It goes to show that...

Status
Not open for further replies.

beachboy

Key Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2008
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Portuguese
Home Country
Brazil
Current Location
Brazil
In everyday English, how common is it to drop the t when pronouncing the word it?
 

SoothingDave

VIP Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Not very. There are situation where Ts are dropped at the end of words, as they blend into the next word. But I can't think of any with "it."
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
It's pretty common in BrE. Without wishing to sound snobby, it's more associated with the lower classes/less educated.
 

GoesStation

No Longer With Us (RIP)
Joined
Dec 22, 2015
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
There are situations where Ts are dropped at the end of words, as they blend into the next word. But I can't think of any with "it."
The thread title is one. I barely pronounce "it" at all when I say "it just goes to show" in ordinary conversation — but this depends on dialect and register.
 

jutfrank

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Without wishing to sound snobby, it's more associated with the lower classes/less educated.

I completely disagree.

It's extremely common in all variants of English, including American English.

It also has very little to do with class or level of education.
 

jutfrank

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Not very. There are situation where Ts are dropped at the end of words, as they blend into the next word. But I can't think of any with "it."

I'm sure beachboy is asking about the use of the word as part of natural speech, not about how the word is pronounced in isolation.
 

SoothingDave

VIP Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
I'm sure beachboy is asking about the use of the word as part of natural speech, not about how the word is pronounced in isolation.

Yes, I understood. I was saying that where there are combinations like "Giant Eagle" (a local supermarket) where the T completely disappears in normal speech, I can not think of any phrase with "it" where the T in "it" goes away.
 

jutfrank

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Yes, I understood. I was saying that where there are combinations like "Giant Eagle" (a local supermarket) where the T completely disappears in normal speech, I can not think of any phrase with "it" where the T in "it" goes away.

You can choose pretty much any phrase. For instance: It goes away.

As post #7 points out, although there is no /t/ sound there, there's still a trace (an unexploded glottal stop).
 

SoothingDave

VIP Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
Do you mean that you pronounce the part I have underlined in Giant Eagle in exactly the same way as you would the underlined part in Zion Eagle?

Yes, that is exactly how it works in my dialect, unless one is deliberately speaking carefully. It's not a general thing, but with common names this is done.

The neighborhood of East Liberty is said as "E Sliberty."
 

jutfrank

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
Do you mean that you pronounce the part I have underlined in Giant Eagle in exactly the same way as you would the underlined part in Zion Eagle?

Yes, that is exactly how it works in my dialect, unless one is deliberately speaking carefully. It's not a general thing, but with common names this is done.

The neighborhood of East Liberty is said as "E Sliberty."

These two examples show a general difference between British and American patterns.

In British English, there is something there in place of the /t/ sound at the end of Giant whereas in American English there typically isn't.

However, in both variants, East Liberty is pronounced similarly (E Sliberty) with complete elision of the final /t/ sound.

The difference is due to the different type of following sound, i.e., a vowel in the former case and a consonant in the latter.
 

SoothingDave

VIP Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
American English
Home Country
United States
Current Location
United States
I would not assume that Americans in general would say the name of our regional supermarket like we do. Our newscasters make sure to say it "properly."
 

probus

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jan 7, 2011
Member Type
Retired English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
Canada
Current Location
Canada
It's extremely common in all variants of English, including American English.

I must agree with both SoothingDave and Piscean.

In AmE the furthest we go is to replace a final t with a glottal stop. Neither I nor anyone I know ever drops the final t completely.
 

jutfrank

VIP Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2014
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
English
Home Country
England
Current Location
England
I must agree with both SoothingDave and Piscean.

In AmE the furthest we go is to replace a final t with a glottal stop. Neither I nor anyone I know ever drops the final t completely.

There seems to be two different interpretations here of what beachboy means in post #1 by "drop the t", which has confused the thread.

I suppose you could say it better like this: We don't drop the sound, we replace the sound with a different one.
 

beachboy

Key Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2008
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Portuguese
Home Country
Brazil
Current Location
Brazil
I'm going to have a mechanic fix IT for me.

When I said "drop the t", I meant not only dropping the sound but also disconsidering the glottal stop, going straight from the vowel i to the f (for). That's what I heard a Brazilian saying. I found it strange, but didn't know whether to correct them or not.
 

emsr2d2

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 28, 2009
Member Type
English Teacher
Native Language
British English
Home Country
UK
Current Location
UK
Now that you've said that you heard a Brazilian saying it, it makes more sense. I did a little impression of my Spanish students saying that sentence in English and I can see how "it" might sound more like a very short "ee" with no hint of a "t" at the end. I'm not saying that all my students would say it like that but certainly some would. That does not mean, however, that any native speakers (without an accent from another country) would say it like that.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top