Glottal stop

[Johnyxxx]

Hello,

Is glottal stop used in American English?

Thanks a lot.

 

[emsr2d2]

Are you asking if the term is used in AmE or if AmE speakers use glottal stops when speaking?

 

[Johnyxxx]

Are you asking ... if AmE speakers use glottal stops when speaking?

Yes.

 

[GoesStation]

The glottal stop is a critical phoneme in AmE. Paradoxically, few Americans are aware of this and we have no common way to write it.

Only a glottal stop distinguishes common phrase pairs like "I can go" and "I can't go", much to the frustration of English learners trying to master the language.

 

[Tdol]

we have no common way to write it.

We often use an apostrophe in BrE.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

It's common in American English, and I didn't know that we don't know about it!

I don't hear it in "can't," but it's loud and clear in "didn't"! (In parts of New England it's so strong it sounds like a hiccup. It's strongest in central Connecticut: DIH-ent.)

 

[Tdol]

Is it as strong as it is in some parts of the UK, where you will hear it in the middle of words like bottle and water?

 

[GoesStation]

Is it as strong as it is in some parts of the UK, where you will hear it in the middle of words like bottle and water?

A friend who grew up in central Connecticut replaces central consonants with glottal stops quite often. I think she uses the typical American tongue flap consonant in those two words though.

 

[GoesStation]

It's common in American English, and I didn't know that we don't know about it!

I don't hear it in "can't," but it's loud and clear in "didn't"! (In parts of New England it's so strong it sounds like a hiccup. It's strongest in central Connecticut: DIH-ent.)

A friend who lived alternately in central Connecticut and Florida (her parents owned one of the Connecticut resorts!) talks like that.

The final phoneme in can't is usually a glottal stop. That's all that distinguishes I can do it! (spoken emphatically) from I can't do it!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Is it as strong as it is in some parts of the UK, where you will hear it in the middle of words like bottle and water?

In central Connecticut, there's absolutely no T in bottle - just that hiccup. I hear it here in Maine and elsewhere sometimes, too, but it's not as common.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

A friend who lived alternately in central Connecticut and Florida (her parents owned one of the Connecticut resorts!) talks like that.

The final phoneme in can't is usually a glottal stop. That's all that distinguishes I can do it! (spoken emphatically) from I can't do it!

Oh! There! I wasn't thinking about the end of the word, just the middle. Yes, you're absolutely right. Totally glottal. I mean GLOH-al!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

PS - A lot of New Yorkers will get the T and get it hard on words like can't and what. But then they lose their R's and it all comes out even.

One of the toughest things for people studying American English must be learning when T's are pronounced as D's.

 

[Tdol]

In central Connecticut, there's absolutely no T in bottle - just that hiccup. I hear it here in Maine and elsewhere sometimes, too, but it's not as common.

It's spreading in BrE far beyond its Cockney origins.

 

[Tdol]

Prince Harry combines an odd mixture of public school long vowels with glottal stops.

 

[Tdol]

You could always try shoo'ing your son for his 'orrible pronunciation.