mom's birthday", perhaps using a glottal stop instead of a t, or even missing the t completely.

Yes, especially when speaking quickly, native speakers will merge consonants together...
last night loses the t
I haven't been to Wales loses the t
etc.
But in a formal situations the t would be pronounced, especially if the speaker was speaking slowly.

Your rule that says you must pronounce the letter at the end of all words is only really true for words ending in consonants, e.g. pig, run, sound, etc.
Many English words end in a vowel which isn't pronounced, e.g. website, everyone, have, etc. etc.
:)
Martin
 

Tdol

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Staff member
Joined
Nov 13, 2002
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
Japan
Martin's right that you have good ears, but as it is an area of language learning you're interested in, you might want to correct the spelling of the noun:
[strike]pronounciation [/strike]
pronunciation :tick:

It's a common mistake among native speakers too. :up:
 

Chicken Sandwich

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Russian
Home Country
Russian Federation
Current Location
Netherlands
"I forgot my mom's birthday"
I don't know it is right or wrong that seem he not pronounce t sound in forgot.He only make the tongue and lip like when pronounciation t [It is like t shape pronounciation with no air is push out]
Thanks a lot.

I would pronounce the "t" in forgot, though there are English accents which would probably leave it out. For example, in the word "what", some people often leave out the "t", which makes it sounds kind of urban. This obviousy also goes for "forgot" and so on.

Edit: I agree with NorwichEnglish that in "last night", when pronounced quickly, I also leave out the "t" more often than not. In "forgot" I do keep the "t", even when pronounced quickly.
I'm not a native speaker of English, though the people on this forum have said that I do sound like one.
 
Last edited:

tzfujimino

Key Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2007
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
Japanese
Home Country
Japan
Current Location
Japan
Hello.:-D
I remember I had some trouble understanding part of British English (,by which I mean some variants or dialects of BrE) when I was studying in the UK. I particularly found it hard to catch what they were trying to say when they were using 'glottal stops'. It took me a bit of getting used to.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
My grandfather always pronounced the final consonant of all words and felt that people who failed to do so were "common" or "simply don't know how to speak properly". When I was a small child, he would make me repeat words and sentences if I omitted any final consonants. It was infuriating but, now that I'm older, I do understand that he was simply trying to keep up the standards of spoken English which were obligatory when he was a child. He was appalled by the lowering of pronunciation standards.

I should point out, though, that he understood entirely that regional variants omitted those consonants but he was born in Kent, in the south-east of England (one of the "Home Counties") where "proper" English always includes the final consonant.
 

birdeen's call

VIP Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Polish
Home Country
Poland
Current Location
Poland
I would pronounce the "t" in forgot, though there are English accents which would probably leave it out. For example, in the word "what", some people often leave out the "t", which makes it sounds kind of urban. This obviousy also goes for "forgot" and so on.

There are a couple of possibilities here. In many English English speakers (most notably Cockney, Estuary English and Scottish English speakers), there will be an audible glottal release in "forgot" at the end of an utterance. In many cases there will be a "regular" alveolar release. No audible release at the end of an utterance is also very common, as common in Britain as in America and probably everywhere.
 

jmacdonald

Member
Joined
Jun 23, 2012
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
Australia
Current Location
Australia
I've just returned to Australia after a bit more than a decade in Canada, and I have noticed some linguistic nuances in Australian English that I never noticed before (result of not hearing the accent for a while, I suppose). Anyway, one of the things I now notice is that many Australians pronounce the final "t" at the ends of words like "forgot" that are not usually pronounced in everyday Canadian English.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top