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In this video, we're going to talk about the American consonant sound /t/,
as in the word "toy."
You can also hear this sound in words like
"time" - "cat" - "stop" or "Scott."
We'll be using a special phonetic symbol - /t/ - for this sound.
The /t/ is one of six consonants in the stop sounds category.
The stop sounds are familiar to most people and may seem easy to pronounce.
But once you try and pronounce them with an American accent,
you'll find that they're not so easy.
Let's find out why and start with reviewing what we learned in the Stops Sounds Overview video.
The /t/ is made by stopping the air with the tip of your tongue at the alveolar ridge.
The /t/ is a voiceless sound.
It has a voiced counterpart,
the consonant sound /d/.
Remember what's most important for the stops?
Correct.
It's how they're aspirated.
The /t/ is aspirated or,
in other words,
pronounced with a strong puff of air,
at the beginning of words and stressed syllables.
At the end of words,
the /t/ follows the final stop rule and is not aspirated.
As with all voiceless stops,
the /t/ is not aspirated after the /s/ sound at the beginning of words.
Here are some examples:
The /t/ sound has a couple of positional variations.
When the /t/ occurs between voiced sounds, it becomes a "flap 'T' sound.
When the /t/ is followed by a weak syllable containing the /n/ sound, it may become a "glottal 'T'.
Compare:
The flap and the glottal 'T' sounds will be covered in detail in our future videos.
As for this video,
let's focus on how to pronounce the voiceless /t/ sound.
Slightly open your mouth and leave your lips in a neutral position.
Now, you have to stop the air.
This is how you do that:
Place the tip of your tongue on the alveolar ridge behind your upper front teeth.
Now, stop the air in your mouth with the tip of your tongue
and then release it with a strong puff.
If you make this sound correctly,
you'll hear a burst of air: /t/.
Let's try making this sound:
Now let's do some practice exercises.
We'll start with the /t/ at the beginning of words.
Remember, the initial /t/ is pronounced with a strong puff of air.
As usual, you’ll see a word on the screen and hear its pronunciation.
Like this:
You’ll have a few seconds to pronounce the word.
♪
Don't skip this part,
as practice is essential for improving your accent.
Let's begin!
Let's pause for a second and review the final stop rule.
The stop sounds at the end of words are not aspirated.
That's what you'll practice with the next group of words.
Fantastic!
Now let's work on the /t/ after the /s/ consonant at the beginning of words.
Don't forget, in this position, the /t/ is made without a puff of air.
Let's continue practicing.
You're done!
Congratulations!
It’s not like we’ve been counting,
but if you made it till this point you should have pronounced the aspirated /t/ 20 times
and the unaspirated /t/ 40 times.
Did this help you sound like an American?
Well, it depends.
What we do know is that your pronunciation should be getting better each time you practice.
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