Omitting "T"

[Johnyxxx]

Hello,


This one is chiefly for BrE speakers. In many videos one can see BrE speakers omitting the pronunciation of "t" at the end of a word (Peter, party, letter etc.), like the guy does in the video at cca. 0:18 ("Today, I´ve got a good recipe for you, it´s good for dinner parties, big family occasions ..."). Is it a kind of a local slang? Or do BrE speakers use it simply in an informal speech?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsVaPKIa-jI


Thanks a lot.

 

[GoesStation]

** I am not a teacher. **

You're hearing a common feature of southern British English. The speaker is not so much omitting his T's as replacing them with a glottal stop. The process is called T-glottalization.

 

[bhaisahab]

It's not a southern BrE accent. It's a bit mixed, some of his words sound like Midlands/Northern English to me. He is American but came to the UK as a young child.

 

[Rover_KE]

You're hearing a common feature of southern British English.

It's not limited to southern BE, but is prevalent throughout the land.

Please remember to state that you are not a teacher, GoesStation. You can include it in your signature panel if you wish to save yourself the trouble of writing it every time, as some of the other members do.

 

[GoesStation]

** I am not a teacher. **

Sorry, I forgot. How do I set up a signature panel? I've been looking for the feature without success.

 

[Rover_KE]

Click on Settings (right at the very top of the page), then Edit Signature.

 

[GoesStation]

** I am not a teacher. **

I don't see an "edit signature" option, sorry.

 

[Rover_KE]

Perhaps you don't get that option until you've made ten posts. Try again later.:-D

 

[Johnyxxx]

** I am not a teacher. **

I don't see an "edit signature" option, sorry.

Click settings
http://img215.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=95245_11_123_208lo.jpg
then edit signature
http://img147.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=95246_22_123_502lo.jpg

 

[GoesStation]

** I am not a teacher. **

Thanks for the screen shots. I have a feeling Rover_KE got it right when he said that option only appears after a new member has posted ten times. If so, I'm one post closer.

[Edit] My Settings panel does not include the Edit signature option.

 

[probus]

** I am not a teacher. **

You're hearing a common feature of southern British English. The speaker is not so much omitting his T's as replacing them with a glottal stop. The process is called T-glottalization.

I did not know the term T-glottalization. Thank you for that link.

But I must disagree with the OP about "chiefly BrE". Substitution of the glottal stop for t in the middle of words is very common in American English. I hear it every day and use it myself.

The machine at the drug store where I check by blood pressure invites me to cancel the test at any time by pressing the red bu!n, where ! denotes the glottal stop, and that's how I pronounce button myself. Also, this is (American) football season, and every Sunday on TV we hear commentators saying foo!baw for football.

 

[Tdol]

It was originally a feature of accents like Cockney English, but has now spread beyond, through Estuary English and is found in many parts of the UK. Tony Blair uses it, when speaking in the UK and trying to sound like one of the people, and some of the younger generation of royals use it - in an odd hybrid of very long vowels and glottal stops - so it has broken out of dialect and across the wider community.

 

[GoesStation]

I did not know the term T-glottalization. Thank you for that link.

But I must disagree with the OP about "chiefly BrE". Substitution of the glottal stop for t in the middle of words is very common in American English. I hear it every day and use it myself.

The machine at the drug store where I check by blood pressure invites me to cancel the test at any time by pressing the red bu!n, where ! denotes the glottal stop, and that's how I pronounce button myself. Also, this is (American) football season, and every Sunday on TV we hear commentators saying foo!baw for football.

You're right, of course. American English substitutes glottal stops for T. We generally do it with different words, though. Brits tend to pronounce T before an unstressed syllable ending in a consonant as in water, butter or button. Americans don't typically replace the T before an open syllable as in "party."

** I am not a teacher. **

 

[Roman55]

Brits tend to pronounce T before an unstressed syllable ending in a consonant as in water, butter or button.

I don't agree with this generalization. What do you think a Brit is, anyway? Is it someone from Wales or Scotland, or perhaps the West Country or an archetypical Cockney?

 

[probus]

You're right, of course. American English substitutes glottal stops for T. We generally do it with different words, though. Brits tend to pronounce T before an unstressed syllable ending in a consonant as in water, butter or button. Americans don't typically replace the T before an open syllable as in "party."

** I am not a teacher. **

Well, apparently you are a teacher.